Lushhomemedia

Archive for March 1st, 2008

« Previous Entries

DC rate hike lower than expected

Posted by luxuryasiahome on March 1, 2008

Average industrial rates up 16.8%, muted increases for most other uses

THE government yesterday announced modest, lower-than-expected increases in development charge (DC) rates for most use groups, except industrial.

‘Limited transactions in the past six months, amidst cautionary sentiment set about the US sub-prime debacle, were probably an important factor for the moderate gains this round,’ said Jones Lang LaSalle regional director and head of investments Lui Seng Fatt.

Knight Frank director Nicholas Mak said: ‘The government may feel that there has been no significant appreciation in land prices in the last few months.

‘And DC rates for most use groups – such as commercial, non-landed residential and hotel/hospital – were already at a higher base because of substantial hikes in the last revision.

‘Industrial DC rates, on the other hand, had seen only a marginal rise the previous round and hence saw the sharpest increase this time.’

DC rates, which are payable for enhancing the use of some sites or putting bigger developments on them, are revised twice yearly, on March 1 and Sept 1, and are listed according to use groups and 118 locations across Singapore.

From today, the average DC rate for commercial use has gone up 1.5 per cent – after the 42 per cent increase in the last round on Sept 1, 2007. The average rate for non-landed residential use has been raised 2.6 per cent, again much smaller than the 58 per cent hike previously, while the average rate for landed residential use has been left unchanged.

For hotel and hospital use, the latest DC rates are up 3.3 per cent on average, compared with a 23 per cent hike previously.

Industrial DC rates have jumped 16.8 per cent on average, against a 2 per cent rise previously.

JLL’s Mr Lui said that the big hike in industrial DC rates is in tandem with growing demand for backoffice space as more firms relocate out of the CBD due to high rents.

For industrial DC rates, the biggest hike of 33.3 per cent was in the Jurong/Lim Chu Kang/Kranji location, which analysts attributed to JTC Corp’s sale of two industrial sites at Jalan Tepong and Pioneer Road/Tuas Avenue 11 at about double the land values implied by the previous September 2007 industrial DC rate for the area.

Similarly, the sale of an industrial plot at Commonwealth Drive/Lane at about four times the September 2007 DC rate-implied land value was probably behind a 32 per cent hike yesterday in the industrial DC rate for the area.

Industrial DC rates were raised by 22.2 per cent each in the Kallang Way/MacPherson/Aljunied, and Braddell/Potong Pasir/Woodleigh areas, based on JLL’s analysis. The rate for West Coast Road/Jurong East was upped 20.7 per cent. Increases of 20 per cent were seen in locations such as Havelock Road, Telok Blangah, Tiong Bahru, Bukit Merah, Redhill, Alexandra and Henderson.

Commercial DC rates stayed put in Raffles Place, Marina Bay, Cecil Street and Robinson Road. Instead, the hikes were mostly outside the central business district, ‘reflecting the trend of office demand being pushed out of the CBD’, Savills Singapore director Ku Swee Yong said.

The biggest increases, of 25 and 23.3 per cent, were in the Toa Payoh/Potong Pasir and Paya Lebar/Eunos areas respectively. The sale price of a 99-year commercial plot next to the HDB Hub in Toa Payoh in October and rising rents at SingPost Centre in Paya Lebar were likely reasons for the increases.

The Marine Parade and Tampines locations each saw a 19 per cent appreciation in commercial DC rates, apparently supported by the sale price of an office unit at Parkway Parade, and rental evidence at Tampines Mall and buildings in the Tampines Finance Park.

For non-landed residential DC rates, the biggest gain of 28.6 per cent was in Ang Mo Kio/Yio Chu Kang as well as an adjoining sector that covers Upper Thomson and Sembawang Hills. Far East Organization’s $601 psf per plot ratio top bid for a condo site next to Ang Mo Kio Hub in September last year – a record for 99-year suburban condo land – was the likely reason for the rate hikes.

