Channel NewsAsia 5 May 19;
SINGAPORE: A new park will be developed to form a “green lung” in the upcoming Bidadari estate, the Housing and Development Board (HDB) announced on Sunday (May 5).
The 10-hectare Bidadari Park will feature a lake, a heritage walk, experiential trails and a play area for children.
In designing the park, the team drew inspiration from the fictional Hundred Acre Wood in the Winnie-the-Pooh children’s series, said HDB.
“The team behind the planning and design of the park saw the opportunity to retain the wooded and rustic nature of Bidadari and to create a unique park experience for visitors,” it added.
INTEGRATING DEVELOPMENT WITH NATURE
Apart from retaining of more than 350 mature trees in the area, the park will also be home to more than 2,000 new trees.
To increase the diversity of habitats and wildlife in the park, wetland and marsh habitats will be introduced.
Residents can explore trails spanning 6km or walk along an 80m-long boardwalk across the marshland.
“At strategic locations, observation decks, viewing sheds, and pavilions will serve as tranquil rest spots for visitors, offering different views of nature in a rustic and naturalised setting,” said HDB.
HDB noted that Bidadari is a natural sanctuary for wildlife, as it is connected to five nature ways, including Kallang Nature Way and Braddell Nature Way.
Suggestions from the Nature Society (Singapore) on how to enrich biodiversity were taken on board, said HDB.
For instance, a 19m-wide eco-link will be built between Bidadari Park and Hillock Park, to form a safe passage for visitors and wildlife across Bidadari Park Drive.
HERITAGE WALK
To remind residents of the history of Bidadari, which was once home to the Alkaff Lake Garden built in 1929 by the Alkaff family, a 700m heritage walk will be introduced in the estate.
The tree-lined heritage walk will cut across the park and link Woodleigh MRT station to a new Memorial Garden, which will recount the history and stories of Bidadari’s past through a series of storyboards, said HDB.
The park will also include a playground called Adventure Playwoods, featuring a 5m-tall treehouse with slides and climbing nets.
Bidadari Park is expected to be completed progressively by 2022.
The estate, when fully developed, will have about 10,000 housing units. The first batch of Built-to-Order flats in Bidadari was launched in 2015 and such flats remain in high demand.
The first flats are expected to be completed this year.
Source: CNA/mn
New 10 hectare Bidadari Park to be completed in 2022
CYNTHIA CHOO The Star 5 May 19;
SINGAPORE — Residents of Bidadari estate can look forward to a new regional park in 2022, announced the Housing and Development Board (HDB) on Sunday (May 5).
The 10 hectare park will feature a lake, open lawns, a 700 metre heritage walk and six kilometres of wooded experiential trails for nature lovers to observe flora and fauna.
It will also have a greenway which will extend out from the park and connect to other public spaces within Bidadari.
The park is a multi-agency collaboration between HDB, national water agency PUB and the National Heritage Board (NHB).
When completed, it will be twice the size of Toa Payoh Town Park and take up more than a tenth of the 93 ha land in the estate.
FIRST UNDERGROUND RESERVOIR
The Bidadari estate will also feature Singapore’s first underground service reservoir which stores drinking water to regulate supply to homes and boost water pressure during periods of high demand.
The service reservoir tank will be built beneath the community lawn in Bidadari Park to optimise land use, creating more green spaces for residents to enjoy.
To encourage exploration and play, the estate will also feature a play area with a 5m-tall treehouse. Beside the play area, two green lawns of about 5,000 sq m — where residents can organise community activities such as taiqi and picnics — will also be incorporated into the park.
The HDB said that a network of different paths for walking, running and cycling will also be constructed to connect the various park features. Access to the park from Woodleigh MRT and neighbouring housing developments will also include gentle slopes, handrail and an underpass.
When fully developed, Bidadari estate is expected to have about 10,000 residential units.
Since November 2015, HDB has launched some 6,100 flats in seven new-generation public housing projects such as Alkaff Lakeview, Alkaff Oasis, Woodleigh Glen and Woodleigh Village. The apartments were well-received by potential buyers, averaging about five applicants for each flat.
