SINGAPORE – A heritage study of about 200 buildings in Changi Point will be carried out, as part of planning processes for the area.
A spokesman for the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said the statutory board is commissioning a heritage baseline study to “research and document the history and heritage significance of the area’s existing buildings, structures and settings”.
Without going into detail, he added that the six-month study of the 100ha site was called “as Changi Point has some clusters of buildings and structures with potential heritage value”.
At the launch of an ideas competition for the area in April 2021, URA and the Singapore Land Authority said the area “is well known for its cluster of buildings constructed by the British as a military base from around the late 1920s”.
Today, it is an established coastal district with holiday bungalows, sea-facing chalets, sports clubs and a coastal boardwalk, as well as the gateway to Pulau Ubin, the agencies added.
Asked if the study signals that changes are forthcoming for Changi Point, the URA spokesman said though there are no firm development plans for now, it will take the findings into consideration for future plans.
In 2019, URA said more stretches of the beach in Changi Point will be opened to the public, and that the authorities will “enhance the area’s seaside charm through native coastal forest and beachfront landscaping”.
Among Changi Point’s former military buildings are three that belonged to the old Changi Hospital, which the British Royal Air Force established in 1947.
The hospital took over two buildings from the pre-war Kitchener Barracks, which were built in the 1930s.
In the 1960s, a third block was added as part of the hospital’s expansion.
Also within the study area is Changi Cottage at 26 Netheravon Road – a holiday bungalow for senior members of the Singapore Government from the 1960s to 1980s.
According to the National Heritage Board’s (NHB) Roots.gov.sg resource portal, it was in this property that then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew worked after Singapore’s separation from Malaysia in 1965.
Procurement documents for the study said consultants will be required to conduct a survey within the first two months, during which they will categorise buildings, structures and settings into two bands – higher and lower heritage significance.
The full report should include interviews with at least 30 users of the site to capture “significant periods of Changi’s history from British military base to present users”.
Consultants are to formulate a methodology to compare and rank the significance of various elements in the area.
Two areas within the study’s boundary are currently zoned for residential use, subject to detailed planning, under URA’s 2019 master plan.
One of these areas includes blocks 52 and 53 in Biggin Hill Road.
Built from the late 1920s, they were among the earliest barrack structures in Changi and served as married soldiers’ quarters.
The blocks are currently used by Orange Valley Nursing Home.
The URA spokesman said that generally, as part of planning processes, heritage studies of varying scales and scope may be conducted at different stages to assess the significance of buildings and structures.
This provides more information to “inform how development might take place sensitively”, he said, adding that similar studies were done for the former Bukit Timah Turf Club and the Old Police Academy as part of larger studies for those sites.
More detailed studies may be conducted “when the development timeline and plans for an area are more certain”, the spokesman said.
These may include a heritage impact assessment – the most extensive form of heritage studies.
For Changi Point, agencies will decide whether to conduct a heritage impact assessment “when there are proposed development plans which may impact significant built heritage in the area”, he said.
Asked if the baseline study’s report will be published, he said that findings could be shared as part of future plans when ready.
The public will get to learn more about the area’s heritage when the NHB’s Changi Heritage Trail is launched in December 2023.
Heritage blogger and author Jerome Lim said it would be more meaningful to look at the site as a whole and account for how its buildings functioned as a collective, rather than just comparing and ranking the heritage value of individual buildings.
He added that Changi Point is especially important from a military history perspective, as it contains buildings from Kitchener Barracks – the most intact set of barracks in Singapore’s east, and the first to be built there.
Little is left of Selarang Barracks and Roberts Barracks, the other wartime camps in the area.
Mr Lim added that Kitchener Barracks served as a model for other barracks built by the British in Singapore during the period between the first and second world wars, such as Gillman Barracks.
He also said that while such studies are welcome, it is also important that they lead to a meaningful outcome.
Citing the heritage impact assessment for the Old Police Academy in Mount Pleasant, which will be developed for housing, Mr Lim noted that the parade square will not be fully retained, despite the study identifying it as among the area’s most significant features.
“Keeping individual buildings or areas without retaining the context in which they functioned, despite studies highlighting their importance, raises questions about the effectiveness of these studies in ensuring redevelopment is carried out sensitively,” he said.
Mr Lukas Ming Menkhoff, a tech consultant and an active advocate and researcher of Singapore’s military heritage, said beyond highlighting the significance of remaining on-site structures, he hopes that studies and future plans for Changi Point will also highlight and memorialise the area’s pre-World War II military structures and facilities.
For instance, he noted that within the study’s boundary are two of more than 10 coastal artillery batteries that made up the Changi Fire Command.
They are Changi Battery, formerly located on a slope next to the modern-day Singapore Air Traffic Control Centre, and the Changi Inner AMTB (Anti-Motor Torpedo Boat) Battery, which was partially situated within the grounds of today’s Civil Service Club in Changi.
“These two relatively unknown gun sites, as part of the Changi Fire Command, were essential to the British defence strategy for the Singapore Naval Base and greater Changi cantonment,” said Mr Menkhoff.
“I hope they can be better highlighted in the Singapore defence narrative and story of Changi Point,” he added.
Mr Menkhoff noted that wartime military installations stretched beyond the study’s boundary, indicating that there is scope for further studies.
Heritage observers also highlighted that some pre-independence buildings in Sealand Road were demolished recently, prior to the forthcoming study.
The URA spokesman said this was done to facilitate upgrades to the Singapore Air Traffic Control Centre.
The buildings were studied in detail, he added, noting that blocks 39A/B Sealand Road – originally built to house British military warrant officers – were not affected.
The plot comprising this structure was thus rezoned from port/airport use to sports and recreation, he said.
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