Far East Organization (FEO) today unveiled the foundation stone for its S$257 million Novena Medical Center located within a mixed commercial development, Square 2, above the Novena MRT station. The event was officiated by Dr Balaji Sadasivan, Senior Minister of State for Health, at the project site at Sinaran Drive.

Today’s Foundation Stone Unveiling Ceremony is the culmination of more than two years of work on the upcoming Novena Medical Center being developed by FEO. The project is the first of its kind in concept in Singapore involving the collaboration of a private-sector property developer and other public and private sector hospitals.

To expand its cooperation network, FEO has inked memoranda of cooperation with Raffles Hospital and Mount Alvernia Hospital, to facilitate access by NMC’s medical specialists to accreditation and admitting privileges at these hospitals. FEO has further developed the co-operation to sign a definitive agreement with Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) facilitating such access to the hospital’s facilities. 

Benefits and synergies in partnerships
  
This cooperation network is in line with the principle of resource and capacity optimisation in public sector and private sector hospital facilities. NMC’s physical linkage to TTSH and its cooperation agreement with the latter will facilitate this further.

This cooperation network further provides for a wider choice of quality healthcare services, resources, infrastructure and facilities to better serve the needs and preferences of different patient segments both in Singapore and the region.

Medical specialists at NMC and their patients will therefore have access to world-class infrastructure, facilities and systems from both the public and private sectors. NMC’s collaboration with Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Raffles Hospital and Mount Alvernia Hospital creates extensive synergies by pooling together existing excellent medical resources and facilities, with added value provided by NMC’s purpose-built medical suites offering quality, technologically advanced features. The end result is seamless access to quality healthcare facilities and services from specialist care to in-patient services for all patients.     

Dovetail with SingaporeMedicine

In October 2003, the government launched the SingaporeMedicine initiative to develop Singapore into one of Asia’s leading destinations for healthcare services. Its two key thrusts are clinical excellence and the attraction of foreign patients. The aim of SingaporeMedicine is to serve one million foreign patients, five times the current number, annually by 2012.

NMC is well placed to participate in, and contribute to, the growth of the healthcare services sector as envisioned in SingaporeMedicine:

- Private sector investment and capability building: NMC is a prime example of private sector investment in capability and infrastructure building in Singapore’s rapidly expanding healthcare services sector. Its success will spawn further efforts by local and foreign investors in the sector.  

- Building a hub of clinical excellence: Designed to be a world-class medical centre, NMC, together with TTSH’s technologically advanced medical resources and facilities, provide the requisite infrastructure, environment and services to grow a hub of clinical excellence.     

- National marketing: In promoting NMC to the region, FEO will work with EDB, STB and I. E. Singapore as well as partnering hospitals with resultant spotlight on Singapore’s healthcare services capabilities in the public and private sectors.   

Innovating for tomorrow’s medical landscape

The medical scene today is evolving rapidly. To remain competitive, Singapore needs to respond to the rising aspirations and expectations of an expanding base of discerning, affluent customers, both locally and from the region, for a wide spectrum of quality healthcare services. In addition to essential medical care, these customers are also seeking other healthcare services such as elective surgery to meet their lifestyle preferences.          

Novena Medical Center has been conceptualised to respond to this changing landscape of healthcare and to satisfy the more exacting desires, needs and standards demanded by modern medicine today. The architectural design takes on a holistic approach, to achieve a sophisticated building that evokes positive response, and enhance a medical care-seeker’s sense of well-being as well as staff and visitor satisfaction. Novena Medical Center will be differentiated as a modern 21st century medical haven that brings healthcare delivery to a new level. This is addressed through good planning and careful attention to improving the quality of the interior built environment.

Novena Medical Center will be a progressive space with a plethora of modern trappings to enhance the experience of its users. It will have a deluxe hotel-style lobby approached by its own dedicated generous porte cochere for the comfort of patients and visitors. It will house 145 well-designed and efficiently configured medical suites for specialists and general practices, with the IT and physical connectivity that modern medicine demands today.

All medical floors are clad in glazing, externally, and are designed around a glazed central landscaped courtyard. The suites will enjoy lots of natural light with generous views of lush, landscaped gardens with water features at the open courtyard and the external surroundings. This large courtyard doubles up as a tranquil waiting area for visitors and a relaxation space for staff. The medical floors will be well served by lifts and escalators that connect to car parks directly below with ample parking facilities. The friendly, soothing, bright and airy environment will pamper patients and visitors while ensuring efficiency for doctors and staff.

A regional hub of medical excellence in a vibrant urban community 

Novena Medical Center is integrated into a commercial development Square 2 that will have five levels with over 400 trendy retail outlets, chic cafes and elegant restaurants. Square 2 has immediate passage into the Novena MRT station and will be seamlessly connected to neighbouring Novena Square. Novena Medical Center will have a direct air-conditioned link-bridge with travellators on its third level connecting to Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

When completed in 2007, Novena Medical Center at Square 2 will be at the heart of a vibrant district commercial centre envisioned by the Urban Redevelopment Authority for the Novena area. This Novena Fringe Centre will be the hub of the future commercial activities in Novena area, which is set to become a thriving urban community with a rich variety of commercial and residential developments in close proximity to the city.

The area boosts well-established infrastructural and community facilities and a successful blend of high-end residences, office buildings, modern malls, local shopping and a medical cluster comprising Tan Tock Seng Hospital, National Neuroscience Institute, Thomson Medical Centre, National Skin Centre and nearby KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

More housing units are envisioned for Novena so that more people can enjoy these facilities. The target is to increase the number of homes in the area to 28,500 units. The working population will rise with the emergence of a vibrant business, commercial and lifestyle hub at Novena Fringe Centre.  

Far East Organization, Singapore’s largest privately owned property developer with numerous international awards for development excellence, is committed to develop a quality multi-component project in Square 2 that will plug into these exciting developments in the Novena area. Its recent conferment of the Urban Land Institute Award for Excellence 2004, an internationally acclaimed award recognising excellence in urban land use practice, for The Fullerton, stands it in good stead to produce yet another world-class development in Novena Medical Center at Square 2. FEO will once again harness its “truly superior development efforts” in the disciplines of planning, design and development, to ensure that the project achieves the highest standards of development excellence, contributes to Singapore’s outstanding live-work-play environment and complements and enhances the greater community.

Issued by Far East Organization
Far East Organization is a four-time winner of the FIABCI Prix d'Excellence, a world first in the highly regarded international real estate awards. Its award winning projects include: The Fullerton (Leisure Category, 2003), Gardenville (Residential Category, 2002), Far East Square (Specialised Category, 2001) and The Bayshore (Residential Category, 1999).

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Tay Lay Kheng, Senior Manager, Corporate Affairs
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