MVA supported Master Plan in Brunei receives Merit Award

The Bandar Seri Begawan Development Master Plan has been awarded the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Merit Award for Urban Design from the Hong Kong Chapter on November 21st 2011. The Master Plan has been developed for the main central area of Brunei; this includes the major concentrations of commercial and government offices, also some residential areas and important religious, cultural and historic sites. The Waterfront is a prominent feature of the area and preserving its accessibility for the public and promoting its attractiveness is a key component of the overall plan.

The Master Plan was prepared by a leading International Architects, HOK with MVA playing a major role in providing the traffic and transport elements which were a prominent component of the plan. Other key team members included Jones Lang LaSalle, Meinhardt , OWMP and Biomimicry Guild.

Objectives of the Master Plan are three-fold:

• To maintain the status of Bandar Seri Begawan as one of the top ten most livable cities in Asia (The Asia Week, 1996-1999)
• To ensure orderly development so as to make Bandar Seri Begawan a safe, friendly and livable place
• To craft immediate, medium and long-term development policies and strategies for Bandar Seri Begawan until the year 2035 and beyond

The Capital of Brunei is known as Bandar Seri Begawan, or BSB. Government had decided that this should be expanded from the current 13 sq km, to over 100 sq km. In order to guide the development, a Master Plan would be required. The Master Plan has developed short, medium and longer terms sustainable development plan and policies to maintain Brunei as one of the most livable cities in Asia. And this was the basis for the Merit Award.

The transport plan prepared by MVA prioritised the highway schemes and traffic proposals to remedy current traffic issues in the short term and to support the long term development plan. Other traffic policy proposals included parking and servicing standards, expanding the need for TIA assessments prior to granting development rights, improved pedestrian facilities, revising the provision and control of taxi services, improving the provision of school buses, and encouraging the use of “greener vehicles”.

The key proposals concerned the significant improvement to Public Transport (PT), and the emphasis on Transport Oriented Development to encourage PT usage These centered on the Integrated Public Transport System (IPTS), where the trunk services would initially be provided by buses, but with the current fleet and operations upgraded with modern and well-maintained vehicles and revised time-tables, routing and location and equipping of stops. In the mid-longer term an LRT system could be supported if the development targets were achieved; a potential corridor was identified and proposed for safe-guarding..

Provision of good interchange points in each District were another important feature, These should be user friendly with comfortable waiting facilities, good pedestrian access, where passengers can interchange between services and modes, including bus, LRT, taxi and water-bus; parking facilities would be provided to promote park and ride. Integrated fare systems and coordinated time-tables to promote interchange were also proposed, together with good Information Systems to make the system attractive to the user and encourage a switch away from car usage. This would be a great advantage for Visitors and Tourists, besides promoting the Livability of Brunei for local residents.