Cool Dome

SINGAPORE: The "Cool Dome" design, submitted by the Singapore Sports Hub consortium, will be Singapore's next iconic structure.

The Singapore government on Saturday revealed the consortium as its preferred bidder for the Singapore Sports Hub project.

The consortium beats two other bids.

These were the "Horse shoe shaped design" submitted by the Singapore Gold consortium and the "wrapped-Stadium design" submitted by the Alpine Mayreder.

The new sports hub will be completed by end 2011 and will cost some S$1.2 billion.

The integrated complex includes a 55,000-seat capacity stadium with a retractable roof, an aquatic centre, multi-purpose arena and retail space.

In sunny Singapore, the "dome" will allow plenty of ventilation and help bring the temperatures down along with spot cooling for the seats.

But it was the consortium's proposal of sports, entertainment and community programmes that won the vote.

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development Youth and Sports, said: "They were strongest in offering a comprehensive sporting calendar. For instance they guaranteed 90 event days at the National Stadium and at least 46 sport event days at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. The programme consists of a well balanced mix of local, regional and international sporting events and across a wide spectrum of sports which we believe will resonate with our people."

Among the events lined up include an ASEAN clubs soccer league and international cricket matches.

The consortium will have to design, build, operate and finance the project, a first in the world for a mega sports hub.

Dr Balakrishnan said: "Which means the government is not liable for the capital expenditure. What we do is in exchange for contracted services, at a standard that we specify, we will pay the consortium, a pre-agreed sum every year for 25 years."

The consortium is also proposing to set up a 'Premier Park Foundation' to help fund activities and facilities.

Funding for the Foundation will be done by reinvesting a large portion of the Sports Hub's commercial revenues.

Ludwig Reichhold, MD, Dragages - Singapore Sports Hub Consortium, said: "The estimate of S$800 million was established sometime in 2005 at the time when the construction cost in Singapore was much lower than it is now, the current construction cost of S$1.2 billion is the combined result of the increase of materials and labour in Singapore over the past couple of year which has been quite steep."

But there is still much work to be done for the consortium before the deal is made final, among them sorting out the legal documentation and even fine tuning the design.

All the paperwork is expected to be completed by March.

After which the Consortium has to demolish the current National Stadium and complete the new complex by end 2011. - CNA/ir/ch