The Telok Blangah and Tiong Bahru/Ayer Rajah locations each saw hikes of 22.2 per cent in non-landed residential DC rate. CB Richard Ellis executive director Li Hiaw Ho said that the increases were probably supported by the $639 psf ppr fetched for a 99-year condo site on Alexandra Road last year. Mr Li also pointed to the sale of a freehold site on Margate Road as the likely reason for a 21.4 per cent rate hike in the Mountbatten/Meyer/Broadrick area.

For hotel use, gains of around 9-10 per cent were seen in DC rates for the traditional hotel belts in the Orchard Road, Marina Centre and Singapore River locations, as well as places like Marina Bay, Bayfront and Fullerton Road.

‘The tourism boom is expected to continue as the Singapore government drives towards the 17 million visitors goal by 2015. Orchard Road remains Singapore’s main shopping belt, while upcoming developments in the Marina area such as the Marina Bay Sands integrated resort and the F1 race will further generate demand for hotels in the area,’ Mr Lui said.

The DC use group for hotels also includes hospitals and interestingly, the government did not raise the DC rate for the Irrawaddy Road location where a hospital site last month fetched a record price of $1,600 psf ppr from Parkway group.

A spokeswoman for the Chief Valuer said: ‘Parkway’s record bid was an isolated case. In general, there’s no compelling evidence that market values for hotel/hospital use in the area have moved up so much.’

Source : Business Times – 1 Mar 2008

Posted in General, Property Development | Tagged: , | Leave a Comment »

Property development charges barely budge

Posted by luxuryasiahome on March 1, 2008

Small revision of fees points to dwindling deals, slow price growth

IT’S official: the property market has gone deathly quiet.

Teh Government barely tweaked development charges in its semi-annual revision of fees yesterday, reflecting the property sector’s subdued state over the last six months.

Development charges, which can run in the millions of dollars, are what a developer has to pay to buy and redevelop an existing site.

Average islandwide charges for office, hospital, hotel and non-landed housing sites merely inched up, while landed residential sites saw no change in the fee at all.

This marks a big reversal from last year, when the frantic pace of land acquisition led to record hikes in development charges for many sectors.

In super-hot locations, the fees were even doubled.

This time, the only major change was in the industrial sector, where charges jumped 16.8 per cent – compared to 2 per cent in the last round.

This was due to a previous low base, as well as rising demand for back-office space, which led to recent land sales at benchmark prices in areas such as Commonwealth and Ubi, said experts.

Development charges are set by the chief valuer based on recent land and property values, and are adjusted every six months, so their growth rate can be used to indicate market activity.

Property watchers said yesterday’s small rises show what the market has known for some time: Property deals are dwindling and the pace of price growth has slowed.

‘The rates have been moderated as a result of the limited transactions over the last six months, attributed in part to the more cautionary sentiment,’ said Mr Lui Seng Fatt, the regional director and head of investments at Jones Lang LaSalle.

But fees rose for areas on the city fringe, showing that activity is spilling out from prime spots, said Savills Singapore’s Mr Ku Swee Yong.

Development charges rose for non-landed residential sites in Upper Thomson, Tiong Bahru, Balestier and Chancery, among others.

This was probably due to some collective sales late last year, said Mr Nicholas Mak of Knight Frank.

These include the sale of Toho Gardens in Yio Chu Kang and 15 terrace houses in Balestier.

Mr Mak said the fee rises in these areas could further affect the already cautious sentiment in the market.

The overall impact, however, is ‘not as major’ as that from the last round of hikes in charges, he added.

Still, developers looking for new land will probably start relying more on government sales – which do not involve development charges – than on collective sales, said Mr Li Hiaw Ho, the executive director of CB Richard Ellis Research.

In the office and shops sector, the recent sales of transitional office land helped boost development charges in Tampines and Scotts Road.

Thomson and Paya Lebar also saw bigger hikes than the rest.

Hotel sites had increases mainly in central areas, while the fees for industrial sites rose across the board.

Source : Straits Times – 1 Mar 2008

Posted in General, Property Development | Tagged: , | Leave a Comment »

Small development tax increase sign of property slowdown

Posted by luxuryasiahome on March 1, 2008

In the latest signal that the market for private homes has cooled, the Ministry of National Development (MND) yesterday announced minimal changes in the development charges for residential sites.

