HDB to launch first flats in Tengah’s district with ‘car-free’ town centre in August

• More than 1,000 of about 7,800 BTO units to be offered in August’s BTO exercise will be from Tengah’s Park District
• Development will be integrated with a neighbourhood centre with a polyclinic and a 190m linear pedestrian mall
• Other BTO launches in August are in Ang Mo Kio, Bishan, Choa Chu Kang, Geylang, Pasir Ris, Tampines and Woodlands
• Preview of November BTO exercise: Launches in Bishan, Sembawang, Tampines, Tengah and Toa Payoh

SINGAPORE — In its Build-to-Order (BTO) exercise later this month, the Housing and Development Board (HDB) will be offering up the first batch of flats in Tengah’s most highly anticipated district, where Singapore’s first “car-free” town centre will be located.

The 1,044 units to be put up for sale will be located at the edge of Park District — touted as the “hub and heart” of Tengah — but it will be integrated with a neighbourhood centre with a polyclinic and a 190m linear pedestrian mall.

This neighbourhood centre, which is estimated to complete in 2025, is not to be confused with the town centre, where a Jurong Region Line MRT Station, commercial and retail spaces, as well as a sports centre are to be built.

Still, it will offer 40 shops providing food and retail options, and commercial services such as hair salons and tuition centres, a food court, a supermarket and a childcare centre.

Releasing these details in a press release on Monday (Aug 10) ahead of August’s BTO launch, HDB said that the height of the 12-block BTO development, called Parc Residences @ Tengah, will be staggered, ranging between seven and 14 storeys to maximise green views.

Within residents’ view is the Plantation Farmway, one of two “farmways” which would serve as a green connector linking residents to key facilities and amenities in Tengah town, including the 20ha Central Park that will be the centrepiece of green spaces at Tengah.

The farmways are each about 600m long and 40m wide on average, and spaces equivalent to the size of 33 four-room flats in total will be let up for community gardening and farming there.

About 6,800 other flats will be launched together with Parc Residences’ 1,000-odd units in August. These flats will be in Ang Mo Kio, Bishan, Choa Chu Kang, Geylang, Pasir Ris, Tampines and Woodlands. For Parc Residences, there will be choices of two-room flexi, three-, four- and five-room flats.

More Tengah flats will be offered in November, HDB said, along with launches in Bishan, Sembawang, Tampines and Toa Payoh. About 5,700 flats will be launched in total in this later exercise.

HDB said that the BTO flats in August’s Choa Chu Kang and Tampines North launches and November’s Tengah launch will have shorter waiting times.

MORE ON PARC RESIDENCES

The upcoming homes in Tengah are part of a new generation of public housing, HDB said. They will incorporate nature and elements that promote health and wellness to further enhance the quality of life for residents, it added.

In this vein, blocks at Parc Residences will get an elevated landscaped linkway on the eighth storey of each building, and it will serve as a recreational spot as there will be sheltered sitting areas, lookout points and fitness stations.

The estate’s multi-storey car park will also feature a vast rooftop garden linking the residential blocks, which will feature playgrounds, fitness corners and a jogging track. It will come with “prominently designed” feature staircases to encourage residents to use the stairs.

Similar stairways will also feature at the adjoining neighbourhood centre. At these stairways, residents will get to see a variety of green community spaces on each floor, including a therapeutic garden with fragrant plant varieties on the second level, HDB added.

And to enable smart living, an additional data point and power point, as well as smart sockets and a smart distribution board will be provided in each flat.

“This will make it easier for residents to adopt smart home devices, for example, to monitor their household energy consumption,” HDB said.

Tengah is the first HDB town to be planned with smart technologies town-wide from the outset, with features such as smart lighting and a Urban Water Harvesting System, which collects rainwater for irrigation and to wash common areas, to help save energy and water.

There are five districts to the over 700ha town, which is about the size of Bishan. The Park District, which occupies an area of about 104ha, alone will house about 7,200 new flats when fully developed.

It will be the third district to have flats launched, after the Plantation District in 2018 and the Garden District in 2019.

Tengah will house about 42,000 new flats when fully developed.