SINGAPORE – Singapore’s urban planners are looking to build new homes and amenities in Newton to meet demand for more diverse housing options in central locations.
The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said in an ongoing exhibition that “there are plans to introduce new housing and amenities, more delightful public spaces, and improved connectivity within a neighbourhood rich in heritage charm”.
The exhibition, which is about current and future recreational facilities and amenities in the central region, is part of URA’s public engagement for its upcoming Recreation Master Plan, which will be incorporated into the next Draft Master Plan, to be launched in 2025.
URA’s Master Plan is a statutory document that guides Singapore’s development for the next 10 to 15 years.
Asked for more details on its plans for the Newton area, URA told The Straits Times that these “are still being studied”.
The agency added that plans will “take into account the heritage and identity of the area, while catering to meet Singaporeans’ aspirations for more diverse housing options in more central locations”.
According to URA’s current 2019 Master Plan, about 29ha of land – equivalent in size to about 40 football fields – near Newton MRT station has been zoned as reserve sites, indicating that their specific use has yet to be determined. In the interim, the sites can be used for other purposes.
This means they could be rezoned and used for housing and amenities when the masterplan is reviewed, which happens once every five years.
Many of the current reserve sites in the area house developments that date back to pre-independence Singapore.
They include the Goodwood Hill estate, which was established in the early 1900s and spans about 18ha, and staff quarters in Monk’s Hill built by the colonial authorities in the late 1940s.
The Goodwood Hill estate was one of 19 sites that the URA announced in June 2022 were being studied as part of a heritage plan.
According to the 2019 masterplan, the existing Clemenceau Avenue North should run through the site now occupied by Newton Food Centre. But a URA spokesperson said there are currently no plans to relocate the food centre, and added that future plans for the area are being studied.

Mr Edwin Loo, an associate director at real estate consultancy Cistri and a former urban planning team lead at URA, said a reserve site zoning typically indicates that development is highly unlikely in the short to medium term.
He added that the area around Newton “is a substantial opportunity for residential-led mixed-use development with excellent access to public transport and jobs” in the long run.
Pointing to two office developments at 8 Anthony Road and 50 Scotts Road, Mr Loo noted that both sit on sites zoned for housing with commercial use on the first floor, and are now beyond their original 15-year leases, which were awarded in 2008.
“In theory, these sites could be activated at relatively short notice if required, once the current tenancies end,” he said.
A third office development, which is currently being used by Prudential at 51 Scotts Road, was on a 15-year lease, awarded in 2007. It sits on a reserve site.
A spokesperson for the Singapore Land Authority said that each of the three properties have been granted extensions until some time in 2025, and the sites will be returned to the state when tenancies expire.
One possible challenge for planners is potentially retaining and integrating several clusters of historically significant state properties in the area into future developments.
Whether the heritage buildings are retained “is likely to come down to a delicate balance between development yield, the merit of keeping the existing properties, and other considerations such as identity, character and achieving good urban design outcomes”, said Mr Loo.
Singapore University of Technology and Design architectural historian Yeo Kang Shua said the authorities could site new developments at the multiple pieces of flat and empty land plots among the reserve sites in the Monk’s Hill area.
Potential new developments can be integrated with the former schools and municipal staff quarters there, which will retain these heritage landmarks and be more climate-friendly than building something brand new.

Dr Harvey Neo, a professorial research fellow at SUTD’s Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities, said inserting high-rise public housing will make sustaining the heritage and charm of Newton, especially in Monk’s Hill, difficult.
He said one way to make housing more financially accessible without affecting the look and feel of the estate would be to build low-rise public housing blocks with smaller units, reminiscent of those built by the Singapore Improvement Trust, in areas such as Tiong Bahru and Tanglin Halt.
Ms Christine Sun, chief researcher and strategist at real estate firm OrangeTee Group, said a limited supply of new homes in the area in recent years, coupled with the area’s central location, will likely make any new homes there highly sought after.
Recent new launches include the 39-unit Cairnhill 16 and the 138-unit Klimt Cairnhill – both were en bloc sales sites launched in 2021 as freehold projects – as well as the 378-unit Kopar at Newton, a 99-year project launched in 2020. There are no public flats in the area.
The Recreation Master Plan exhibition for the central area runs until Sept 30 at the URA Centre.
Newton’s reserve sites

Goodwood Hill Estate
- Bungalows in the estate date back to the 1910s and were built by the Public Works Department to house officers of Singapore’s colonial administration.
- In the mid-1900s, a portion of the site was used to train political and civil service leaders.
- For instance, 4 Goodwood Hill was used as the site of the Political Study Centre, where civil servants were educated on Western and Asian political thought, among other issues, from 1959 to 1969.

Prudential @ Scotts
- Situated by an empty field above Newton MRT station, the office building is on a tenancy that ends on April 30, 2025. It will be returned to the state thereafter.
- Also on tenancies that end in 2025 are offices at 8 Anthony Road and 50 Scotts Road, located across the road from Prudential. Both developments sit on sites zoned primarily for housing, with commercial use on the ground floor.
Ascott Centre for Excellence (former site of Anthony Road Girls’ School)
- The compound was originally built in 1950 for Anthony Road Girls’ School, which closed about three decades later.
- It was then occupied by St Margaret’s Primary School, followed by Chaoyang Special School, and has since 2007 housed the Ascott Centre for Excellence.
Newton Food Centre

- Its current building was completed in 2006, but the hawker centre dates back to the early 1970s.
Laselle College of the Arts Winstedt Campus (former sites of Newton Boys’ School and Monk’s Hill Primary School)

- Monk’s Hill Primary School was established in 1939, while Newton Boys’ School opened in the late 1950s.
- The two school buildings were likely built in the late 1950s. Newton Boys’ School closed in 1978 and its students were absorbed by Monk’s Hill Primary School, which closed in 1987.
- Lasalle College of the Arts officially opened its campus at the site in 2014.
KiddieWinkie Newton (former site of the Guide House)

- The pre-school’s building, which dates back to the late 1960s, was originally the site of the Guide House – the headquarters of Girl Guides Singapore.
- The Guide House was officially opened on Jan 21, 1967, by Puan Noor Aishah, the wife of Singapore’s first president Yusof Ishak.
Former municipal staff quarters


- The quarters were erected for municipal workers by agencies such as the Singapore Municipal Commission.
- The quarters that remain include apartment blocks at Monk’s Hill Road and Clemenceau Avenue North, built in the late 1940s, as well as terraced units at Monk’s Hill Terrace, built in the 1920s.
- The units are currently rented out by the Singapore Land Authority for residential use.
Ministry of Education Language Centre (Newton) (former site of Cairnhill Primary School)
- The compound originally housed Cairnhill Primary School from 1959 and was renovated before Anglo-Chinese School (Junior) shifted there in 1985.
- Since 2008, the MOE Language Centre has occupied the compound.
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