Four storeys will be added to the conserved Golden Mile Complex, along with a new 45-storey residential tower named Aurea.
On Aug 29, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) granted developer GMC Property – a joint venture between Perennial Holdings, Far East Organization and Sino Land – permission to add four storeys of office space to the complex, which was gazetted for conservation in October 2021 and will be renamed The Golden Mile.
The developer was also given permission to build Aurea, a 188-unit condominium, which will be connected to the original Golden Mile Complex via a link bridge.
When the conservation was announced, URA said the complex, which was completed in 1973, is “considered one of the most architecturally, historically and socially significant modern buildings in Singapore”.
URA added at the time that the complex “is a symbol of the architectural and engineering ingenuity of Singapore’s pioneer generation of building professionals”, who included principal architects Tay Kheng Soon, Gan Eng Oon and William Lim, then of home-grown firm Design Partnership, which is today DP Architects – the firm working on Golden Mile Complex’s rejuvenation and the new condominium tower.
The 16-storey building was the first large-scale strata-titled building to be conserved in Singapore. Conserved buildings cannot be demolished, and works carried out on them have to comply with guidelines set by the URA.
Perennial Holdings, Far East Organization and Sino Land had in May 2022 purchased Golden Mile Complex for $700 million in a collective sale, which came with a package of incentives that were unique to the complex, to support the commercial viability of reusing it following the sale.
At the time, URA said the incentives included lease renewal to a fresh 99-year one, bonus gross floor area resulting in a one-third increase over the site’s original development intensity, and a partial development charge waiver on the additional floor area. The agency had said that a new 30-storey residential tower was a possibility.
Asked why a 45-storey tower was allowed instead, URA told The Straits Times it “had assessed that the proposed designs, including the new height of the residential tower as well as the materiality and facade treatment of the new extension, were in line with conservation requirements and within technical height controls”.
URA added that when it evaluates redevelopment proposals for conserved buildings and sites, it seeks to ensure that “future developments are sensitively designed and integrated meaningfully with conserved buildings, and that the land use of the site is optimised”.
The agency’s data shows that The Golden Mile and Aurea will have a combined gross floor area of 79,577.17 sq m, of which 20,457.77 sq m comes from bonus schemes, including 16,269.48 sq m that was offered as part of the conservation incentive package.
Of the total floor area, 52,062.98 sq m will be for commercial purposes, of which about 70 per cent will be used for offices, and the rest for retail spaces and medical units.
Another 25,191.96 sq m will be for residential use, and 2,322.23 sq m will be for an architectural centre.
In response to ST’s queries on the design of The Golden Mile and Aurea, a spokesperson for Perennial Holdings and Far East Organization said on Nov 12 that details on the design approach, conservation measures and project timeline will be shared in a media briefing that is being planned.
URA’s written permission to the consortium indicated that plans to use low-iron glass panels on the four-storey addition to Golden Mile Complex are subject to approval by the agency’s Design Advisory Panel. Low-iron glass typically has high transparency.
Speaking to ST, Golden Mile Complex’s original architect, Mr Tay, 84, said the plan to add a 45-storey tower is “quite atrocious”, as its proportions are out of scale with the conserved building.
“It is way too tall and will dwarf the main building,” said Mr Tay, who left Design Partnership in 1974.
He said that the new residential building should instead be built on a larger site, with fewer floors, to be in scale with the existing building.
However, Mr Tay said that adding four storeys to Golden Mile Complex – known for its distinctive terraced facade – would not make the building look awkward.
Architect Melvin Tan, the president of the Singapore Institute of Architects, said that while keeping a range of buildings for posterity is important, Singapore’s land scarcity means retentions need to be commercially viable.
“The four-storey extension and the 45-storey tower have to be seen in this light,” said Mr Tan, a deputy managing director at Laud Architects.
He said that keeping and refurbishing Golden Mile Complex to ensure it is relevant and attractive, while also giving developers room to add “just enough” without adversely affecting the look and feel of the original building, is a fine balancing act.
In weighing heritage and relevance, The Golden Mile and Aurea’s architects would also have had to factor in the latest regulatory requirements, existing site constraints and future aspirations for the district, said Mr Tan.
“We have to trust that between the appointed architects and the authorities safeguarding these, the current proposal (for Golden Mile Complex) has found the correct balance,” he said.
