Wednesday, December 24, 2014

The Straits Times : Life before HDB: What was the Singapore Improvement Trust?

The Straits Times (Web Specials)
By Yeo Sam Jo

24th December 2014

SINGAPORE - Five old housing blocks in Tiong Bahru are being given a new lease of life, even though they were earmarked for demolition almost 20 years ago.

From next year, Blocks 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 on Tiong Bahru Road will be rented to couples waiting for their new flats, under the Parenthood Provisional Housing Scheme.

These blocks were built by the now-defunct Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT).

They were selected for the Housing Development Board's (HDB) Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme in 1995, but have been spared the wrecking balls, and are currently being retrofitted.

Here are five things to know about the SIT and the flats that it built:

1. The SIT saved the day, back in the day

A street hawker at the Singapore Improvement Trust flats in Tiong Bahru on Sept 12, 1961. -- PHOTO: ST FILE


The SIT was set up in July 1927, under the Singapore Improvement Ordinance, to solve the serious housing shortage then faced by a rapidly growing population.

Many of the 23,000 flats it built were in areas such as Tiong Bahru and Old Airport Road.

The SIT was dissolved in 1959, and its successor, the HDB, took over in February 1960.

2. Flats were designed with the weather in mind

A Singapore Improvement Trust block at Tiong Bahru Road on Dec 18, 2014. -- ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI


SIT architects were conscious of the fact that Singapore was close to the equator, with warm temperatures and high humidity.

Hence, SIT flats were built for tropical living, frequently featuring high ceilings, large windows and open, cantilevered balconies. Each flat had two to six rooms.

Land scarcity was also less of a concern back then, so these walk-up blocks tend to be under 10 storeys high, without any lifts.

3. Block designs borrow from the then-aesthetics du jour

A crowd gathers at a Singapore Improvement Trust flat in Upper Pickering Street in 1956. -- PHOTO: ST FILE


Block facades and staircases often bear the distinctive curved forms of the Art Deco movement, which were popular during the 1920s and 1930s.

Some blocks also take on the Modernist tendencies of the Bauhaus era, as well as the International Style of highrise flats in a post-Modern vein.

4. Look lower and you might still spot some SIT blocks

Blocks of Singapore Improvement Trust flats at Kampong Silat, Silat Avenue. -- PHOTO: ST FILE


There are currently 138 SIT blocks left standing in Singapore.

They range from two to seven storeys, and are located in Bukit Merah, Queenstown, Geylang and Kallang Whampoa.

About 35 per cent of them, or 48 blocks, are pending redevelopment. The rest are either being conserved, or there are no plans for them.

5. These blocks are old, but certainly not useless

Singapore Improvement Trust blocks (foreground) at Tiong Bahru Road on Dec 18, 2014. -- ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI


Blocks 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 Tiong Bahru Road are not the only SIT blocks currently put to interim use.

Three of them, Blocks 2, 3 and 7 on Short Street and Prinsep Street, are leased to educational institutions as student hostels.

Source: Straits Times archives, HDB

The Straits Times : Old flats in Tiong Bahru get new lease of life

The Straits Times
By Yeo Sam Jo
24th December 2014

120 units in five blocks to be rented to couples waiting for their new flats 



Standing out against a backdrop of taller and newer blocks, the old four-storey ones were built by the now-defunct Singapore Improvement Trust, which provided public housing before the HDB took over in 1960. -- PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI FOR THE STRAITS TIMES

FIVE old blocks of flats in Tiong Bahru are being given a new lease of life, even though they were earmarked for demolition almost 20 years ago.

From next year, Blocks 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 in Tiong Bahru Road will be rented to couples waiting for their new flats, the Housing Board (HDB) has told The Straits Times.

Standing out against a backdrop of taller and newer blocks, these four-storey ones were built by the now-defunct Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT), which provided public housing before the HDB took over in 1960.

They were slated for demolition in 1995, but have so far been spared the wrecking ball as HDB continues to find use for them.

The latest purpose for the 120 three- and four-room units is rental, under the Parenthood Provisional Housing Scheme.

They are part of 800 flats, including others in Bukit Merah and Queenstown, that will be retrofitted and rolled out under the scheme early next year.

Under this programme, which began in January last year, such flats can be rented by first-timer married couples with children under the age of 16 who are waiting for new flats.

Three months later, the scheme was extended to those without children and, in September last year, to married couples comprising first-timers and second-timers, as well as divorced or widowed parents with children.

When The Straits Times visited Tiong Bahru, one of Singapore's oldest housing estates, last week, renovations were being carried out at the five blocks and surrounding areas.

The HDB said the works include external repainting, reinstating footpaths, landscaping and installing fixtures such as lights and water heaters in the flats.

These blocks are part of 16 in Tiong Bahru Road and adjacent Boon Tiong Road picked for the Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme (Sers) in 1995, when it was first introduced.

Under the scheme, which aims to rejuvenate ageing HDB blocks, residents have to move out and are offered replacement flats.

While the other 11 blocks have been demolished, these five blocks were leased to a private operator from 2007 to this May. They are among 138 SIT blocks still standing.

Under the Urban Redevelopment Authority's 2014 master plan, the site has been earmarked for residential use and future widening of Tiong Bahru Road and Zion Road.

For Tiong Bahru resident Tee Chai Teck, 70, the five blocks are a symbol of the past.

He lived in an SIT flat in Boon Tiong Road more than 20 years ago, but moved to a new block in the same road under Sers.

"I hope they don't tear these down too," said the cinema ticket collector, who also runs a market stall in Tiong Bahru. "They bring a sense of familiarity."
yeosamjo@sph.com.sg