Pan Pacific Orchard clinches Hotel Development Excellence award

Pan Pacific Orchard’s biophilic design was created in collaboration with award-winning architectural firm WOHA (Photo: Pan Pacific Orchard).

Pan Pacific Orchard, the latest landmark on Orchard Road, claimed the prestigious inaugural Hotel Development Award at the EdgeProp Singapore Excellence Awards (EPEA) in 2023. This luxurious 23-storey hotel, featuring 347 rooms, represents a remarkable redevelopment project that transformed the former Negara Hotel at 10 Claymore Road.

Developed jointly by Singapore-listed UOL Group and its subsidiary, Pan Pacific Hotels Group, Pan Pacific Orchard is Singapore’s first low-waste biophilic hotel.

More than half a billion dollars was spent to develop Pan Pacific London, Pan Pacific Orchard and Pan Pacific Singapore (Photo: Pan Pacific Orchard).

The hotel is located within the prime Orchard Road-Claymore Road neighbourhood. Nearby is Palais Renaissance, which underwent a $7 million revamp last year. Located on the opposite side of Orchard Road are Forum The Shopping Mall, voco Orchard Singapore and HPL House, which will be redeveloped by Hotel Properties Limited.

Meanwhile, the neighbouring Far East Shopping Centre will likewise be redeveloped, having been sold en bloc for $90 million last month. The buyer is Chinese billionaire Du Shuanghua’s investment vehicle, Glory Property Development. In the future, that whole stretch of Orchard Road will be rejuvenated.

Tropical design

The green, eye-catching design of Pan Pacific Orchard makes it stand out from its neighbouring buildings at Orchard Road and reflects its theme: “Surrounded by nature, framing nature, abstracting nature”.

The biophilic design was brought to life by renowned local architectural firm WOHA, known for its sustainable designs. The design features four high-volume, distinct, green, open-air terraces configured in L-shaped stacks. The terraces have more than 150,000 sq ft of foliage and water features.

One of the huge living green columns connecting the distinct terraces (Photo: Albert Chua/The Edge Singapore).

The different levels are connected with huge columns completely covered with lush greenery. These terraces have been designed to suit different themes and named accordingly: Forest, Beach, Garden and Cloud. The unique features in each strata ensure that the hotel can cater to guests with diverse needs and interests.

The Forest strata can be found at the ground level. Its design emulates the natural elements found in a rainforest, including a cascading waterfall and soaring trees. It also houses the hotel’s lobby and all-day space.

The second strata houses the Beach terrace and features a beach-like environment in a neutral palette, complete with sand, palm groves and an emerald lagoon. It is located between the fifth and 10th floors, and includes a wellness centre, cabanas, waterside bar, gym and spa.

Its third Garden strata, located on the 12th to 16th floors, has a European layout featuring a manicured garden with semi-outdoor function areas, while the fourth Cloud strata on the 19th to 23rd floors has a ballroom and main events spaces that overlook the city.

The interior of the fourth terrace has been designed with a lighter, pastel palette with reflective and metallic elements to emphasise the breathtaking views of the city centre. The extensive use of greenery throughout the development has attained the hotel's green plot ratio of 9.38.

In terms of its design, Pan Pacific Orchard harmoniously blends beauty and sustainability. The hotel’s facade has clean, modern lines and architectural fins that provide sun-shading.

Sustainability in mind

The development’s commitment to sustainability is reinforced in its construction and systems. Pan Pacific Orchard has been designed with an expansive rooftop photovoltaic or solar power system and comes complete with a rainwater harvesting system. This allows the hotel to rely on irrigation methods for its landscape’s water needs, creating more efficient energy and water use.

Water-efficient fittings will also be installed in the hotel’s efforts to conserve water usage.

Additionally, the hotel has rain sensors linked with the water-efficient irrigation system to suspend irrigation during periods of rainfall. This minimises the hotel’s water wastage. On top of these features, the hotel also has an internal greywater recycling system. This refers to wastewater treatment from appliances, such as showers, baths and sinks so that the water can be reused into the property for non-potable purposes, such as flushing toilets.

The hotel has also been constructed using environmentally friendly materials, extensively using products certified by the Singapore Green Building Council. These products are recycled and low-energy materials, such as one-tick concrete, two-tick toilet waterproofing, internal dry walls, toilet partitions, landscape mats, and precast walls.

The hotel is built with eco-friendly materials, using products certified by the Singapore Green Building Council (Photo: Albert Chua/The Edge Singapore).

To conserve energy, the hotel has implemented energy-saving systems and designs. It has a unique building massing and passive design to optimise natural daylight and ventilation. A passive design reduces the need for additional heating or cooling to maintain a comfortable temperature in the development, reducing energy consumption. In addition, 38% of the hotel's common areas have effective daylighting. This refers to the effective placement of windows and other openings, which allows natural light to come into the property, reducing the use of artificial lighting.

It also uses low-energy double-glazed glass windows to reduce heat transfer through the building and uses energy-efficient air distribution systems and LED lighting. Its lifts are equipped with energy-efficient systems, while its roofs have a solar power system installed to generate energy for the hotel’s usage. The hotel also has energy-efficient air-to-water heat pumps that generate hot water.

Pan Pacific Orchard has also implemented eco-friendly waste management and heat recovery systems. This includes having recycling bins conveniently located in its main lift lobby, car park lift lobby and back-of-house areas to encourage recycling.

For food waste, the hotel has a bio-digester system that recycles food waste with by-products of greywater and organic compost.

This compost will be fed back to the eco-digester system for self-sufficiency. Every guest room has also been equipped with water dispensers to reduce the usage of plastic water bottles.
Elsewhere, the localised hotspots at the hotel’s external areas have integrated dry misting with fans for extra cooling. Its lobby and pre-function spaces also reuse pre-cooled exhaust air from adjacent air-conditioned spaces for cooling.

The property’s numerous green efforts have earned Pan Pacific Orchard the Green Mark Platinum score, the highest environmental certification by the Building and Construction Authority.