Why Singapore’s non-Grade-A spaces could offer a different path to workplace quality
Singapore’s office market continues to experience a clear flight to quality. Demand for well-located, highly specified office space remains strong, while the supply of premium stock is increasingly constrained. In Q2 2026, Core CBD Grade A vacancy remained at a record low of 3.3%, while rents increased by 0.8% quarter-on-quarter to S$12.50 psf per month — the sixth consecutive quarter of rental growth. CBRE also noted that Shaw Tower was the only major office completion in 2026, with no significant new supply expected through 2027.
As availability tightens, occupiers may need to look beyond traditional Grade A offices. Older commercial buildings, converted warehouses and B1 environments can offer an alternative — often with greater scope for intervention and, in some cases, qualities that are difficult to replicate in a conventional office tower: character, volume, natural light, flexibility and a genuine blank canvas.
Location, accessibility, floorplate, infrastructure, planning parameters and economics remain fundamental. But so too are the characteristics that can shape the employee experience: natural light, architectural character, amenity and the potential to create a distinctive destination.
The Definition of an Office Destination Is Becoming More Fluid
Singapore is also seeing the boundaries between office, retail and lifestyle environments become less distinct. Deloitte’s planned relocation from its long-standing Shenton Way base to Orchard Central is a notable example. From 2027, the firm plans to occupy several upper floors of Orchard Central, a fundamentally retail-led destination.
Employees experience more than the workplace itself. They experience the journey to work, the building, the neighbourhood, and the retail, dining, hospitality and lifestyle amenities around it. This creates another dimension to workplace strategy. The value of a workplace can be created by its ecosystem as much as by its building specification.
Design Unlocks The Potential
This is where design becomes part of the building selection process, rather than simply the step that follows it.
A test-fit can determine whether an unconventional floorplate can support the right mix of focus, collaboration and social spaces. A technical assessment can establish whether existing infrastructure can be upgraded. Workplace strategy can test whether the location supports the employee proposition.
The result is a different approach to real estate:
Strategy defines the experience.
Design tests the potential.
From Flight to Quality to Flight To Potential
The traditional flight to quality has been a flight to better buildings.
The next evolution may be a flight to better workplace outcomes.
For some organisations, that will mean a premium CBD tower. For others, it may be a city-fringe commercial building, a converted industrial environment, or a workplace embedded within a retail and lifestyle ecosystem.
As Grade A supply tightens, occupiers have an opportunity to expand their search — not by accepting lower quality, but by redefining where quality can be created.
The opportunity is to identify buildings with the right fundamentals, understand their potential, and design the experience around the people and businesses they need to support.
The building is the starting point.
Design creates the experience.
About Jianhan Qiu, Principal, Strategy, Unispace Asia
Jianhan serves as the Principal for Strategy in Asia, where he leads the strategy and change management practice. He has developed innovative strategy and change management solutions that have helped many organisations align their work environment with their goals. As a certified LUMA practitioner, Jianhan is always embedding human certified design thinking into his solutions which contributed to his success as a seasoned workplace strategist.
Follow Jianhan Qiu on LinkedIn.