Five former schools in the east that have moved or been merged with other schools are set to be replaced by new homes.

Proposed amendments to the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s (URA) masterplan that were published on April 24 and May 7 showed that land occupied by the five schools have been earmarked for new homes.

They are the former Bedok Town Secondary, Temasek Primary and Temasek Secondary in Bedok, Qiaonan Primary in Tampines and Siglap Secondary in Pasir Ris.

The HDB is in the midst of demolishing three of the schools, and has permission from the URA to tear down the remaining two.

Other proposed amendments to the URA Master Plan 2019 – a statutory document – showed that new homes are being planned in areas such as Sin Ming and Toa Payoh.

One of the proposed amendments is to rezone a site near Bedok MRT station from educational to residential use.

The site, at the intersection of New Upper Changi Road and Bedok South Road, was formerly occupied by Temasek Primary and Secondary schools. Both schools have moved to other sites in Bedok South and Upper East Coast.

The HDB received permission from URA to demolish the two schools in February 2023, but has yet to tear them down, according to checks by The Straits Times.

The site is about 31,500 sq m, and has been assigned a gross plot ratio of 2.8.

Gross plot ratios determine the maximum permissible floor area of developments.

Property analysts said the site can yield 1,000 to 1,100 condominium units, or 700 to 820 public flats.

Mr Nicholas Mak, chief research officer at property search portal Mogul.sg, said, however, that condo developers might not be keen on a site so close to the industrial area in Bedok South Road, which potential homebuyers might not like.

Temasek Primary used the site from 1980 to 2000 before moving to Bedok South Avenue 3, while Temasek Secondary was there from 1980 to 1999 before moving to 600 Upper East Coast Road.

About 1km away at 232 Bedok North Street 3, the HDB is demolishing the former Bedok Town Secondary School, which merged with Ping Yi Secondary in 2016.

A noticeboard at the site states that demolition works are slated for completion in the second quarter of 2025.

Based on a proposed amendment to URA’s masterplan, about 22,000 sq m of the school’s site will be rezoned for residential use, with a plot ratio of 2.5.

The remainder of the site has been earmarked for health and medical care use.

Analysts said the area for residential use can yield 450 to 520 flats, or 630 to 700 condo units.

Ms Christine Sun, real estate company OrangeTee Group’s chief researcher and strategist, said public housing is likely to be built on the site, so that residents can have easy access to the planned medical facility next door.

Mr Mak, who noted that the medical facility could be a small community hospital, hospice, or nursing home, agreed with her assessment, as “private residential property buyers are less inclined to purchase homes near such healthcare facilities”.

At 15 Tampines Street 11, the HDB recently finished demolishing Qiaonan Primary School, and is carrying out drainage and other land works at the site.

Qiaonan was formed by a merger between Kiau Nam School and Pulau Tekong Primary School in 1985 – the year that it started operating in Tampines.

In 2015, Qiaonan merged with Griffiths Primary School to form Angsana Primary, and the merged school took up residence at Griffiths’ location in Tampines Street 22.

About 14,000 sq m of the site formerly occupied by Qiaonan has been earmarked for housing, with a plot ratio of 2.0, based on a proposed masterplan amendment published by URA on May 7.

The remainder of the site is set to be used for health and medical care.

For reasons similar to the Bedok Town Secondary plot, Mr Mak and Ms Sun believe that this plot in Tampines will be used for public housing.

Mr Mak said the site can yield 125 to 150 flats, while Ms Sun gave a higher estimate of 200 to 250 flats.

Farther north, the HDB is demolishing the former Siglap Secondary School at 10 Pasir Ris Drive 10.

Demolition works are slated for completion in the first quarter of 2026.

Siglap Secondary School used the Pasir Ris campus from 1998 until its merger with Coral Secondary in 2017 to form Meridian Secondary at 31 Pasir Ris Street 51.

A proposed amendment to the masterplan shows that Siglap Secondary’s site, which is about 30,500 sq m, is slated for housing use with a plot ratio of 3.2.

Analysts said that the site can yield 700 to 900 flats, or 1,000 to 1,200 condo units.

Mr Mak noted that the proposed plot ratio of 3.2 is the highest among other housing plots in the vicinity.

He said it indicates that the Government may be planning to build flats here, as housing sites developed by HDB are typically the most densely developed, with the highest plot ratios within residential towns.

Meanwhile, analysts expect that a site in Sin Ming that is undeveloped will be used for private housing. The site, which has an area of about 4,000 sq m, is opposite Ai Tong School in Sin Ming Avenue and is around 200m from Bright Hill MRT station.

A proposed amendment to URA’s masterplan published on May 7 assigned the site a plot ratio of 2.8.

Mr Mak said the site is too small to be developed by HDB, which will not be able to reap economies of scale, while Ms Sun noted that the site’s size means ancillary facilities that typically come with public housing, such as playgrounds or childcare facilities, cannot be built.

They said the site can yield 120 to 150 condo units.

In Toa Payoh, the authorities are also preparing a relatively small site for housing development.

The site, now an open-air carpark bounded by Lorong 4 Toa Payoh and several HDB blocks, has an area of about 7,500 sq m.

In a proposed amendment published on May 7, the URA assigned it a plot ratio of 3.4, up from the current 3.0.

Mr Mak said it is most probable that new flats will be built on the site, given that it is surrounded by HDB blocks – some more than five decades old.

He said the site can yield 210 to 260 flats, while Ms Sun estimated that 200 to 250 flats can be built there.

She said that the rezoning indicates the authorities are trying to maximise the use of land in central Toa Payoh, which is already densely populated.

Besides new homes, latest proposed amendments to URA’s masterplan published by the authority on May 9 showed that a new nursing home will be built in Dover, while a “health and medical care development” is slated to be built in Eunos Avenue 5, near Paya Lebar MRT station.

URA said the latter facility will serve residents in the region. It will add to other medical facilities in the area, such as Eunos Polyclinic, which opened in 2022.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.