PARK FOR NATURE LOVERS
In keeping with the concept of a rustic and wooded park, 350 mature trees, including the Tembusu trees — a heritage tree native to Singapore that bears white flowers that turn yellow with age and fruits that look like tiny red berries — were retained, said the HDB.
Observation decks, viewing sheds and pavilions scattered around the park are inspired by the structure of bird’s nests. Artist Impression: Housing & Development Board
Bird lovers will also be able to watch migratory birds at the new park. As Bidadari is a “favoured spot” for birdwatchers and nature enthusiasts, the HDB had discussed methods to enrich the biodiversity in the estate with the Nature Society (Singapore).
The agency also took on board suggestions to retain a 1 ha hillock as a stopover site for migratory birds and serve as a refuge for birds. It will form part of the larger network of greenery and open spaces within the estate.
The HDB will also be constructing a 19m-wide land bridge to serve as an eco link from Bidadari Park to Hillock Park, which provides a safe passage for visitors and wildlife across Bidadari Park Drive.
Structures such as Raptor nest platforms will be set up within the park as an interim measure for birds that prefer to perch on tall trees, while the new tree canopy grows.
The rest of the developments in Bidadari will be launched progressively and the details will be announced when they are finalised.
Conserved bird habitats to make upcoming Bidadari Park a green oasis for residents
Derek Wong Straits Times 5 May 19;
SINGAPORE - A rustic landscape with meandering hills, a boardwalk across a marshland and a unique rain tree "island" set in the middle of a lake.
This will be the sight that will greet residents of the upcoming Bidadari estate, which will have 10,000 Housing Board (HDB) units and be progressively completed by 2022.
Details of Bidadari Park were revealed on Sunday (May 5) at an interview with the HDB team which led the development of the project.
The park is a multi-agency collaboration involving the HDB, National Parks Board (NParks), PUB, Singapore’s national water agency, and National Heritage Board (NHB).
At 10ha, which is the size of about 15 football fields, the park is among the largest done by the statutory board.
The park will take up 10 per cent of the estate's space and nestle snugly among the residential blocks, with trails connecting seamlessly through the estate.
The HDB team sought to retain as much of Bidadari's natural woodland as possible, and did so via a three-year-long analysis, said Mr Leonard Cai, deputy director (landscape design office) at the HDB's building and research institute.
"We went down to the site to map out the position of trees, (to see) where are the areas with the least amount of vegetation so that we could place new trails there, so as to cause the least disturbance to existing biodiversity," he said.
He added that the team also engaged nature groups to identify and retain "bird studios" where birds are frequently sighted.
In fact, Hillock Park, a smaller adjacent 1ha park that is an extension of Bidadari Park, will be a bird sanctuary of sorts for species such as hornbills and owls, and residents will be able to access vantage points at the rooftop garden of the nearby Woodleigh Glen residential project.
This is encouraging news for bird watchers such as Ms Heng Juit Lian, an executive landscape architect at the HDB's development and procurement group, who is also part of the Bidadari Park team.
"It is a step forward having more of such places to view and appreciate birds and continue the hobby. We do value this kind of spaces," she said.
Efforts were also made to retain more than 350 trees, including a century-old tembusu tree.
Park features such as the lake, trails and viewing sheds have been designed around the trees.
For example, a playground will be centred on an existing banyan tree, and a rain tree on a little island will be the focal point of the new Alkaff Lake.
In total, the park will have more than 2,000 trees, including more than 150 species - some critically endangered ones - transplanted from other areas.
A unique eco-link bridge shared by both park users and wildlife will also be constructed across a road to link Bidadari Park and Hillock Park, which came about from suggestions by the Nature Society (Singapore).
Up to two-thirds of the bridge's 19m width will be dedicated to greenery for small animals to traverse across the parks.
Future Bidadari resident Ng Yiqiang, 30, a social worker, is looking forward to the lush natural features.
"It will be wonderful to have such a green sanctuary right at my doorstep amid the urban bustle."
