The concept of "wellness", defined as "the active pursuit of activities, choices and lifestyles that lead to a state of holistic health" by the Global Wellness Institute, has been receiving more attention in recent years. In its report 'Build Well to Live Well' released in 2018, the Global Wellness Institute reported that the global wellness economy was worth about US$4.5 trillion, and the industry grew 6.4% annually from 2015 to 2017.

The increasing receptivity of wellness extends to the property sector too. In the same research report, the institute stated that the way homes have been built in the past century was "reinforcing lifestyles that make us sick, stressed, alienated and unhappy". This has given rise to the wellness lifestyle real estate industry, which features homes that are designed and built to support the holistic health of their residents.

Wellness in Singapore: How stressed are Singaporeans?

Given the fast pace of life in Singapore, wellness is fast becoming a talking point. According to a 2019 report by healthcare consultancy firm Asia Care Group on behalf of health and insurance services company Cigna, Singapore spends about US$2.3 billion or 18% of its total healthcare expenditure on stress-related illnesses annually. The report, using data from the Ministry of Health and private hospitals, found that over 160,000 people are admitted to public hospitals for stress-related illnesses every year.

The COVID-19 outbreak further raises the level of stress and concern over wellness. Cigna found 63% of respondents in Singapore suffered from work-related stress in April versus 58% in January 2020. Additionally, a report in June 2020 by IPSOS shows that 71% of Singaporeans are worried about contracting the COVID-19 Virus.

Considering wellness in property is the future

In a world grappling with the coronavirus crisis, consumers will place greater emphasis on wellness in their choice of properties, especially given that more people are working from home now and are expected to continue doing so. Hence, residential developments that have gone beyond green building certifications to create innovative residential communities on the cutting edge of the green, biophilic, sustainable and healthy design continue to fetch a premium. Visionary developers that introduce biophilic concepts in their developments also enhance their social branding.

Biophilic Developments: Nature improves health and productivity

Biophilic designs were inspired by Edward Osborne Wilson, Professor Emeritus of Entomology at Harvard University, found that people need daily contact with nature to be healthy and productive individuals. Biophilia, a term Wilson popularised in the 1980s, describes the extent to which humans are hardwired to need connection with nature and other forms of life. Hence, integrating natural environments into our urban setting will affect our personal well-being, productivity and societal relationships in a positive way.

There is also much research that document the productivity benefits of biophilic design. For instance, Terrapin Bright Green, a consultant on environmental strategies, showed how a call centre in California achieved productivity savings of US$2,990 per employee after investing US$1,000 per employee to have access to views of outdoors in their report. In a separate study, Professor Ihab Elzeyadi from the School of Architecture & Environment, University of Oregon, studied the productivity benefits of an administrative office building at the university (Elzeyadi, 2011)¹ and discovered the employees with views of trees and landscape took an average of 57 hours of sick leave per year compared with 68 hours per year of sick leave taken by employees with no view. Biophilic environments also have a calming effect on the residents. A 2001 study by Frances Kuo and William Sullivan from the Human-Environment Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, showed that the crime rates in inner cities saw a 7-8% reduction in violent and property crimes as a result of greener surroundings in Chicago’s Ida B. Wells Public Housing Development².

Biophilic designs were also incorporated in the urban planning of Singapore at the national level. The planning authorities of Singapore have successfully applied biophilic design concepts and introduced green and natural elements in many of the iconic developments of Singapore. Specific initiatives such as the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s (URA) Landscaping for Urban Spaces and High Rises (Lush) 2.0 Programme and the National Parks' (NParks) Skyrise Greenery scheme have helped to intensify the integration of greenery with our high-density developments.

In the private sector, more developers are embracing biophilic design concepts in their projects. One notable developer leading the way is GuocoLand.

Guoco Midtown: Bringing Greenery to the City

Adding greenery in a thoughtful way has always been one of GuocoLand's trademarks. Long before Covid-19, the developer observed trends in people's lifestyles and realised that modern lives are very hectic, and the home should be a place where time slows down, and people can recharge physically and mentally.

Besides noticing emergent trends such as working from home or e-commerce, even before COVID-19, another trend GuocoLand had also determined was that living in a highly urbanised city state, people value nature more and more. Human beings are naturally biophillic, that is, human beings in general enjoy being in nature. The developer was cognizant about the benefits that being surrounded by greenery can bring about. For Guoco Midtown, they decided to take the incorporating of greenery and nature within a development to a whole new level.

Guoco Midtown is located in the heart of the downtown core at the Beach Road-Bugis area, where there are more skyscrapers than green spaces. Guocoland infuses more greenery in the district by offering more than 3.8 hectares of gardens and green public spaces, equivalent to the size of five soccer fields.

With more than 300 species of flora, these gardens and landscaped areas feature rich biodiversity. They will be situated across the master development, from the ground floor to various levels at the podium to roof tops of the towers.

