From a former school compound to a thriving lifestyle hub, the old Nan Chiau High School in River Valley has been reimagined as New Bahru, now home to over 40 businesses and a magnet for Singapore’s trendsetters.
The project’s impact extends beyond Singapore and has also attracted global attention. When Mr Colin Low, chief executive of the Singapore Land Authority (SLA), visited Hong Kong and Japan in late 2024, he was surprised by the international recognition the project had already garnered.
“The Hong Kong and Japanese real estate executives said they had heard about New Bahru online,” Mr Low says. “That was surprising because it was only three months after New Bahru’s soft launch. We also saw it featured in international magazines and drawing tourists, all thanks to the power of social media.”
New Bahru is just one of many state properties under SLA’s stewardship undergoing a transformation. Several others under SLA’s care are being reimagined as vibrant new spaces. The former St Andrew’s Mission Hospital at Kadayanallur Street has been reborn as KADA, a thriving lifestyle hub offering co-working and wellness spaces and unique dining experiences.
Over at Evans Road, the former University Hall is set to become a co-living space, catering to Singapore’s evolving and diverse accommodation needs. And later this year, a new intergenerational co-living space will emerge at a former primary school at 98 Henderson Road, a first of its kind intergenerational co-living space for both the young and active seniors. It will offer community programming to appeal to seniors who lead active lifestyles and desire easy access to organised activities, all within one location.
At the heart of SLA’s approach is a commitment to listening to communities and stakeholders. Driving these transformations are deep conversations happening both online and offline. As the SLA team works to develop and market state properties for public benefit, it starts by listening and feeling the nation’s pulse.
“In the past few years, we have spoken to over 300 people,” Mr Low says. “We’ve met zi char (cooked food) chefs, co-living operators, hoteliers and social enterprises to understand what’s happening on the ground.”
These conversations, often lasting over 90 minutes, help SLA uncover fresh possibilities for Singapore’s heritage properties.
Mr Low says, “Our vision is ‘Limited Land, Unlimited Space.’ I’d like to add, ‘Unlimited Possibilities’.”
Empowering young changemakers
As the custodian of Singapore’s limited land resources and state properties, SLA works with various public agencies on making sure each available square inch of the city-state is optimised to benefit its citizens.
Apart from managing state land and geospatial data, the SLA team must consider how the country’s 2,600 state properties can help communities achieve their dreams and businesses achieve their full potential.
“Buildings are not just physical structures,” says Mr Low. “They are opportunities waiting to be unlocked. And buildings also reflect our collective history, our shared identity, what we are today, and what we will be.”
Singapore Land Authority chief executive officer Colin Low (middle) shares about the unlimited possibilities of managing Singapore’s heritage properties during The Straits Times’ video podcast, The Usual Place, held at The Foundry. PHOTO: THE STRAITS TIMES
Mr Low shares the example of The Foundry at Prinsep Link. The building housed the Elections Department for 27 years until 2021. There were suggestions to turn the nondescript block into a serviced apartment, but the SLA team saw a bigger opportunity.
“Look at The Foundry’s location, it’s full of young people and next to SOTA, LaSalle, SMU and NAFA,” says Mr Low. “Young people (here) are full of energy, passion and purpose. If you make this into a social impact hub, you can draw young people in very early on the journey of doing good, and that is happening right now.”
Today, The Foundry houses 14 social impact organisations that tackle challenges in the community by incubating ideas and co-creating solutions. A $500,000 Foundry Forward Fund has been set up to boost collaboration among these organisations.
Even as these spaces evolve, their rich histories remain intact. At the building’s launch in November 2024, President Tharman Shanmugaratnam said that the rejuvenated building has kept the “feel of an elections department” and “that’s how you restore buildings”.
Balancing social and community impact with sustainable returns
To reimagine Singapore’s landscape in a meaningful way, SLA introduced the concept of a “Price and Quality” tender process where bids are evaluated not only on price but also on the quality of the project’s concept, community impact, and sustainability elements.
Mr Low says, “It’s often not the highest price that will win the tender. We ask, ‘What is the concept of the proposal? Is it something new to the area? Do we have community involvement? Are there sustainability elements?’
For selected projects, SLA lowered the price weightage to as little as 30 per cent to encourage innovative proposals that enhance an area’s vibrancy and showcase local heritage or cultural concepts.
To drive the green movement, the former Loyang Primary School has become Vidacity, a sustainability hub. It hosts weekly community workshops where participants can develop tinkering skills and learn how to upcycle old goods. There are 16 start-up studios and a research laboratory for sustainability startups to prototype their ideas.
Over at Kampong Eunos, an old community centre has now become Vivistop!, or in Mr Low’s words, “a creative accelerator for kids”. Children can hone their tactile skills through laser engraving and wood-crafting activities, and dabble in robotics and artificial intelligence projects. Vivistop! runs a community creative studio, and caters to young people aged nine to 16.
“And it’s free of charge,” says Mr Low. “So low-income children or children from low-income families who otherwise may not be able to afford expensive robotic coding lessons can come here.”
Heard on the grapevine
As young people rediscover the revamped heritage buildings, word has spread rapidly to those seeking new sights and adventures.
“When you create the narrative, you create the resonance, the stories behind the spaces, and then you get the engagement,” says Mr Low.
“101-year-old Kada was ‘unloved’ but is now being featured on social media platforms such as Xiaohongshu (Little Red Note). People are discovering coffee served from a ‘hole-in-the wall’ café concept and Singapore’s oldest working grille-door lift.”
Ms Carrie Wong, director for Business Planning and Development at SLA, adds on: “My teenage kids have never really understood the work that I do. But recently, they told me, ‘Mummy, I heard a lot of people talk about New Bahru. Now I know what it is that you do as a custodian of state land and properties, and what adaptive reuse means.’”
“When I heard that, I was so moved. New Bahru has really managed to engage the youth.”
As SLA continues to optimise Singapore’s land resources and rejuvenates state-managed spaces, these buildings of yesteryears are no longer relics of the past but catalysts for the future, ready to inspire the next chapters of Singapore’s continuous story.
In partnership with Singapore Land Authority
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