A tax on property developers for site enhancement, the development charges payable in the next six months for non-landed residential sites were raised on average by a marginal 2.6 per cent.

The latest hike, which the MND said was calculated after having “taken into account current market values” following a half-yearly review, compares with a 58-per-cent rise in the same category last September.

On average, development charges were raised 1.5 per cent for commercial sites such as those for offices and shopping centres, 3.3 per cent for hotel and hospital sites and 16.8 per cent for industrial and warehouse sites. Charges in the other categories, including landed residential, remained unchanged.

“It is encouraging to know that the Government has made minimal changes to the development charges for residential use, a reflection that it is mindful of the current market sentiment and the uncertainties ahead,” said Mr Li Hiaw Ho, executive director of CBRE Research.

Mr Donald Han, managing director of Cushman and Wakefield, attributed the virtually “flat” rates to the lacklustre market for private homes, as well as sales of residential sites, in recent months. He noted that the property market started deteriorating in December as sentiment turned cautious amid uncertainty over the extent of the fallout from the sub-prime crisis in the United States and stock market volatility.

Statistics from the Urban Redevelopment Authority showed that the number of new private homes sold in December shrunk by half from the month earlier, while January numbers were flat. Fewer units were also launched by developers in the past two months.

The double-digit rate of increase in development charges for industrial sites was “a good indication of healthy demand for such land as well as a continued stream of foreign investments into Singapore’s manufacturing sector”, said Mr Li.

Source : Weekend Today – 1 Mar 2008

Posted in General, Property Development | Tagged: , | Leave a Comment »

More landed housing sites up for auction

Posted by luxuryasiahome on March 1, 2008

THE Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has launched the second phase of Sembawang Greenvale after auctioning all parcels in Phase One last October.

In the first phase, 12 sub-divided landed housing plots near Sembawang Beach were auctioned for a total of $37.09 million, which works out to about $285 per square foot (psf) of land on average.

Phase Two comprises 11 land parcels for a total of 90 dwellings. Most of these will be terrace houses.

Knight Frank director (research and consultancy) Nicholas Mak says new terrace houses in the area are now selling for $1.7 million to $2 million.

The median unit price for landed housing in District 27, where Sembawang is located, increased 12 per cent quarter-on-quarter in Q4 2007, he said. ‘Therefore, in terms of bidding price, we expect the average land price of Greenvale Phase Two will be higher than that of Phase One.’

Mr Mak expects that terrace plots will fetch about $320-380 psf of land, and semi-detached plots about $300-350 psf of land.

Cushman and Wakefield managing director Donald Han believes demand for landed property will stay sound this year. But he also reckons current sentiment – hurt by the US sub-prime crisis – could see potential bidders for Sembawang Greenvale Phase Two discount their offers in the light of rising risks.

As such, he thinks bids could be 5-10 per cent below those received for Phase One.

Mr Han still believes there will be interest in the parcels, especially those that can yield more units, as developers will be able to ‘average down’ construction costs and increase profit margins.

Separately, URA said yesterday it has launched an industrial land parcel at Ubi Avenue 4/Ubi Road 2 for sale by public tender, after a developer committed to bid at least $14 million in early February.

Colliers International managing director Dennis Yeo estimated earlier that bids for the site could come in at $70-80 psf per plot ratio, translating to a breakeven cost of about $230-250 psf.

Source : Business Times – 1 Mar 2008

Posted in General, Land Sales, Landed Property | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »

URA auctions 11 land parcels in Sembawang

Posted by luxuryasiahome on March 1, 2008

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) is auctioning 11 land parcels along Sembawang Road/Andrews Avenue as part of its plans for a landed housing estate in the area.

The plots constitute the Phase 2 development of the Sembawang Greenvale project, and can accommodate 90 dwellings, comprising of one bungalow, 16 semi-detached houses and 73 terrace houses. Phase 1 of the project, which consists of 12 plots along the same stretch of road and accommodates 57 dwellings, was fully sold last October.

Property watchers said yesterday’s announcement of the URA tender would likely draw interest from small property developers, contractors and engineering firms, despite projected slower economic growth and a volatile stock market.

