Surbana Jurong has acquired Prostruct Consulting, one of Singapore’s leading urban and infrastructure protection firms specialising in security, blast consultancy and testing. This move augments Surbana Jurong’s portfolio of built environment services, which includes solutions to protect buildings and infrastructure against blast and other effects of explosions and weapons.
Iconic buildings and infrastructure that attract high crowd density or provide essential services are typically common targets for terrorist attacks. This underscores the need to incorporate protective security features into the design and development of the built environment. With Prostruct’s specialisation in designing blast resistant structural systems, Surbana Jurong can couple it with its existing architectural and civil and structural engineering expertise, and deliver building designs with integrated security measures. The process - dubbed Security by Design - ensures that security measures are effectively incorporated into the building without compromising the design of the building or requiring expensive retrofitting during the later stages of the development life cycle.
Surbana Jurong said this newly acquired specialist capability is timely for the group as the Singapore government has enacted an Infrastructure Protection Act, which requires designated buildings to integrate security measures - such as strengthening against blast effects - into their designs before they are built or renovated. These designs must be assessed by certified security and blast consultants.
Wong Heang Fine, group CEO of Surbana Jurong said, “Prostruct’s expertise in blast consultancy complements the group’s civil and structural engineering capability and security services, allowing us to safeguard urban and infrastructure projects globally. The combined strengths reinforce Surbana Jurong’s commitment to build safe, secure and sustainable spaces for communities to live, work and play in.”
Prostruct Consulting has provided blast consultancy for a wide range of projects including industrial, commercial, healthcare, recreation, transportation and defence facilities in the public and private sectors. It is a Singapore Accreditation Council accredited commercial blast testing service provider, and has conducted blast tests to assess the blast resistance of building structures such as door systems and protective structures.
Dr Ang Choon Keat, founder and managing director of Prostruct Consulting commented, “Joining Surbana Jurong enables Prostruct to leverage the group’s global presence and multidisciplinary services across the urban and infrastructure development value chain, and extend our reach beyond the Singapore market. Since the acquisition, Prostruct has secured new projects jointly with other disciplines and member companies within the Surbana Jurong Group.”
One of Prostruct’s innovations is blast resistant roller shutter. It has been designed such that the panels of the shutter do not detach, and are able to withstand the enormous blast pressure and heat from an explosion. Using these shutters prevent flying fragments from detached panels from causing more injury during an explosion. The shutters are easy to operate and can be retrofitted to existing buildings without excessive structural works.
Prostruct has also teamed up with Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University and JTC to develop a type of fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) that is ready-to-stick and can be easily applied onto building structures to reinforce and protect them. This innovation is especially useful for the repair and rehabilitation of ageing infrastructure and buildings. Blast tests conducted by Prostruct have demonstrated that FRP is suitable for strengthening any structure against blasts. Besides halving the time and effort needed for installation, prefabricating this FRP in the factory ensures consistency in quality as conditions can be better controlled.
Another innovation from Prostruct is crash bollards, which protect the perimeters of buildings as they can withstand high impact from heavy vehicles crashing into them. According to Prostruct, crash tests and simulations of a crash bollard system have proven the resistance of the bollards against crash.
Images: Prostruct Consulting
