SINGAPORE – Parts of the 1958 Dakota Crescent estate will be torn down from the first half of next year.
The Housing Board has called for a tender to tear down blocks 2, 4, 6, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30 and 32 as well as other ancillary structures at the estate off Old Airport Road.
Hoardings will be erected around the demolition site and protective netting and catch-fans will be installed on the scaffold around the blocks to minimise falling debris and dust, said the HDB and Urban Redevelopment Authority in a reply to queries from The Straits Times.
Works are scheduled to be completed by the second half of 2021.
As announced in 2017, six blocks (10, 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20) around the Dove playground and courtyard will be retained. This follows a conservation proposal by a group of architects to save and re-adapt key structures there. The group calls themselves Save Dakota Crescent.
The estate is making way for developments under renewal plans for Mountbatten.
The HDB and URA, in their reply, said the Dakota Crescent residential relocation exercise offered about 400 rental flat households an opportunity to move to home ownership flats, or newer rental flats.
The two remaining blocks – blocks 13 and 21 Old Airport Road – are currently being used for the Parenthood Provisional Housing Scheme pending demolition and future development. The scheme provides an additional option for families who need affordable temporary housing, while waiting for their new flat to be completed.
The agencies said they are in discussion with potential users on possible adaptive re-use options for the six retained blocks. The URA is also looking at feedback from stakeholders such as the Save Dakota Crescent group.
A beacon comprising two curved towers linked at the roof by sky bridges will replace the 43-year-old structure.
The agencies noted that some possible options for these blocks include transforming them for community use on the ground floor; and as work spaces, a student hostel or other forms of suitable accommodation on the upper floors.
Another landmark that will be facing the chopping block soon is Outram Park’s Pearl Bank Apartments. The 38-storey tower was recently encased in a net. It was sold to CapitaLand in a $728 million collective sale in February 2018.
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