“The landed segment is still a very stable market and the sites are targeted at local buyers, especially displaced owners from collective sales. But there is a strong chance that developers will factor in the current market uncertainty, and this will translate into a lower price,” said Mr Donald Han, managing director of Cushman and Wakefield.

Mr Han expects prices to be 5 to 10 per cent lower than those transacted at last year’s auction, which fetched an average $285 per sq foot of land.

Mr Nicholas Mak, director of research and consultancy at Knight Frank, however, is more optimistic. He noted that the median unit price for landed housing in the area had increased 12 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year from the previous three months.

Mr Mak expects prices in Phase 2 to be higher than those of Phase 1, and fetch $320 to $380 psf for terrace plots, $300 to $350 for semi-detached plots, and $200 to $260 for L-shaped bungalow and semi-detached plots.

Source : Weekend Today – 1 Mar 2008

Posted in General, Land Sales, Landed Property | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »

Listed firms’ profits soar 39% to $33.6b

Posted by luxuryasiahome on March 1, 2008

Property , banking and agricultural groups lead list in exceptional year.

LISTED companies in Singapore enjoyed exceptional growth last year, with their combined profits surging 39.1 per cent to $33.58 billion.

Sizzling economic growth meant healthy growth across just about all sectors.

But not surprisingly, the top performer in absolute numbers among companies with financial years ending in December came from the booming property sector.

CapitaLand, with a market value of about $17.7 billion, posted $2.76 billion in net profits – more than double its 2006 showing – and outpaced the local banks.

However, a large proportion of the developer’s profit was due to revaluation gains for its investment portfolio amounting to some $1.1 billion.

As at 6pm yesterday, 389 companies had reported their full-year results for the 12 months ended Dec 31.

Of these, 349, or close to 90 per cent of them, were in the black. And 227, or over 58 per cent of all companies, reported an increase in profits from 2006.

In all, 85 firms saw their profits shrink and 24 firms went from a net loss to a net gain. Another 13 did not have 2006 figures for comparative purposes.

The remaining 10 per cent, or 40 firms, had their report cards tainted by red ink. Of those, 19 firms went from the black to the red, and 11 sank deeper into the red while seven saw their losses narrow.

Another three did not have comparable figures in 2006.

Other strong performers included firms linked to palm oil, which is used as a feedstock for biofuel.

Profits at both Wilmar International and Golden Agri-Resources more than doubled on the back of what was considered a golden harvest for commodity players.

Industry experts say that last year was an unprecedented year of growth during which earnings surpassed expectations – but they caution that growth will be much tamer this year, dampened partly by rising cost pressures.

‘Last year was an exceptional year. I can’t see a repeat as there are so many more risks in the market now,’ said DBS Vickers head of research Janice Chua, adding that growth is expected to halve this year.

The brokerage saw average earnings growth of 28 per cent last year for the 170 firms under its coverage, but it expects growth of about 14 per cent only this year, she said.

The property sector will see a scale-back in property launches as well as a softening in selling prices, which may dampen earnings growth.

CIMB-GK economist Song Seng Wun agreed that growth will be moderated.

‘The operating environment is more uncertain and bankers are more cautious. Consumers are watching their discretionary spending as well. It will be a much tougher environment than that last year.’

He pointed out that ‘the whole region has been supported by strong domestic demand, across a whole range of industries’.

But growth began to falter late last year, as higher material costs started to squeeze margins.

In expectation of weaker earnings growth this year, numerous brokerages have also started trimming price targets for companies.

Inflation, as well as higher material and labour costs, will be bugbears for companies and will add further to margin pressure, said Sias Research investment analyst Alan Lok.

He added that those firms which are able to bite the bullet and pass on more than 50 per cent of their costs will be able to survive in the challenging environment this year.

GROWTH TO EASE

Analysts expect a much tougher environment this year, due partly to rising cost pressures. DBS Vickers, for one, expects average earnings growth to halve to 14 per cent among the 170 companies which it covers.

Source : Straits Times – 1 Mar 2008

Posted in General, Singapore Economy | Tagged: | Leave a Comment »

Banner year worn ragged by future fears

Posted by luxuryasiahome on March 1, 2008

Listed companies report sparkling results; 2008 may be a different story.

