Customer story · Real estate · Singapore

How State Street reached BCA Green Mark Platinum.

A farm wall on the 24th floor of Capital Tower helped State Street clear its final certification hurdles, and gave five business lines a reason to meet.

12 Mar 2026

6 min read · Grobrix team

For global financial institutions, the workplace has become the social fabric of the firm. At State Street’s Singapore office, Ralph Davies, Vice President and Head of Real Estate (APAC ex. India), found a way to bridge technical certification requirements and the everyday experience of his team.

Making sustainability tangible

In Singapore, environmental performance is measured by the BCA Green Mark, and Platinum is its highest tier. It is notoriously hard to achieve and calls for a holistic approach to office management. Working with CBRE Paia Consulting, State Street chose Grobrix farm walls to make its technical sustainability work visible and tactile for employees.

The idea came from a peer. Davies saw another organisation use Grobrix to score points towards its own certification. In a framework where every point counts, the farm gave State Street the edge it needed to clear its final hurdles.

“

I got talking to a peer in corporate real estate whose organisation used Grobrix to score points toward their BCA Green Mark certification. I wanted to strive for that same level of attainment.

Ralph Davies

· Vice President, Head of APAC Real Estate, State Street

Community through regular harvests

Building a genuine sense of belonging is hard in any large organisation. State Street runs five legal entities on a single floor, a set-up that naturally leads to silos. Regular Grobrix harvests have become a social anchor, drawing people together and turning the pantry into common ground.

“We have multiple business lines with some segregation across the floor, and sometimes staff won’t have met before,” Davies says. Harvests give people a low-pressure reason to start conversations, and younger employees and interns in particular share them on LinkedIn.

Harvest days and farm-to-table events at State Street, Singapore.

Wellness with a healthy twist

The farm wall is part of State Street’s wider wellness strategy, not just greenery. The office hosts hands-on events: smoothie workshops using greens grown steps from people’s desks, and Family Days where children become urban farmers for the afternoon.

This farm-to-table programming gives people a real reason to come into the office, turning an ordinary afternoon into a peak occupancy day.

Across the Grobrix network · 400+ employees surveyed

93%say Grobrix builds a sense of workplace community

98%report healthier eating habits at work

96%feel a lift in their mental wellbeing

97%say the farm sparks a more sustainable mindset

High value, minimal footprint

For facilities teams, the farm turns under-used wall space into something valuable. Where every square foot counts, it shows sustainability doesn’t have to be complex or bulky. Davies calls it a “high-value, low-impact solution” that is “low-touch” to run.

What’s next

Next stop, Boston. Singapore is now State Street’s proof of concept. The Real Estate team in Boston is exploring Grobrix for its headquarters at 1 Congress Street.