Transforming oral health and education in Singapore

Combining the National University Hospital’s dental expertise and NUS dental school under the roof of one purpose-built facility - National University Centre for Oral Health Singapore (NUCOHS) has transformed dentistry in this city. 

A centre of vital importance within Singapore’s healthcare system, the National University Centre for Oral Health Singapore (NUCOHS) is home to the nation’s only dentistry school and its second specialist dentistry facility.

Housed in a multi-storey building that spans 30,000 m², NUCOHS brings together the dental department of the National University Hospital (NUH) and NUS (National University of Singapore’s) Faculty of Dentistry in a way that will drive clinical excellence.

Working closely with NUH and NUS, we helped bring this exciting project to life by providing MEP (mechanical, electrical, plumbing) and fire engineering services that can comfortably handle 500 patients per day – a 40% increase from the previous facility.

Key to our engagement was migrating the utility plant for the existing hospital to a new utility plant. This included installing new chiller, medical gas plants and a 22kv electrical substation to serve both the then under construction NUCOHS and the existing NUH, without disrupting day-to-day hospital operations. This was achieved by adopting a Failure Mode Effect Analysis (FMEA) approach to ensure a seamless switchover between these two systems.

Now, with NUCOHS up and running, Singapore’s residents can have their oral health needs taken care of in a calming, patient-centric environment. Whilst undergraduate dental students now enjoy educational VR (virtual reality) technology that allows them to finesse their skills before they practice on real patients.

Thanks to NUCOHS, the oral health of Singapore will be in good hands for many generations to come.

Awards

• 2018 BCA Green Mark Award for Building - Platinum
• 2017 BCA Universal Design Mark Award - Gold (Design)