URA Completes Structural Study on People's Park Complex

This will guide assessment of the potential conservation of Chinatown's modernist icon

- Ng Keng Gene

A structural investigation has been completed on People's Park Complex as part of the Urban Redevelopment Authority's (URA) study on the potential conservation of the modernist icon in Chinatown.

The study, which assessed the building's existing structural condition, will guide URA's assessment "in determining the potential of conserving the building vis-a-vis redevelopment plans", said Ms Tan Huey Jiun, director of conservation planning at the URA.

She told The Sunday Times in February that the study was "recently completed".

The 31-storey strata-titled complex – a 25-storey residential block atop a six-storey commercial podium – was designed by pioneer Singaporean architects William Lim, Tay Kheng Soon and Koh Seow Chuan of Design Partnership Architects, known today as DP Architects. Its construction was completed in 1973.

Ms Tan noted that the complex was one of the first mixed-use commercial and private residential developments in the region, adding that it was also the largest shopping complex in Singapore when it first opened and the first shopping complex in the country with atriums.

People's Park Complex first attempted a collective sale in 2018 at an asking price of $1.3 billion, but it failed to obtain the required consent of 80 per cent of the unit owners.

Owners in the multi-use building then initiated a second attempt in March 2023 at the same asking price, although some uncertainties were raised in November that year after the URA informed the collective sales committee that the complex was being assessed for conservation because of its heritage and architectural significance.

The collective sales committee is awaiting results of the structural study from URA, as well as an update from the agency on whether the owners will be granted conservation incentives, such as bonus gross floor area (GFA).