1960s NatSteel building, former Pasir Panjang English School proposed for conservation

The first stages of Changi Airport and Singapore's MRT system — which have today become pillars of the country's transport system — opened in the 1980s.

- Ng Keng Gene and Samantha Lee

What is not as widely known is that at the core of these projects was steel from the National Iron and Steel Mills — the first factory set up in the Jurong Industrial Estate in 1961.

Known as NatSteel today, the company has remained at its original location for the past six decades, with its former main office building still standing.

Called the Steel Pavilion, the two-storey building — which was completed in 1963 — has been proposed for conservation under the Urban Redevelopment Authority's (URA) Draft Master Plan 2025, in recognition of NatSteel's contributions to Singapore's economy.

While relatively unknown and sitting in a far-flung part of the island, the Steel Pavilion's proposed conservation is the latest sign of the URA's shifting approach towards conservation.

Having kept a significant number of structures from the colonial era — which form the bulk of the country's more than 7,200 conserved buildings and structures — the URA has in recent times increasingly looked to conserve heritage markers from the period surrounding Singapore's independence in 1965.

Also proposed for conservation are the former Pasir Panjang English School at 24 Yew Siang Road and 20 buildings at the former Bukit Timah Turf City, which will be redeveloped into a new housing estate, the URA said at the draft masterplan exhibition launch on June 25.

These add to five previously announced sites that have been slated for conservation, such as the former Turf City's two grandstands and Jurong Hill Tower.

The URA said the former school is an example of standardised designs for schools built with timber in the 1920s and 1930s, and was one of the first schools in Pasir Panjang when it opened in January 1933.

The school closed in 1986, and its premises were used from 1999 to 2024 by Breakthrough Missions — a drug rehabilitation centre.