The results have been good, but the celebrations are on hold.

While many companies here can point to healthy report cards for their fourth quarter and full-year results, the market is not excited. Instead, investors look ahead to the challenges that could affect corporate profits in the year ahead.

The weakening US dollar and the uncertain economic outlook will have a negative bearing on earnings going forward, analysts said.

For 2007, 398 listed companies reported combined net profits of $36.3 billion. The total profits for 382 companies with year-on-year comparisons jumped 46.4 per cent to $35.7 billion.

During the Oct-Dec quarter, 227 companies reported their quarterly results, chalking up total net profits of $12.5 billion. Of these, the 215 companies who could compare their performance with the same quarter last year marked a 73.3 per cent rise in net profit to $12.15 billion.

‘Despite strong profits, the market is not responding,’ Westcomb Securities research head Goh Mou Lih said. The Straits Times Index, which has been recently tracking external factors more than earnings newsflow here closed 47.7 points down to 3,026.45 yesterday.

‘People are looking forward, instead of looking at the released numbers. They are expecting weaker earnings on concerns over the US economy and factoring in a higher risk premium,’ he added.

Some analysts are already lowering their earnings forecasts for this year.

‘Revenue growth will definitely slow as the economy slows and earnings would likely come under pressure this year,’ Citi economist Kit Wei Zheng said. ‘It’s probably going to be more challenging environment with costs pressures building up and margins will probably be squeezed on some fronts.’

Local banks reported a combined net profit of $6.46 billion for the full year, down 5.6 per cent from a year ago. OCBC, the smallest lender, reported the biggest percentage gain of 3.4 per cent to $2.07 billion. DBS recorded a 0.4 per cent increase to $2.28 billion, while UOB posted an 18 per cent fall in net profit to $2.11 billion.

But each of them saw a decline in their fourth quarter earnings from a year ago due to further writedowns for their exposure to collateralised debt obligations (CDOs).

‘I think CDOs are behind us. We will probably see very good loan volumes coming through given that both the IRs (integrated resorts) have syndicated credit facility of $5 billion each, and that should show up in the next few quarters,’ CIMB-GK research head Kenneth Ng said. ‘But margins should be something to watch out for,’ he added, pointing to the likelihood of further Fed rate cuts that could lower interest rates here.

Property developers still held up well in the fourth quarter on fair value gains and brisk residential sales despite the US subprime fallout, with major developers still racking double-digit and triple-digit jumps in net profit.

For the full year, CapLand’s net profit surged 172.5 per cent to $2.76 billion, the highest profits made by any Singapore-listed company last year. KepLand’s net profit for 2007 grew a staggering 289 per cent to $779.65 million and CityDev’s net profit more than doubled to $724.99 million from $351.66 million.

Analysts said they expect property developers, particularly those with strong financials, to delay residential launches to fetch better prices. KepLand has confirmed that it has pushed back the launch of Marina Bay Suites, while CapLand, which has little stock of unsold homes, said it will not delay its residential launches in Singapore this year.

CIMB-GK’s Mr Ng said he expects developers to continue rolling out mass market projects for which demand is reportedly strong, while holding back launches of high-end ones.

Meanwhile, oil and gas players were also buoying on robust order books last year. Among them, Keppel Corp’s net profit for 2007 leapt 50.6 per cent to $1.13 billion, Cosco Corp’s added 63.9 per cent to $336.57 million and Yangzijiang’s jumped more than two-fold to $171.29 million from $89.51 million.

Though SembCorp Marine’s fourth quarter net profit tanked 99.2 per cent to $790,000 on allgedly unauthorised forex transactions, its earnings for the full year was still up 1 per cent at $241 million on higher turnover and operating margins.

While index-linked companies generally performed well, some Singapore-listed Chinese firms disappointed the market in the face of rising costs pressures. Steel maker Delong Holdings’ net profit sank 29 per cent last year to $93.76 million and Pine Agritech posted a 19 per cent decline to $85.79 million.

