Tree House (翠林屋) is a condominium on Chestnut Avenue, in the Upper Bukit Timah area, developed by City Developments Limited (CDL) and completed in 2013. It comprises four 24-storey towers with 429 units, on a site of 22,700 square metres held on a 99-year lease.
The vertical garden
Tree House is best known for the green wall on its west-facing facades. In June 2014 CDL announced that the 24-storey, 2,289 square metre vertical garden had entered Guinness World Records as the largest vertical garden in the world. The planting acts as a shade for the 48 west-facing master bedrooms behind it; CDL estimated that it would cut air-conditioning energy use in those rooms by 15% to 30%.
Other green features
CDL listed a number of other design features, including:
- sky gardens on the 7th, 13th and 19th storeys of each block;
- a dual-chute pneumatic waste collection system that separates domestic and recyclable waste;
- bio-swales that use the site's natural slope to collect and filter rainwater for landscape irrigation, alongside a rainwater harvesting system;
- heat-reducing laminated green-tinted windows, motion sensors for staircase lighting, and lifts with sleep-mode programming.
Awards
- BCA Green Mark Platinum (2010)
- MIPIM Asia Awards 2013: Best Innovative Green Building
- NParks Skyrise Greenery Awards 2013: Special Award, Best Design for Maintenance
- SGBC-BCA Sustainability Leadership Award 2016: Sustainability in Design & Performance (Residential)
Management
The estate is run by MCST 4068, with Savills Property Management Pte Ltd as managing agent. The management office is at 64 Chestnut Avenue #01-19, Singapore 679519. Upkeep of the vertical garden and the other common green features falls to the MCST; the office's telephone number and enquiry form are on the main page of this listing.
Sources: CDL news release, 11 June 2014; CDL, How we took greening to new heights; CDL annual reports 2012 and 2016.