A Day in the Life of
a Land Reclamation
Engineer
Ever wondered how HDB supports the Government’s objective of land creation?
Meet Bryan Tan, an Engineer in the Land Reclamation Department (LRD). Bryan and his team oversee HDB’s
land reclamation works to support Singapore’s long term land use needs. But they don’t just create land – they
do it sustainably by re-purposing excavated materials collected from the construction industry as reclamation
infill material. This is done through HDB’s two staging grounds - the Aviation Park Staging Ground (APSG) and
Tanah Merah Staging Ground (TMSG).
As a member of LRD, Bryan monitors and coordinates with multiple users and stakeholders to ensure the
smooth operation of both staging grounds. He also oversees and manages consultants and contractors to
ensure that the excavated materials collected at the staging grounds are infilled at the reclamation site safely
and on schedule.
Join us as we take a closer look into a typical workday for Bryan!
9.00AM
Bryan starts his day by logging into the online staging
ground (SG) system to ensure that the SGs are ready to
meet the daily user delivery rates. Every day, about 1,200
trucks arrive at the SGs, and Bryan closely monitors the
volume and travel time of each truck through the system.
This allows him to keep track of the overall service
performance of the SGs and anticipate any potential long
queue times. If any operational issues arise, Bryan works
closely with the consultants to address them and ensure
that the SGs continue to operate efficiently.
As Bryan is also planning for a new project, he ends his
morning by conducting consultations and coordinating
reviews with agencies and key stakeholders.
2.00PM
After lunch, Bryan heads over to the APSG site office
for a progress meeting with the consultant and
contractor. They discuss the coordination work for the
upcoming 2024 Singapore Air Show, which will be
using part of APSG’s site.
Bryan reveals that traffic from the bi-annual airshow
will be interfacing with the trucks from APSG’s
operations. Thus, detailed planning of the site layout is
crucial to ensure that both the event and APSG’s
operations run smoothly. This involves an iterative
process of designing the traffic plan with the relevant
stakeholders to obtain the best arrangement possible
for all parties.
5.00PM
To conclude his day, Bryan visits the site with the consultant and contractor to inspect the installation of
Prefabricated Vertical Drain works to ensure that work progresses safely and is on schedule. This is done
after the excavated material collected at the SG is transported to the reclamation site and infilled. In fact,
there are days where Bryan and his team hosts visits for other agencies interested in learning how HDB’s
SGs operate!
Featured here is a site visit to APSG with NEA Chairman, Mr Lee Chuan Seng, and our NEA colleagues.
It was indeed an eye-opener getting a glimpse into the day of a land reclamation engineer
and we hope it has given you a newfound appreciation of the important work that they do!
Keen to share a glimpse of your day with us, or know of a colleague who does interesting
behind the scenes work in their job? Let us know by scanning this QR Code/by clicking on
this link
HERE
to be featured next!
