Jurong Hill Tower, Turf City grandstands and Dakota Crescent blocks to be conserved

Jurong Hill Tower, two grandstands at Turf City in Bukit Timah and six blocks in Dakota Crescent estate have been put forth for conservation.

- Ng Keng Gene

The state properties were among buildings and structures at five sites that National Development Minister Desmond Lee said the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) is proposing to conserve.

The two other sites are the former Royal Malayan Navy administrative block in Woodlands North and the Singapore Badminton Hall at 100 Guillemard Road.

In a video posted on Facebook on May 14, Mr Lee said the buildings and sites helped tell the story of Singapore's progress in the past 60 years.

"Each one means something to someone," he said, adding that "one important way of anchoring our sense of place and identity as Singaporeans is to conserve buildings and sites that reflect our common history and experiences".

Citing Jurong Hill Tower, which was built in 1969 by JTC Corporation as a lookout point, Mr Lee said it was a symbol of independent Singapore's industrial transformation, and signalled the country's economic ambitions.

He added that plans for the properties will be showcased at the Draft Master Plan 2025 exhibition, slated for June.

Heritage blogger and author Jerome Lim cheered the decision to conserve the five sites, noting that three of them—Singapore Badminton Hall, the Dakota Crescent blocks, and the Royal Malayan Navy admin block—had their beginnings in the post-World War II, pre-independence period, which he said is "a phase of our history that seems lacking in representation".

"It was a period marked by the development of the Malayan and Singapore identity as well as a rise of political awareness; a period that is also often neglected in the telling of Singapore's political and social history," he said.

Mr Lim added that more can, and should, be done to retain structures from that period and also the post-independence period, which he said is also under-represented.