The weakening US dollar also continued to trigger translational losses for tech companies whose earnings are dominated in US dollars. Unisteel Technology saw 2007 net profit fall 6 per cent to $47.5 million from a year ago after forex losses offset the growth in its revenue. Hi-P managed to pull out a 4.4 per cent gain in earnings to $60 million, despite incurring a forex loss of $5 million.

Source : Business Times – 1 Mar 2008

Posted in General | Leave a Comment »

Designer furniture: Reality check

Posted by luxuryasiahome on March 1, 2008

Home owners here are buying reproductions of classic designer furniture at a fraction of the price

LIKE many Singaporean home owners, personal banker Karen Teo has furnished her five-room HDB flat in Sengkang with pieces of furniture that are well-known in the design world.

TIGHT BUDGET: Ms Karen Teo and Mr Jeremy Lee bought Arco lamp and Bombo stool lookalikes for their home in Sengkang. — PHOTOS: BETTY CHUA FOR THE STRAITS TIMES, FLOS

In her bedroom is the ubiquitous arched stainless steel standing lamp. And in her living room, by the bar counter, stand two bar stools that often grace the pages of home decor magazines.

But while they look very much like the Arco lamp and the Bombo stool, they are not the real thing. They are lookalikes.

Ms Teo and her engineer husband Jeremy Lee, both 27, had a tight budget when they were furnishing their home three years ago. They set aside $30,000 for furnishings, including electronics.

To stretch their dollar, they hunted for bargains and found furniture shops in Sungei Kadut, where ‘you can get designer-inspired pieces at a fraction of the price’, she says.

Then, she bought her Arco lookalike for $440 and her bar stools for $99 each. An Arco lamp from Space Furniture at Millenia Walk costs $4,225, while a Bombo stool from X-tra Living at Park Mall costs $920.

‘They were designer pieces that I wanted, but I didn’t want to pay too much for them so this is the next best option,’ she reasons.

As Singaporeans become more house-proud, home owners who covet designer pieces but do not have the budget for them are turning to more affordable reproductions.

The Arco lamp, by Italian designers Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, is one of the most copied items in the market, thanks to its distinctive design. Half the lighting shops that line Balestier Road and Geylang carry Arco lookalikes, mostly from China and Taiwan.

They look almost like the real McCoy, but there are differences. While the Arco uses Italian Carrera marble for its base, the cheaper alternatives use marble from China or India. Also, some arches are made of a circular stainless steel tube instead of a rectangular one.

Mr Aman Heng, general manager of Light Image Holdings which has a chain of lighting stores, says such pieces are popular with home owners who are not particular about whether the lamp is an original or a copy.

‘They are happy just to have the same design,’ says Mr Heng, 43. ‘It also fits those with tight budgets.’ His new shipment of Arco lookalikes will come in at the end of the month, and he says they will go for at least $600.

A spokesman for Lush in Upper Paya Lebar Road, which sells designer reproductions, says such items are also popular with interior designers who do up showflats, as ‘they don’t want to spend too much on the pieces’.

The store sells about 20 Arco copies a month, each going for $580. In comparison, Space Furniture sells about 200 to 250 Arco lamps a year.

At Dream Interiors in River Valley Road, a dealer for Knoll furniture, a Barcelona chair starts at $8,000. Compare this with a reproduction which costs $1,300, and it’s not surprising that budget-conscious consumers opt for the cheaper one.

There is a reason the designer classics are costly.

Dream Interiors owner Shawn Tan says the high prices are due to the meticulous manufacturing process, the quality of materials used and, most importantly, the intellectual input from the designers.

Using German-born American architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona chair as an example, Mr Tan, 37, points out that even though the chair was designed in 1929, it still looks modern today. That shows that the design was ahead of its time.

Physician Wong Tien Hua, who has several designer pieces such as an Eames surfboard table in his bungalow in Bukit Timah, says he buys only the real pieces even though they cost more.

‘The quality is better and you’re buying into the history as well,’ says Dr Wong, 38.

Even in the reproduction industry, retailers say there are different grades of products. ‘The copy must be as close to the original as possible,’ says Mr P.C. Ee, 36, owner of Exit Design Studios, which carries a range of designer reproduction furniture.

