JCube is a shopping centre located in Jurong East, Singapore. It opens from 10 am to 10 pm and is home to Singapore’s first Olympic-size ice rink and the first IMAX theatre in the suburbs. It was built on the former site of the Jurong Entertainment Centre. The name, JCube was decided on after a naming competition held in 2010. J represents the mall’s location in Jurong. Cube represents what JCube was designed to look like - an ice cube. It was co-designed by RSP Architects and Benoy. It is owned by CapitaMall Trust and managed by CapitaMalls Asia and thus is a participating mall in CapitaStars, the cardless rewards programme by CapitaMalls Asia.
Jurong Entertainment Centre
Prior to its construction, a shopping centre Jurong Entertainment Centre was once located on its current site. It was closed for redevelopment in October 2008 and was expected to be completed by 2011. However, due to the financial crisis of 2007–2010 and high construction costs, the redevelopment programme was delayed. The building was completely demolished in February 2010.
Reconstruction and opening
On 21 May 2010, CapitaMall Trust held a groundbreaking ceremony for its new mall on the site of the former Jurong Entertainment Centre. The new mall, named JCube, comprises five levels of retail, two basement levels of car park and a rooftop landscaped plaza. JCube opened and welcomed shoppers on 2 April 2012 and is managed by CapitaMalls Asia.
Green initiatives
In 2011, JCube was awarded the Green Mark Platinum award by the Building and Construction Authority in Singapore. It is estimated that the mall will save 7,793,984 kWh/year in energy and 3,419m3/year in water. This can be done because the mall is fitted with various green features to help it reduce the consumption of utilities. Grey-water ice shavings from the ice rink are recycled; plants in the mall are watered using rainwater collected from a rainwater harvesting tank; waste heat generated from the cooling of the ice rink is also recycled to heat the rink’s zamboni and shower rooms, the use of solar panels to generate electricity and the use of green demolition for the former Jurong Entertainment Centre.
Due to the opening of Jem and Westgate and declining number of shoppers, J.Avenue, located on Level 2 of JCube, was launched on 6 September 2014. J.Avenue is mainly targeted at the young, and to keep them returning, retail concepts will be constantly updated throughout the year. There are trick art installations so that people can take selfies with interesting backgrounds. Since their target audience, the young, are more tech-savvy, J.Avenue also launched an online portal, featuring some merchandise available at the stores in J.Avenue.
