Singapore start-up EXPIScore has launched the world’s first star rating system for human-centric customer experience (CX) in buildings. Developed by founder and internationally award-winning researcher Dr Marigold Kimura, PhD, in collaboration with Executive Advisor Peter Holland, the system is designed to help the real estate industry deliver experiential real estate environments with greater simplicity and clarity.

The framework comprises a comprehensive set of rating criteria centred on people’s needs, preferences, and aspirations for their real estate environments, identified through detailed consumer surveys in consultation with industry experts and pilot adopters.

EXPIScore is available in two assessment categories, EXPIScore: LIVE and EXPIScore: WORK. Real estate providers—including developers, owners, or managers—receive a CX score out of 100, along with an EXPIScore star rating, ranging from three to six stars for any nominated property. 

Ratings are typically valid for 18 months post-completion for new developments, and three years for existing completed properties.

EXPIScore’s star rating system serves as a tangible outcome and benchmark for real estate providers to gain a better understanding of their building’s CX performance and how they perform against fellow industry players. It also helps people make better choices about where to spend a significant portion of their lives—where they live, work and play.

The assessment provides real estate providers of nominated buildings with an expert-prepared report. This includes a scorecard and a clear, actionable roadmap to enhance human-centric CX outcomes within the building, development or portfolio innovatively and cost-effectively. The report further identifies potential avenues to improve the building’s CX, marketing appeal and revenue potential.

A “human-centric customer experience” in buildings is about the perceived quality of buildings through the eyes of the people using them. It is made up of many elements that collectively shape people’s perception of the building, from building design and amenities to operations, occupant management, as well as community building. For the real estate industry, this means considering the human perspective at every stage, from planning and design to construction and operations.

When real estate providers commit to a human-centric CX that puts people’s needs, preferences, and aspirations at the centre of each development or building, they are committing to improving people’s quality of life, whether at home or work.

However, experience-oriented investments can be highly complex to measure due to their intangible nature. The launch of EXPIScore is a pioneering move in the global real estate industry, introducing best practice guidelines to help guide, prioritise, optimise, and justify experience-oriented investments.

EXPIScore Consumer Survey Findings

EXPIScore, in partnership with Pureprofile Singapore, surveyed over 1,000 private residence dwellers (for EXPIScore: LIVE) and over 1,000 office workers (for EXPIScore: Work) in Singapore.

Key findings from the EXPIScore: LIVE consumer survey include:

• Close to 70% of respondents rated the availability of ‘hotel-style’ on-demand services to be important or very important.
• Singapore’s private residence dwellers are environmentally conscious, with 67% placing a high value on environmentally-friendly practices during planning, design, and construction of the project.
• Condominium buyers place strong emphasis on transparency and customisation options during the purchasing process, while tenants value lease flexibility, convenience and service in the rental experience.

Key findings from the EXPIScore: WORK consumer survey include:

• Singapore’s office workers value inclusive working environments, with accessible design features ranked as the most important aspect of building design.
• A sense of safety is paramount, with 76% identifying well-distributed CCTV throughout the building as important.
• Singapore office workers are health-conscious, with close to 90% of respondents rating air and water quality in an office building as important.
• 75% rated communications and community-building within the office building as important or very important, with a strong interest in networking events, entertainment and wellness classes.

“Singapore, with its exemplary innovation culture and highly sophisticated real estate market, stood out to us as the perfect launch pad for us to develop and introduce EXPIScore. Real estate players here are genuinely keen to explore and pilot innovative ideas,” shared Dr Marigold Kimura, founder of EXPI Plus and inventor of EXPIScore. “We are honoured to have collaborated with our pilot adopters—large institutional [Singaporean] and international real estate companies. Their commitment to industry-leading innovation [has] supported EXPIScore in refining our rating criteria and validating our model as we expand our outreach in Singapore and beyond.”

EXPIScore Executive Advisor Peter Holland added, “Human-centric designs are becoming [a] standard as sustainability measures in real estate development. We are seeing a convergence, where developers and building operators now recognise that for projects to be financially successful, they must also satisfy the expectations of increasingly discerning, experience-oriented end users.”

Pilot adopter Singapore Land Group’s Singapore Land Tower was awarded a 6-star rating based on their EXPIScore: WORK score. This is the highest rating tier available, which celebrates buildings that exemplify industry-leading innovation, design features, amenities, services, processes and capabilities to deliver a best-in-class human-centric experience.

“The 6-star rating awarded by EXPIScore to the Singapore Land Tower is a strong recognition to the considerable efforts we have undertaken on our asset enhancement initiative works across building design and amenities, building and operational management, tenant engagement and collaboration, sustainability and more,” shared Cynthia Liang, Assistant General Manager, Commercial at Singapore Land Group. “The rating system serves as an industry benchmark as we drive sustainable social, economic and environmental change to create urban environments that build strong communities.”

Real estate providers who adopt the EXPIScore rating can gain a competitive advantage and a unique point of differentiation for CX excellence as a leading developer, owner, or manager of experimental, human-centric spaces, while demonstrating that their portfolio addresses the latest consumer expectations and trends.

EXPIScore’s human-centric approach is informed by EXPIScore’s proprietary market surveys. With global expansion, follow-up market studies will be conducted in each overseas market to adapt rating criteria to local market preferences and cultures. New surveys will be conducted every two to three years to reflect shifting consumer expectations.