Commonwealth & Queenstown | Public Housing News & Updates

huaiwei said:

That looks like Tanglin Halt. And yeah...thats another 3 more 40 storey ones for you!

Click to expand...

Excellent! :happy:

means more are on the way! The site next to it is also an empty grass field.

Right now they are about 10-storeys.

12th March 2005, Tanglin Halt

[COMPLETED] Buona Vista Court (40-storey development at Holland Drive)

Holland Drive to get 40-storey blocks


22 Apr 05

Area to be redeveloped, but residents left out complain to MP

By Tan Hui Yee

http://www.straitstimes.com/mnt/media/image/launched/2005-04-22/SERS.pdf

THREE 40-storey blocks are set to rise in Holland Drive as part of a redevelopment plan involving some 800 households near Holland Village.

But home owners in two nearby blocks left out of the redevelopment have complained to their Member of Parliament Lim Swee Say. They are worried that the value of their flats will go down when the new blocks come up and want to be included in the programme.

The redevelopment, announced yesterday by the Housing Board, involves three-, four- and five-room flats as well as shops in blocks 14 to 17, 22 and 23 there. The blocks are about 31 years old.

People living in these blocks will be relocated to the four spanking new high-rise blocks just across Holland Drive, three of which will be 40 storeys high. The project should be complete by 2010.

But residents from blocks 20 and 21 in Holland Drive, just next to where the new 40-storey blocks will be sited, were upset yesterday when they learnt they were being excluded.

More than 100 residents packed an activity room in Buona Vista Community Club last night to ask Mr Lim if he could persuade the Housing Board to reconsider its plans.

Mr Lim later told The Straits Times that he would do his best to convey their concerns and request to the HDB.

One resident, Ms Jacinta Tan, 50, described the moment she was told her block had been excluded: 'It felt like they had dropped a bomb on us.'

The news to redevelop the Holland Drive precinct comes just one month after the HDB announced its plan for a massive redevelopment of the Clementi town centre, which will get a 40-storey complex with a shopping mall, library, town council office and air-conditioned bus interchange linked to the MRT station.

Under the Selective En-Bloc Redevelopment Scheme (Sers), old flats are demolished to make way for new ones nearby, in order to maximise land use. The Holland Drive precinct is the 56th that has been identified for redevelopment since the scheme began 10 years ago.

As part of the Holland Drive plan, the current Buona Vista Community Club will be relocated to the site currently occupied by Block 36, where a HDB branch office is located now. The new club will be housed in an integrated complex comprising HDB shops.

The Singapore Sports Council, meanwhile, is looking into a suitable replacement for the Buona Vista Swimming Complex, which will be phased out after 2010.

Eligible home owners affected by the redevelopment plans will be guaranteed new flats nearby at a discount.

The HDB will also compensate home owners and shop owners according to the prevailing market value for their properties.

Homeowner C.S Yee, a 40-year-old manager, welcomed the plan as it would give him a new flat nearby without much of a hassle.

He said: 'I don't want the inconvenience for the two years when my flat is upgraded.'

Here's a pic of the blocks at Commonwealth, taken from the bus:

24th May


Are you guys sure this is gonna be 40 stories tall ? I reckon it is between 15 and 20 now and it's already dominating the area. It will stick out completely when it's finished if it's really 40 tall.

Pengui said:

24th May

Click to expand...

5 days later...lolx
but sad larx, e pic is blur...

those near commonwealth mrt... rising very quickly

JUL 01, 2001 (Old article. But, I found it interesting. Not too sure if it was implemented on our 40-storey flats.)

ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY
From waste to HDB walls?

By Sharmilpal Kaur

THE walls inside new Housing Board flats here could be made from industrial waste in about two years' time.

Scientists at the Environmental Technology Institute have spent the past nine months working on a way to turn waste materials like marine clay - which covers most of Singapore - and sludge from the electronics sector into pellets that can be used in the construction of wall panels for homes. The clay and sludge would otherwise be used for landfills.

Said Dr Timothy White, a senior scientist at the institute, who is heading the research: 'Waste can also come from the petroleum industry, waste-water sludge, and incinerator ash.

'On their own, they are a problem, but put together, we can hopefully end up with a new material that is useful in its own right.'

He said the new 40-storey HDB blocks to be built will need to be constructed of lighter materials. If not, they will need a substantially stronger foundation, which costs a great deal.

Currently, materials like crushed granite are used to make wall panels. Lighter substitutes are available, but these can cost as much as 50 per cent more.

Another possible use for the new material is in land reclamation.

'It'll be safe if we get the chemistry right,' he said. But before combining the different waste materials, said Dr White, each one has to be understood.

To prepare the waste for commercial use, the materials will be blended and the mixture fired in a special kiln, that costs about $150,000.

The hardened mixture can then be added to other materials like cement, to make such items as cement blocks and wall panels.

Dr White said that the recycled products are likely be ready for commercial use in about two years' time, as there is still a lot of testing to be done, to make sure they are safe.

This is one reason why he has yet to approach the HDB with his proposal about the potential of recycled waste.

He said: 'We want to make sure we have a stable product first.'


Copyright © 2001 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.