Retailers say they tend to favour items from Australia, Thailand, Vietnam and Taiwan, which produce better reproductions. Some retailers avoid reproductions from China because they tend to be poorer copies, even though they are cheaper.

Mr Lorgan Wong, 49, owner of Lorgan’s which carries second-hand and reproduction retro pieces, says he doesn’t carry items from China because ‘they are not close enough to the original’.

As for the legal implications of copyright breaches, the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore, which looks after intellectual property of individuals and companies, says it does not handle such matters.

Industry players say the copyright infringement issues against those who produce copies are usually undertaken by the respective companies’ headquarters, which are mostly overseas.

Retailers that Life! spoke to say they make it a point to inform customers that the pieces are reproductions.

‘We tell them these are not original pieces, so the price is much lower,’ says Mr Ee.

As for copyright issues, retailers resort to two avenues to get around the problem.

‘We cannot use the original names. Instead we give it a code number,’ says Mr Ee.

Others, such as Lorgan’s Mr Wong, use phrases such as ‘Eames-style’ or ‘Eames-era’ to describe a reproduction of a recliner.

The other method is to copy the design but use dimensions that are different from the original, such as making it slightly smaller. Some manufacturers also use different materials from the original.

Fighting back

THE manufacturers of the originals are understandably not happy to let reproductions flood the market.

Italian lighting manufacturer Flos, which makes the Arco lamp, has taken legal action worldwide against manufacturers of Arco lamp copies.

This includes sending a warning letter from the company’s lawyer, as well as removing imitations from the market. Flos says most such cases have been with European retailers, and it has not taken any legal action in Singapore in the last five years.

A spokesman for the company says the hunt for imitation manufacturers is not easy because ‘as soon as one manufacturer is discovered and stopped, a new one starts’.

Finland’s Artek, which produces designer classics such as the Alvar Aalto Armchair 400, says it has also taken legal action against those who make copies of Artek pieces.

But a spokesman says ‘legal action was costly and in the end it has no long-term effect’, as imitation pieces still pop up. ‘However, we have not given up. We just find other ways more effective than legal action,’ he adds.

Artek wants to educate consumers on why they should buy originals.

It hopes that consumers will understand that Artek products have the quality to last through generations, and that it uses only materials that come from environmentally sustainable forests.

Still, that is not stopping Singaporeans from buying copies of the high-priced items.

Corporate communications manager Raymond Lim, who has an Arco lamp lookalike in his four-room HDB flat in Tiong Bahru, says he is not a ‘designer furniture freak’ but just loves tastefully designed pieces.

He first saw the Arco when he was 16, but didn’t realise then that it was considered a designer classic. ‘But I told myself I must have this lamp in my home one day,’ he says.

Now 29, he bought a lookalike at a lighting shop in Balestier Road for a mere $200. ‘It fits my budget. The brand is not important but the design must be appealing,’ he says, of his Arco copy that is made in China.

Source : Straits Times – 1 Mar 2008

Posted in General, Interior Design | Tagged: , | Leave a Comment »

Makeover to add night buzz to Singapore River

Posted by luxuryasiahome on March 1, 2008

Walkways, trees and water will be bathed in light in time for upcoming river-centred activities

THE Singapore River is getting its biggest makeover since 1999, when $16 million was spent to improve the pedestrian walkways there.

Work, to begin next month, will be geared towards creating a night-time buzz along the historic, 3km stretch from the river mouth inland.

The makeover – the first comprehensive one of the waterfront attractions – will be anchored by new lighting which will evoke the magic of being out at night:

The trees on the water’s edge will be lit up and ‘jellyfish’ lights will gleam on the water; the sidewalks will be bathed in subtle light and landing points for river taxis will also be lit.

The lights on the bridges will even be programmable to match festivals or seasons.

New street furniture and street signs will be put in place to create a backdrop for a line-up of river-centred activities like the Singapore River Festival in September, a two-week jamboree that will feature a mega-concert, river float parade, outdoor parties and other events.

By the time the inaugural Formula One Grand Prix race rolls around – also in that month – the work will be two-thirds done.

