The Queenstown estate will get its landscape rejuvenated and even more park-like features
tay suan chiang Straits Times 27 Nov 10;
Rain gardens. An eco-corridor that makes the most of mature trees. And the byways of a nondescript canal transformed into a pedestrian promenade featuring water and greenery.
This elaborate landscaping will be part of the rejuvenation of the now sleepy Dawson Housing Board (HDB) estate in Queenstown.
Details about the landscaping will be unveiled today by National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan at the groundbreaking ceremony for two new 40-storey housing blocks in the estate, both designed by local award-winning firms.
The striking towers were part of the rejuvenation plans announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his National Day Rally speech in 2007 as part of HDB's Remaking Our Heartland initiative.
They are SkyVille@ Dawson by Woha and SkyTerrace@Dawson by SCDA Architects. The projects were launched last December and are expected to be ready by 2015.
Now, it is the landscape's turn to shine. Features of the plan include transforming Alexandra Canal to make it more aesthetically pleasing, and intensive greening along Dawson Road, so that there is continuous shading for pedestrians and cyclists who use this road.
The HDB appointed Cicada, a local award- winning landscape architecture firm, to design it.
Dawson's heartlanders will really get a feel of being in a park. It will be the first mature housing estate to have rain gardens, for example.
These plots are similar to dry ponds, which fill up only after it rains. Plants in these gardens will filter out dirt in the water before the water enters the Alexandra Canal.
As for the eco-corridor, it will be converted from a section of Margaret Drive. Mature trees here will be kept as they will help provide shade and retain urban biodiversity. A water body will also run along this corridor and residents can get close to it.
'The goal is to create housing in a park,' says MsKathleen Goh, HDB's deputy director of strategic planning.
The landscape plans are not just for the residents in the two new blocks but for existing ones, too.
The estate already has some green features in place, such as the Alexandra Canal Linear Park, which was opened by Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew in 2007. The park, which connects Tanglin Road to Commonwealth Avenue, was built over part of the canal.
From today, visitors to the park can learn about the estate through a series of information panels. The panels, which are permanent fixtures, showcase the estate's heritage and how it will look in the future.
While the linear park is well used by residents now, 'under the landscape plan, it can have more amenities and rain gardens in the future', adds Ms Tay Bee Choo, HDB's head of landscape.
Images and models of the Dawson estate are on show at Block 62 Strathmore Avenue till tomorrow, and at Dawson Place at Block 57 Dawson Road from Monday to Dec 4.
