LTA and URA explain why hotel had to go

Source : Straits Times - 5 Jul 2008

WE THANK readers for sharing their views about the New 7th Storey Hotel. The Land Transport Authority carried out a comprehensive study and explored all options to construct the Downtown Line 1 (DTL1) and the new Bugis station. After exhausting all options, we concluded there was no alternative but to demolish the New 7th Storey Hotel building.

The new DTL1 has certain structural requirements.

First, the tunnels have to swing clear of the Rochor Flyover foundations. As a result, the tunnel alignment will inevitably head in the direction of the hotel.

Second, the current Bugis station is built on a diaphragm-walled foundation comprising deep and heavily reinforced concrete walls.

This limits where the DTL1 tunnels can pass underneath without compromising the existing station’s foundations. This also means the new station can be built only on the south side of Victoria Street. Hence there is no option but to demolish the building so the station can be constructed.

The conservation of buildings is assessed in the larger development context, taking into consideration long-term planning in the area where a building is located.

Land use needs to be optimised in land-scarce Singapore by balancing competing, and sometimes conflicting, needs for development and conservation, and to make painful decisions either way.

The land parcel where the hotel is sited will be amalgamated with the adjacent state-land parcel for future comprehensive redevelopment.

Doing so allows better integration between the station and the site’s future development, resulting in better urban-design plans and pedestrian networks.

We thank readers for their views and assure them that our engineers had exhausted all other options before settling on the current plan. In time to come, the Downtown Line, with its new Bugis station, as well as the other new developments in the area, will bring many benefits and add to the vibrancy of the area for generations of Singaporeans to enjoy.

Geoffrey Lim
Deputy Director, Media Relations
Land Transport Authority

Andrew David Fassam
Deputy Director, Urban Planning and Design
Urban Redevelopment Authority