News Analysis - Early start to heritage studies for Singapore's Bukit Timah Turf City housing site is paying off

The Star

2 days ago

SINGAPORE: A study published in 2021 found a swimming pool complex in the Old Police Academy at Mount Pleasant to be among the most significant in terms of heritage value, second to only a Senior Police Officers' Mess.
The heritage study – meant to guide the development of the 33ha Mount Pleasant housing estate – said the complex was where trainees learnt swimming and life-saving skills, and police officers and their families spent their leisure time.
Despite the findings, demolition work began on the complex earlier in 2025, some 49 years after it was completed in 1976.
Six buildings in Mount Pleasant have been conserved in all – four will be repurposed within the upcoming housing estate, while the other two, including the Senior Police Officers' Mess, are just outside of it.
In contrast, 22 buildings are slated for conservation within an upcoming residential estate at the old 176ha Bukit Timah Turf City, including two grandstands that a separate heritage study identified as the site's most exceptional buildings.
The differing outcomes for the two sites' most significant buildings can be explained largely by the timing of the two studies vis-a-vis planning and building works for the future estates.
When the Old Police Academy study started in 2018, six buildings and ancillary structures had already been demolished after the Land Transport Authority began work on Mount Pleasant MRT station within the academy's compound in early 2015.
The underground station's location – just next to the swimming pool complex – had been fixed since 2014, under the Urban Redevelopment Authority's (URA) masterplan.
In comparison, heritage studies on the area near the two grandstands in Turf City were completed before the Government announced in September 2022 that a future MRT station will be located near the two stands.
Work on the station site began only after Turf City closed in late 2023, and the station's location was reflected for the first time in URA's plans on June 25, when the agency unveiled the Draft Master Plan 2025.
The Turf City study was the first implemented under the Government's Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) framework, which was announced in 2022 and for which the Old Police Academy study served as a pilot.
The conservation of 22 buildings in the upcoming Turf City estate shows that the Government's move to start heritage studies sufficiently early in the planning process – and make decisions based on their findings – is paying off.
Based on initial plans, future visitors to the North Grandstand – set to be part of a mixed-used development, along with the South Grandstand – could dine at the spectators' area which overlooks a field and park. The south stand was completed in 1933, and the north stand in 1981.
A former housing area for racecourse workers called Fairways Quarters, and the Bukit Timah Saddle Club Clubhouse, could be put to community use.
An illustration of how the former Bukit Timah Saddle Club Clubhouse can be repurposed to form a new amenity node for future residents. - Photo: Urban Redevelopment Authority
Under the HIA framework, large-scale public redevelopment projects impacting clusters of buildings and structures with potential heritage value are subject to studies by external consultants, who generally assess the heritage significance of a site, identify impacts that a proposed development project would have on it, and recommend strategies to mitigate the impact.
The Turf City study was conducted by the National University of Singapore's (NUS) Department of Architecture and heritage consultant Purcell.
Subsequently, more granular studies on 27 buildings and structures were done, before the decision to conserve 22 – a figure that pleasantly surprised heritage observers.
Retaining this many buildings allows future residents of the estate to appreciate its history, and step into various spaces that the racecourse's visitors, senior leaders and workers once used.
Founding chair of non-profit heritage group Docomomo Singapore Ho Weng Hin said the phased studies – from a broader study to more site-specific ones – meant that plans could be refined and adjusted.
For instance, NUS professor Ho Puay Peng, who was involved in the HIA for Turf City, said minor tweaks were made to the design of the upcoming MRT station there, so that the North Grandstand's facade would not be blocked.
An artist's impression of Bukit Timah Turf City's North Grandstand in the future housing estate. - Photo: Urban Redevelopment Authority
Deciding to keep the buildings is also just the start of a long process of ensuring that future users can meaningfully enjoy them.
Planners and architects now have the task of making that happen.
How will the greenery and openness of Fairways Quarters be preserved, with new high-rise housing blocks expected in the estate?
Ho of Docomomo Singapore suggested putting in place a conservation management plan to guide future developments in the sprawling estate and ensure the former racecourse's significance is retained.
Another question is what planners and developers will decide to house within the two grandstands, which will be part of a neighbourhood that is envisioned as the estate's 'civic heart', with sports, recreational, commercial and community amenities.
Building an integrated facility like Our Tampines Hub from scratch is relatively simple, but inserting new and varied uses into the purpose-built grandstands necessitates creativity.
An artist's impression of how the former Fairways Quarters could be integrated in community node. - Photo: Urban Redevelopment Authority
Conservation buildings should ultimately benefit the public, and URA's early plans are promising, with most of the 22 in sites that are likely to be publicly accessible.
The agency has also said that it will commemorate and mark the original extent of Turf City's racetracks – an idea put forth by heritage groups.
Considering the HIA framework's success in guiding the redevelopment of Bukit Timah Turf City thus far, the authorities should apply it to other large sites set for a makeover, such as Sembawang Shipyard and Paya Lebar Air Base.
On this front, the Draft Master Plan 2025 exhibition shows that URA's planners already have one eye on the future.
There are plans to integrate Paya Lebar's old airport structures and a section of the runway into a new town there, while repurposing a dry dock in Sembawang for sports and recreation has been mooted as a possibility.
If treated like Turf City, the development of these towns will demonstrate Singapore's ability to meet future growth needs, while remaining grounded in its heritage. - The Straits Times/ANN