George and Lysa Goh thought they struck gold, when they bought a plot of land off Holland Road a few years ago. The 2000 sq m plot of land had a house in the middle, built in the 1930s for a British civil servant.

"We both liked conservation houses, and this was one of the last pieces of land for sale in this part of Singapore," says Mrs Goh, a full-time mum.

But then came problems. The triangular-shaped land was difficult to work with and it was often wet or underwater as the land was some two metres below the level of the surrounding streets and other buildings.