Thomson Road building next to upcoming N-S Corridor tunnel to be demolished

[SINGAPORE] A four-storey building along Thomson Road, located just metres away from an upcoming tunnel for the North-South Corridor (NSC), will be acquired by the authorities and demolished after concerns over the strength of the building's concrete emerged earlier this year.

In a joint statement on Friday (April 16), the Land Transport Authority (LTA), Singapore Land Authority (SLA) and Building and Construction Authority (BCA) said that 68-74 Thomson Road, a 57-year-old freehold building with 12 residential units and four commercial units, has to be acquired and demolished before excavation works on the NSC tunnel can begin as a result of the safety concerns.

These concerns came to light after LTA conducted detailed tests to check the strength of the building's concrete. This was part of a plan to strengthen the foundations of the building ahead of the excavation works for the NSC tunnel.

Before works in the area began, an impact assessment by LTA-appointed engineers last year found that the building's foundation was not uniform.

This was the result of underpinning works done on one part of the building in 1994 after an adjacent building was demolished. This involves propping that part of the building with piles.

The engineers found that the foundations needed to be strengthened so it could withstand the impact of the NSC tunnel excavation works.

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To ensure safety during the foundation strengthening works, all of the occupants of the building were moved out in February and had found alternative places to live and do business.

Of the 16 units in the building, 14 were tenanted.

LTA then conducted further tests, which involve taking core samples from the building's concrete, for due diligence. Such tests are invasive in nature and could only have been done once the building was vacated, the authorities said.

The tests found that the concrete was weaker than expected and it would be risky to carry out the foundation strengthening works.

BCA had also conducted an independent inspection of the building in February and agreed with the assessment that while the building was safe if there were no major construction works in the vicinity, it would be impractical to carry out the strengthening works.

The building at 68-74 Thomson Road, which previously housed shops such as Tanjong Rhu Pau, is the only building located near to the 21.5km NSC that has been assessed as requiring foundation strengthening works.

The acquisition of the 776 sq m plot of land on which the building sat was gazetted on Friday morning.

SLA and LTA said they will work closely with the owners of the 16 units and assist them through the acquisition process.

SLA will take possession of the building by July and the demolition of the building is expected to take place by the end of the year.

The authorities said the acquisition and demolition of the Thomson Road building will not have an impact of the construction timeline of the NSC.

Previously slated to be completed in 2026, construction on the NSC has been delayed by a year until 2027 due to Covid-19.

Construction of the corridor, which will connect towns in the northern region to the city, began in 2018 after the first civil contract was awarded in 2017 for a stretch between Novena Rise and Toa Payoh Rise.

Since then, all 14 civil contracts for the construction of the corridor's tunnels and viaducts have been awarded, with the final batch awarded in late 2019.

The corridor was originally intended to be a vehicular expressway but was later reconfigured to include dedicated bus lanes, cycling trunk routes and pedestrian paths, making it Singapore's first integrated transport corridor.

The corridor, which will run almost parallel to the Central Expressway (CTE), will also alleviate traffic on the CTE and major arterial roads such as Thomson Road and Marymount Road.

Meanwhile, the corridor's cycling trunk routes and pedestrian paths will link up with the Park Connector Network and local cycling paths within HDB towns along the entire corridor.

THE STRAITS TIMES