WHY JURONG?


FIGURE 2. AN IMPRESSION OF JURONG LAKE DISTRICT IN THE FUTURE

To mitigate congestion within the city area and to bring jobs closer to homes, URA proposed a strategy to develop more commercial centres outside of the central area. We had identified several locations that were strategically well-spread throughout the island and well-served by MRT stations. Of these locations, the Tampines Regional Centre in the eastern part of the island and the Novena Fringe Centre nearer the city have already been developed into successful office clusters supported by retail, food and beverage (F&B), and entertainment amenities. As part of the next phase of this development strategy, plans are being rolled out for Paya Lebar sub-regional centre (located between Tampines and the city centre) and the Jurong Regional Centre (a commercial hub around the Jurong East MRT station on the western part of the island).

Some may ask: Why Jurong? To many people, the Jurong of today is a sub-urban residential area located far away from the city centre. It is also perceived as an industrial area.

Most businesses would likely prefer to continue to expand within the established office hubs in Tampines and Novena as they are better established and more familiar with these areas. However, the planners took a longer term view, that there is a need to establish a large commercial centre to serve the western region. They recognised that Jurong had a huge untapped potential.

Jurong is located within the heart of a population of 1 million residents. It has ready access to a large talent and labour pool. It is central to an established cluster of multinational and global businesses, ranging from the high-technology sector around the International Business Park to biotechnology, pharmaceutical and chemical industries in Jurong and Tuas. Hence, there are vast opportunities for business and commercial services to serve these companies. Jurong is also a major transportation hub. It is well-connected to the city and the rest of Singapore by rail and expressways.

Creating a major commercial centre would also help create extra buzz in the western part of Singapore. Jurong will be transformed into a vibrant hub with an eclectic mix of office, retail, residential, hotel, entertainment, F&B and other complementary uses. However, Jurong will not be a duplicate of Tampines Regional Centre or Novena. Its proximity to the beautiful Jurong Lake presents a huge opportunity to transform Jurong into a unique lakeside destination for both business and recreation. Lakeside, which is located near to Jurong, is envisaged to be a key leisure destination for families and visitors, with exciting attractions as well as a mix of complementary retail, F&B, hotel and other lifestyle developments. This will make the Jurong area appealing, attractive and exciting for residents, workers and visitors.

WORKING WITH THE PRIVATE SECTOR
South Beach and Orchard Turn are two government land sales sites that will feature prominently in Singapore’s urban landscape. The South Beach project which is located along Beach Road, a highly strategic nodal location between Marina Centre and the Civic District, will offer a mix of prime office space, luxury hotels, retail and residences. Orchard Turn, located on bustling Orchard Road, will be a luxury retail and residential development right in the heart of our prime shopping area. Given their strategic locations, it was critical to incorporate urban design guidelines into the tender conditions of these sites to ensure that the resulting developments would be attractive, and would incorporate features that meet the public’s needs.

The tender conditions for Orchard Turn require the successful company to upgrade the underground link between Orchard MRT and Wisma Atria, a private mall, to create a better pedestrian experience. In addition, the development has to include a public plaza space at the popular Orchard Road/Scotts Road junction and an art exhibition space to allow for the showcase of artworks and sculptures.

For South Beach, a “two-envelope system” was adopted to evaluate the tenders for the site. The “two-envelope system” is an approach within the tender process where price bids and concept proposals are submitted under separate envelopes and evaluated separately. The concept proposals are first evaluated, and only tenders that meet the concept criteria will be considered for award. This approach ensures that only the better designs and concepts are shortlisted, before the land is awarded based on the highest bid. Interested developers of the Beach Road site had to submit a design that provided for good pedestrian connectivity and public spaces. They also had to ensure that conservation buildings within the site would be sensitively adapted for new uses of office space, luxury hotels, retail and residences. A high bid tender submission in this instance would not have been sufficient.

In both developments, the URA’s role and objective are to engage the private sector towards achieving a high quality urban environment.