The BCA Undergraduate
Scholarship offers young
talents an opportunity
to contribute to the
development of our
safe, high-quality
and sustainable built
environment. We talk to
BCA Scholar Kwa Chin
Soon to gain insights into
his geotechnical role and
how he helps to champion
the mission of BCA.
Our built environment refers to the human-made space which encompasses buildings, parks
and neighbourhoods where people live, work and play.
The Building and Construction Authority (BCA)'s vision is to have a future-ready built
environment for Singapore. While maintaining the safety, sustainability and quality of our built
environment, BCA strives to ensure that Singapore continues to be recognised as a unique and
distinctive global city. This is achieved with the help of BCA’s team of civil engineering experts, which
includes the Geotechnical Engineers.
Geotechnical engineers are experts in the behaviour of earth materials and their interaction with
man-made elements such as foundations, flatwork and pipelines. Their work extends to evaluating
the suitability of potential construction sites, assessing the ease with which soil can be excavated
and ascertaining if materials at a site can support construction activities.
Kwa Chin Soon is one of BCA’s geotechnical engineers. He is also a BCA Local Undergraduate
Scholar. Chin Soon chose to take up the scholarship with BCA because it gave him the opportunity
to pursue his desired course of study and apply his theoretical knowledge in his career thereafter.
“As the authority of our built environment, BCA regulates the industry and plays a huge role in leading
and transforming Singapore’s built environment. In addition to applying my theoretical knowledge in
BCA, I was largely attracted by the prospect of making a difference to Singapore’s built environment,”
says Chin Soon.
Building a career
Chin Soon’s interest in civil engineering intensified when he moved into a developing town at the
age of 15. He witnessed the construction of Compass Point and LRT tracks from what used to be
bare land and was inspired to be a part of the creation and transformation of Singapore’s landscape.
He tells us, “My interest in creating and transforming Singapore’s landscape from just bare land was
ignited when I was young. My father was a carpenter and I often saw him creating large furniture
from simple materials. This propelled me towards a profession in civil engineering.”
Today, Chin Soon’s job as a Senior Engineer in the Deep Excavation
and Geotechnical Department sees him ensuring that both normal and
geotechnical building works comply with high standards of safety. He
explains that the challenges in processing Geotechnical Building Works
include preventing damages that these works cause to adjacent structures, a
complex task considering the dense nature of Singapore’s built environment.
He prevents such issues by carrying out active monitoring and frequent site
inspections to identify tell-tale signs that could lead to potential problems.
Kwa Chin Soon
BCA Local Undergraduate Scholar
Designation:
Senior Engineer, Deep Excavation &
Geotechnical Department
Studied:
Master of Engineering in Geotechnology,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US
Master of Social Science in Applied Economics,
National University of Singapore
Bachelor of Engineering (Civil),
National University of Singapore
He elaborates on his work scope, “Each project requires different
construction work processes. These can range from a 10 metre deep
excavation and a slope stability calculation to tunneling for an MRT project.
“As Singapore’s ground conditions vary spatially, good geological
information is extremely important to ensure the design safety and quality
for Singapore’s built environment.”
Bountiful experiences
Chin Soon’s most memorable experience in BCA was when he travelled
to Norway with another government agency on a study trip, to observe
Norway’s underground rock caverns used for various facilities. “It was indeed
an eye-opening experience. We visited the Gjøvik Olympic Cavern Hall which
is the largest public cavern hall in the world, and also got to interact with top
professionals and academia in the rock mechanism and geology field,” Chin
Soon reminisces.
In fact, with the BCA scholarship, Chin Soon’s adventures begun even
before he started working in BCA. During his undergraduate years at the
National University of Singapore (NUS), he participated in an overseas
exchange programme in Sweden’s Lund University where he learned about
the structural design and urban sustainability of Sweden’s built environment.
He also embarked on several independent studies which include topics like
sheet pile design, rock joint discontinuity assessment and the comparison of
steel design between different structural codes.
One of his achievements as an undergraduate was to help his team come
in first place amongst 42 other international teams in the Introducing and
Demonstrating Earthquake Engineering Research’s (IDEERS) Earthquake
Engineering Challenge. This was an International Earthquake modelling
competition held in Taiwan.
"We visited the Gjøvik Olympic Cavern Hall which
is the largest public cavern hall in the world, and also got to interact with top
professionals and academia in the rock mechanism and geology field."
He shares, “My BCA scholarship gave me a great sense of purpose
when I was studying. In fact, my desire to represent NUS in the earthquake
engineering challenge was sparked by the motivation to apply the knowledge
I gained through my independent studies!”
Following aspirations
Chin Soon acknowledges that with an evolving built environment, there
is a need to constantly move forward. He believes that developing an
underground city will help alleviate the problem of land scarcity in Singapore.
He elaborates, “Developing a city underground is definitely a feasible
option, considering that Singapore will be able to achieve optimal land use
and a solution to land scarcity. This option will also become more attractive
as the opportunity cost of land use above the ground becomes higher.
“However, we would have to take into account more than just the
engineering challenges. Our perspectives, social interactions and lifestyle
when working in an underground city would be quite different and take a lot
of getting used to.”
With that said, Chin Soon advises aspiring scholars to work towards
determining the aspect of the built environment to which they want to apply
their technical knowledge. He concludes, “Aspiring scholars must understand
the role BCA plays in the wider built environment, and think about which
aspect of the built environment their passion truly lies in order to stand out
from the competition.”