End of the road for 174 Seletar colonial homes

As aerospace park takes shape, many 'black-and-white' homes must go
Ven Sreenivasan, Business Times 31 Jul 08;

(SINGAPORE) The first phase of the $60 million Seletar Aerospace Park (SAP) project is nearing completion and Phase 2 is about to take off, so the agencies spearheading the redevelopment of the complex have been briefing residents and other tenants about the next step forward.

Agency officials, led by Edwin Ho, JTC Corp's assistant director for industrial parks, met tenants of the colonial 'black-and-white' residences last night to inform them that 174 of the 378 buildings could be demolished.

A significant number of the remaining units will be converted to offices and commercial outlets, including F&B and lifestyle clusters around The Oval/Parklane area.

But about 100 will be retained as residences.

All affected tenants will have to move out by this December, while those remaining will have to sign up to new tenancies.

Mr Ho assured everyone that all aspects of the development of SAP were being done with the input of 'all stakeholders' including residents, commercial tenants, aviation business operators, the Nature Society and other interest groups.

Other works in the upcoming Phase 2 of the massive project will be road widening and refurbishment of buildings which will be retained.

Phase 2 works will begin next January and stretch until 2013.

Phase 1 has essentially focused on the groundbreaking works for new tenants Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney, and upgrading facilities for existing giants like ST Aerospace and Jet Aviation.

Besides the demolition of old buildings and refurbishment of others, key elements of Phase 2 will also include demolition of the old water reclamation plant located in the complex and the upgrading of the airport and the lengthening of the runway by some 300 metres.

The runway lengthening will be done for 14 hours a day for 18 months, starting this November, with works done at night.

Also starting next January will be works on construction of a new flyover from the Tampines Expressway, which will be the main entrance to the complex. There will also be some road diversions within the area.

A joint project of the EDB, CAAS and JTC Corp, the SAP will host an integrated aerospace industry cluster incorporating maintenance, repair and overhaul, design and manufacturing of aircraft systems and components, business and general aviation, and an aviation campus to train pilots, other industry professionals and technical personnel.

When completed in 2018, the SAP is envisaged to elevate Singapore's status as an aviation hub, contribute $3.3 billion a year or one per cent of GDP and create jobs for 10,000 people.

Lights out? Not for quaint lamp posts in Seletar
Karamjit Kaur, Straits Times 31 Jul 08;

ABOUT 30 lamp posts now at the old Seletar airbase will be preserved for use, after the area is transformed into a modern aerospace hub.

The lamp posts, which possibly date back to the British era, will be taken down progressively as the bulldozers roll in and put away for re-installation later, said Mr Edwin Ho, an assistant director in JTC Corporation, the industrial parks development group.

It is all part of preserving the charm and heritage of the former airbase, he told The Straits Times.

Giving an update on the plans for the 300 ha Seletar Aerospace Park, he said major roadworks for the area are slated to start next year.

They include the building of a new flyover to link Tampines Expressway to the new park and a major road with four lanes in each direction.

The roadworks are expected to be done by the end of 2013, with the final phase of the aerospace park following five years later.

The first phase, to be completed by the end of next year, will include premises for companies like Singapore Technologies Aerospace and Jet Aviation. These are existing tenants who are looking to expand their facilities at Seletar.

Engine makers Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney are also building new facilities there.

The airbase's existing runway will be extended by 200m.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore will also build a new control tower and fire station there, expand the aircraft parking area and build more taxiways.

These works will be done by 2010.

Seletar's transformation will also affect the 378 black-and-white colonial houses in the area.

Of the number, 174 will be demolished. Of the remaining 204, 131 will be retained as homes and the rest, redeveloped for non-residential use. They will, for example, house aerospace training schools and food-and-beverage outlets.

Residents living in the units to be demolished or redeveloped must move out by the end of the year.

Links

Postcards from Seletar a web resource by residents of Seletar