Asked why the focus is on creating buzz for the riverfront by night, Mrs Cheong Koon Hean, chief executive officer of the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), explained that Singapore’s sweltering daytime temperatures are not conducive to walks by the river, ’so it makes sense for us to create a vibrant night life’ for the cooler evenings.

Indeed, although the Singapore River has for years been touted as one of the ‘must-see’ free attractions, a 2006 survey by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) revealed that only 7 per cent of tourists polled visited it.

The same survey had the Orchard Road shopping strip topping the list of free attractions, with 73 per cent of polled tourists beating a path there, and 51 per cent to Chinatown.

Neither the STB nor URA could be persuaded to say how much the improvements, first announced in 2006, will cost, but STB’s assistant chief executive of leisure Margaret Teo let on that the project will ‘run into the millions’, although it would still ‘cost less than’ the $40 million poured into renovations for Orchard Road.

The budget nonetheless reflects the latest effort to rejuvenate the riverfront, which was given a $170 million clean-up in the 1980s to get rid of its pong and to lift it above being a waterway for Singapore’s early commerce.

While riverfronts in other countries are key attractions for tourists and locals, the fortunes of the attractions on the banks of the Singapore River have waxed and waned.

Boat Quay itself has undergone smaller-scale revamps; the constant flux in shops and restaurants there hint at businesses’ low staying power.

Mr Mohan Mulani, the chief executive of Harry’s Holdings which owns Harry’s Bar there, said: ‘One gets the feeling that Boat Quay is very rundown. It is like the necklace of Singapore, and it could be a beautiful necklace shimmering by the water.’

A revamp is long overdue, he added.

Businesses like his will be included in a programme by the STB and URA to provide seed funding to merchants there to develop events on the river all year round.

Cruise operators will also be increasing river taxi and cruise services along the river.

Equity salesman Teo Kian Boon, 30, hopeful that the makeover will make a difference, said: ‘Maybe all these will finally turn us into Venice of the East.’

Source : Straits Times – 1 Mar 2008

Posted in General | Tagged: , | Leave a Comment »

Jazzing up S’pore River’s sights and sounds

Posted by luxuryasiahome on March 1, 2008

COME September, visitors will be treated to a new look and an enhanced experience of the sights and sounds of the Singapore River.

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB), together with the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), yesterday announced plans for a series of infrastructural developments as well the staging of new signature events to promote the nightlife alongside the river.

STB spokeswoman Margaret Teo said: ‘The Singapore River has the potential to stand out as a a distinctive 24-hour entertainment lifestyle destination.

‘Plans lined up will add to the precinct’s overall appeal and augment our international standing as an exciting, dynamic and vibrant city and a leading events and entertainment capital in Asia.’

There are three parts to the plans. The first is a series of infrastructural changes which will see more night-lighting, street furniture such as benches, signage and storyboards, in addition to new bumboat landing points and ticketing kiosks.

The lighting plan will see new ambient and programmable lighting for the Read and Cavanagh bridges, that would be able to change to suit various festive occasions. Underbridge lighting along the Clemenceau, Coleman and Elgin bridges will be another feature, besides floating ‘jellyfish’ lights on the river and enhanced landscape lighting along the three-kilometre stretch.

The URA will soon be launching a tender for the construction of a mobile floating stage at Boat Quay, which will accommodate a range of arts and cultural performances, concerts and dance acts.

The next approach will involve STB working with stakeholders of the various quays to create an annual events calendar for the area.

The highlight will be the Singapore River Festival, an annual event held in conjunction with F1 Singapore GP seasonal festivities spanning the two weeks leading up to the race.

At other times, each quay is expected to organise an event that mirrors its unique character. For example, the Empress Place event might have a greater focus on the arts, heritage and culture while the Clarke Quay event will play up its entertainment nightlife facade.

The final part of the plans is a continued partnership between the public and private sectors, such as 24-hour licensing for round-the-clock operations or even government seed money for lifestyle events by the entertainment industry.

The first phase of infrastructural works will be completed by September, with the second phase to be launched in October with expected completion next March.Source : Business Times – 1 Mar 2008

Posted in General | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »

« Previous Entries