In total, there are more than 20 gardens of different scales in Guoco Midtown. Some of the thematic gardens include a Hanging Garden with an epiphyte collection over Midtown Market, a Native Garden of native plants and orchids, an avenue of Forest Giants or super tall forest trees, a Water Garden with fresh waterside plant collection and a Therapeutic Garden featuring edibles, medicinal and fragrant plants. These gardens give a sense of living and working in nature and promote the well-being of users.

Guoco Midtown's therapeutic garden will be the first that is located in the Central Business District and which is open to the public. Under NParks guidelines, therapeutic gardens are outdoor gardens specifically designed to meet the physical, psychological and social needs of people using the gardens. This includes providing a natural environment to help the users of the park recover and replenish their directed attention capacity, and an unthreatening environment that activates a positive affective response from users of the park, lowering their stress levels.

The green boundaries which feature a diversity of native flora species serve both as a natural wall to provide exclusivity and a connection to the surrounding green corridors. The Dipterocarps, a family of hardwood trees in the tropical forest, line the perimeter of the development to provide a beautiful, natural sound barrier. The main entrance at Beach Road also boasts a lovely coastal ambient environment, thanks to the strategic use of a tree avenue, soft plantings, water features and stone elements.

The pockets of spaces on the different levels provide respite space for the people, and indirectly function as a microcosm of natural habitats. These also double as leisure and recreational spots, further fostering the biophilic culture within the community.

In the planning phase, GuocoLand took the effort to better understand their tenants and residents so as to build an environment that truly promotes wellness. Some solutions include a state-of-the-art air filtration system to clean the air, and contactless features such as lifts that automatically detect the destination floor of the tenant or visitor when they pass through the turnstiles.

Guoco Midtown is one of the latest projects that shows GuocoLand's continuing commitment to provide wellness to residents and occupants. GuocoLand has been a leader in innovating the built environment to promote wellness. GuocoLand's Martin Modern and Meyer Mansion have 80% of space for landscaping, and both developments are the gold standards of wellness in districts 15 and 9 respectively. The iconic Guoco Tower, Singapore's tallest building, also features much greenery in the communal spaces of the integrated development located at Tanjong Pagar.

Naturally, biophilic developments make investment sense too

Not only do biophilic developments improve the well-being of their residents, these developments make sense for property investors as well. According to the Global Wellness Institute, homeowners are willing to pay an average of a 10% to 25% premium for houses within the wellness communities in their 2018 report.

In a report from Journal of Environmental and Resource Economics at Colby, the authors found that individuals in the United States value health as an inelastic good independent of income and are willing to pay significant premiums to ensure biological sustainability within their homes. Researchers from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the University of Hong Kong discovered that that parks significantly increase property prices and accounts for 10% to 15% of the property value.

Closer to home, private residential projects that feature biophillic designs are able to command high demand and record prices. Midtown Bay, the residential component of the mixed-used development Guoco Midtown, also did well in its launch. Midtown Bay has sold 30% of its units, and the project continues to attract interest amid the COVID-19 outbreak. In June 2020, the project sold units averaging S$3,198 per sqft, with a unit transacting at S$3,435 per sqft.

Biophilia and Wellness in real estate is here to stay

The biophilic urbanism movement has gained much traction in Singapore, and we expect the trend to continue. The extent and scale of biodiversity of the natural landscaping will become more critical unique selling points of projects. Millennial consumers, who will form the bulk of future housing demand and the main drivers of wellness movement, are likely to pursue homes in biophilic developments. The yoga spaces and public spaces will also be more in demand. Hence, the scope of capital appreciation of residential units within biophilic developments are expected to be higher than other projects due to its greater appeal in the future.

Apart from design features such as greenery, water features and yoga or meditation spaces, consumers will also pay a premium to indoor air quality, light, acoustics and sleep. Indoor air quality can be maintained by filtering out contaminants in air and avoid toxic building materials and substances that emit toxic chemicals. Sound pollution, light pollution and digital stimulation can raise stress levels and affect our quality of life. GuocoLand projects have taken these considerations in the design of their residential projects and office developments and continue to stay ahead of the curve. Whether the buyers are purchasing for future investment returns or for own occupation, they can purchase with a peace of mind.

¹Elzeyadi, I. "Daylighting-Bias and Biophilia: Quantifying the Impacts of Daylight on Occupants Health." In: Thought and Leadership in Green Buildings Research. Greenbuild 2011 Proceedings. Washington, DC: USGBC Press. 2011.

² Kuo, Ming & Sullivan, William. (2001). Environment and Crime in the Inner City: Does Vegetation Reduce Crime?. Environment and Behavior - ENVIRON BEHAV. 33. 343-367. 10.1177/00139160121973025.

³ Chan, E.H.-W., So, H.-M., Tang, B.-S., Wong, W.-S., 2008. Private space, shared space and private housing prices in Hong Kong: an exploratory study. Habitat Int. 32, 336–348. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2007.11.004.
Jim, C.Y., Chen, W.Y., 2010th. Land Use Policy 27, 662–670. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2009.08.027.