Heritage elements to be incorporated in Bidadari

Saifulbahri Ismail Channel NewsAsia 4 Sep 13;

SINGAPORE: The National Heritage Board (NHB) hopes to partner the Housing and Development Board (HDB) in the design of future estates.

For a start, both boards have worked together to incorporate heritage elements in the new Bidadari estate.

The aim is to help future residents and visitors to the estate appreciate the history of the place.

The Bidadari Memorial Garden at Mount Vernon was built in 2004 after the graves in the old Bidadari Cemetery were exhumed.

The gateway as well as selected tombstones and relics were some of the items relocated to the memorial garden.

The garden's artefacts will be moved again to a park at the new Bidadari estate.

The relocation is part of the Bidadari Heritage Commemoration Project.

There are also plans to convert the current Upper Aljunied Road into a pedestrianised Heritage Walk which will feature storyboards.

NHB's group director (policy), Alvin Tan, said: "We hope that moving forward in future that heritage considerations will indeed be factored into design and development of future housing estates, because we feel that it's one way to better help residents as well as Singaporeans appreciate their heritage."

NHB has also held two focus group sessions to get inputs on the project.

Participants include the Singapore Heritage Society, academics and heritage enthusiasts.

Alvin Tan said: "What they also express the wish for was (that) they hope that certain characteristic elements of the landscape would be retained, and these would be the undulating slopes of the cemetery grounds. I understand that the HDB has already taken that into consideration, with the whole concept of rolling greens."

The proposed developments for the new Bidadari housing estate will be implemented in phases from 2015.

- CNA/ec/ir

Bidadari estate to retain pioneers' tombstones
David Ee Straits Times 5 Sep 13;

JOGGERS in the future Bidadari housing estate's new park will be running on sacred ground and be reminded of the contributions of Singapore's pioneers.

Tombstones of 20 notable Singaporeans once buried in the former Bidadari cemetery will be preserved in the 10ha park, the National Heritage Board (NHB) announced yesterday.

These include Dr Lim Boon Keng, a 1900s philanthropist and social reformer after whom Boon Keng Road is named, former labour minister Ahmad Ibrahim, and first Speaker of the Legislative Assembly George Edward Noel Oehlers.

NHB is partnering the Housing Board to assimilate Bidadari's rich heritage into the estate, which will see its first flats ready in 2015. This is the first time that a new estate will include these considerations from the initial design stage.

The tombstones will be relocated from the Bidadari Memorial Garden, which will make way for the estate. One of the original gates to the former cemetery will also be placed in the new park.

All graves in the former cemetery were exhumed by 2006.

NHB is also planning a pedestrianised Heritage Walk to replace the present Upper Aljunied Road. Residents strolling along the tree-lined boulevard in future will learn through photographs and boards about old landmarks once found nearby, such as the 19th century Bidadari House once owned by a sultan of Johor.

A landmark there that has been lost through time will also be resurrected - in name. The new Alkaff Lake within the park will be inspired by Alkaff Lake Gardens, a Japanese-themed leisure spot popular in the 1930s till it was redeveloped after World War II. Back then, families would flock there to have picnics and take boat trips on the lake.

NHB is also in discussions with HDB to preserve some of the area's signature undulating green landscape.

For now, NHB is not involved in plans for the two other upcoming housing estates in Punggol and Tampines.

But it hopes to be. Said NHB group director for policy Alvin Tan: "We hope that such (heritage) considerations will continue to be factored into future housing estates so as to better promote place identity and strengthen a sense of belonging for residents."

Heritage supporter and All Things Bukit Brown co-founder Catherine Lim was encouraged by the plans.

"Bidadari estate rests on hallowed ground. The tombstones will be a reminder. In doing this, people will never forget that the estate was once a cemetery."

She added: "Bidadari was the first public cemetery here to embrace all races. I think it's quite appropriate that it is being memorialised within an HDB estate."