SINGAPORE – Some 14,000 homes will be built on two new sites in Sembawang and Woodlands by 2035 as the Government ramps up housing supply in northern Singapore.
These two sites – in Sembawang North and Woodlands North – will have their first Housing Board Build-To-Order (BTO) projects launched there in 2025, Minister for National Development Desmond Lee announced on Oct 22.
Mr Lee said these plans build on efforts to “provide a sizeable supply of affordable new homes in the north”, and come after an announcement earlier in 2024 to develop the new Chencharu housing area in Yishun.
The first new estate, Sembawang North, will offer 8,000 BTO flats and 2,000 private homes. The second, Woodlands North Coast, will have about 4,000 new flats.
Both housing areas will come with new amenities, including eateries, shops, parks, a neighbourhood centre, and a community hub that could house facilities for sports, healthcare and other uses, said HDB.
Speaking at the HDB Design, Construction and Engineering Awards ceremony, Mr Lee said providing a steady supply of new flats was crucial to keeping the property market stable.
In the past, the Government was able to do so by building on greenfield land – land that has not been previously developed – as it is doing for Chencharu in Yishun, but increasingly it has had to turn to building on sites within developed estates, he said.
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Plans announced in recent years to build flats in more central parts of Singapore – including the Greater Southern Waterfront, Pearl’s Hill and Turf City – are examples where the Government is redeveloping areas that were previously built-up.
In Sembawang North, which will span 53ha, the new neighbourhood centre will be located next to a 1ha park with facilities such as playgrounds and fitness stations.
Mr Lee said this park will be a “green spine” that connects residents from existing neighbourhoods in the south of Sembawang to future waterfront developments in the north at the site of the Sembawang Shipyard, which is due to move to Tuas by 2024.
There will also be a network of cycling paths and pedestrian walkways to connect residents to facilities and transport nodes in the area, said HDB.
Before Sembawang New Town was developed in the mid-1990s, Sembawang housed the British Naval Base in the 1920s, which later became Sembawang Shipyard.
The new housing projects in Sembawang North will draw on the area’s maritime heritage, and will reflect naval themes and colonial architecture.
The new BTO projects will have courtyard layouts, pitched roofs, and geometric patterns resembling those of colonial bungalows, while nautical elements will be integrated into the street furniture, play structures, landscaping, pavement designs and signs to help residents find their way.
A network of pedestrian walkways, called a “community wharves link”, will link upcoming BTO projects in the area via an “uninterrupted walking environment” and feature “docks” with facilities and spaces for residents to gather, said HDB.
The other new estate announced on Oct 22, Woodlands North Coast, will be a 21ha mixed-use waterfront development. The first project there will be offered at the next BTO launch in February 2025.
It is the latest effort under plans announced in 2017 to transform Woodlands into a northern regional hub.
Residents at Woodlands North Coast will be within walking distance of the Singapore terminus of the upcoming Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System Link, due to be completed by the end of 2026. It will also be linked underground to the Thomson-East Coast Line’s Woodlands North MRT station.
“Residents in Woodlands North will benefit from faster cross-border travel as well as better access to more job opportunities that are closer to home,” said Mr Lee.
HDB said housing projects at the new estate will be designed such that residents will be able to enjoy scenic views of the nearby Admiralty Park and Woodlands Waterfront Park by taking advantage of its hilly terrain.
Mr Lee also addressed the strong demand from home buyers in the ongoing October BTO sales exercise, where “pent-up demand” from first-time single applicants is driving up application rates. In some projects, there are as many as 20 single applicants per flat.
October’s BTO launch is the first time flats have been put up for sale under the new Standard, Plus, or Prime classification model, which categorises projects based on factors like proximity to the city centre and transport connectivity.
It is also the first time singles can apply for two-room flexi flats in any location. These applicants were previously restricted to non-mature estates.
Mr Lee said there was healthy demand for Plus and Prime flats, and application rates were also being driven by pent-up demand from singles. “We expect demand to stabilise over time, and singles can look forward to the launch of more projects under the new framework,” he added.
At the awards ceremony on Oct 22, Mr Lee presented 26 prizes to architectural and engineering consultants and building contractors for their work on public housing projects.
Among these prizes were awards for contractors that took on challenging projects affected by delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
HDB chief executive Tan Meng Dui also said at the ceremony that about 13,000 flats across 20 projects have been completed in 2024, the vast majority of which were in projects that had been delayed due to the pandemic.
Two of the prizes were awarded to firms that worked on the Rivervale Shores project in Sengkang, the largest BTO project to date with 2,500 units in 16 blocks.
One of these is a design award that went to Surbana Jurong for integrating the project with Sungei Serangoon, a river that runs alongside the estate.
For instance, playgrounds at Rivervale Shores have designs inspired by the grey herons, little egrets and white-throated kingfishers that are active in the area, while five thematic gardens which connect residents to the Sungei Serangoon Park Connector are each inspired by a specific aspect of the river’s ecosystem.
Common areas of the estate are located on a fully pedestrianised, elevated platform known as an environmental deck that connects all 16 residential blocks, with an underground carpark tucked below it.
Ms Farah Charles, who is preparing to move with her family of three to Rivervale Shores in November, said the environmental deck gives her greater peace of mind when her daughter, five, plays at the playground.
“This design is a lot safer because there are no roads around the common areas. It will also be a lot more convenient when we do our big move next month, because the underground carpark means we can drive right up to the lift lobby for our flat,” said the housewife, 32.