SINGAPORE & THE FEDERATION OF MALAYA
1948
IN
SINGAPORE
REPORT OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THE MUNICIPAL ARCHITECT & BUILDING SURVEYOR'S DEPARTMENT OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF SINGAPORE
1. I have the honour once again of submitting to you my Annual Report on the work of this Department during the past year.
The works carried out by this Department as a whole in 1948 are recorded in statistical schedules as appendices to the text of this report, which is designed therefore to give a brief coherent picture of the past year's work.
2.
STAFF
With the arrival in April of two additional officers the Senior Staff is once again at full strength, and as will be seen later on in the report, this has not only given added impetus in dealing with our current problems, but has enabled us to work out in a preliminary way a number of large and varied schemes required by the Commissioners in the very near future and a number of which are in fact included in the 1949 Estimates.
My Deputy, Mr. R. R. Gardiner, left for long leave on 27th June 1948, and I am happy to record that its beneficial effect will enable him to return in the early spring to carry out a further short term of duty to cover the period when I myself will be on long leave next year.
The Heads of the Departmental Sections remain as last ycar and in the Junior Staff as a whole there has been little change. It is pleasing to record that the considerable number of new-comers entering the office after the liberation have settled into the Department as a very hardworking and con- scientious team.
Mr. D. E. Siddons, my Chief Building Overseer, who had the honour of being selected by his colleagues in the Municipal Services Union to represent them on the Salaries Revision Committee, has put in much hard work and long hours in this responsible undertaking.
3. CONTRACT WORKS
It is probably as well, before general comment, to give at the outset the following concise summary showing the volume of work undertaken during the year:—
(1)
77 Contracts completed or in course of construction (included connected Services)
(ii) 16 Contracts for which tenders have been obtained and documents in course of completion
$2,762,150.
833,896.
$3,596,046.
These contracts varied from four to six figures and whilst numerically Rehabilitation and Maintenance works accounted for 56 Contracts, the value of these at $634,759 total was considerably less than the total of $2,961,287 covered by the $7 Contracts for new construction,
·
was
With a depleted staff in the early months, it inevitable that the preparatory work and the start of certain contracts fell late in 1948 with a resultant carry forward of approximately $900,000 of works still in course of construc- tion or about to start at the end of the year.
The end of rehabilitation works is at last in sight with very few buildings outstanding for 1949. No. 14 Adam Park remains our last building still held under Military requisition and after fighting a hotly contested rearguard action, the present occupiers, the Diplomatic Wireless, are moving out in the next month or so to their new premises at Braddell Road. Another building where the scars of war are very prominent is the Bukit Timah Road Pumping Station-plans for its rehabilitation are now well advanced and a start will be made here very early in the coming year.
In the new works the contracts are virtually all in connec- tion with the paramount need of rehousing all sections of our staff, and schemes either actually in building or well advanced on the drawing board show great strides forward in this provision. A brief over-all appreciation of the position at the present time is as follows;-
Standard plans have been approved both for single storied and double storied lines and a feature in both of these is the provision of individual dapors specially designed to eliminate as far as possible the penetration of smoke into the living rooms. The Commissioners approved a layout scheme for 17 double storied blocks of lines at Lorong Lalat where the Service Department Depots create a
very big demand. Four of these blocks are now in course of construc- tion and more are scheduled for next year.
Two large contracts, one for 130 rooms and one for 120 rooms, at Alexandra Road are well under way and further lines on this site are planned for 1949.
The cost per room of this provision continues to cause some concern particularly where site conditions necessitate piling. Alternative methods of construction have been under review during the latter part of the year.
The construction under consideration is light cellular concrete blocks supported on light beam type foundations. Such a method has, in my opinion, a restricted use requiring a site where the ground is solid, (i.e. either natural on solid strata or where filling has consolidated over a considerable period of years) and where there is no likelihood of distur- bance by future deep excavation for sewers and the like. is hoped to put forward an initial scheme for trial purposes early in 1949.
It
This construction has not gone forward with the speed which 1 should have liked. This is due entirely to the uncertainty caused by the supply position of the structural steel required for the eight storied blocks of flats on the Monks Hill site. Pressure to get this steel was maintained throughout the early months of the year and in the expecta- tion of approval to the export permit, it was necessary to hold funds to meet the costs involved should this be forth- coming. This sterilised the estimated funds for the greater part of the year until, as the year drew on and it became evident that supply could not be made within 1948, I put up a scheme to the Commissioners to make a start on the scheme by the erection of two four storied blocks in reinforced concrete (10 flats in all).
In December, the very welcome news was received from our London Agents that at long last a permit had been granted for the export of the 500 tons of steelwork required for the first two eight storied blocks (32 flats) and the Commissioners thereupon entered into a Contract with Messrs. Redpath Brown & Co. Ltd. (who have a local office in Singapore) for the supply and delivery of this long and anxiously awaited material,
The Commissioners approved in October, a layout for 192 Subordinate Quarters at Tanjong Katong and a start will be made in early 1949 on what should develop into a very pleasant addition to the Municipality's estates.
Three Subordinate Quarters are also in course of con- struction on the Braddell Road estate and it is understood that another 15 or so are included in the Water Department's estimates for erection on this site in 1949.
This year saw the rebuilding of our two bombed houses in Adam Park. These houses were severely damaged and with the exception of the foundation works and a few stand- ing walls entailed entire rebuilding. No. 11 has been converted into two self-contained semi-detached houses and these with the other house-No. 17—has added three badly needed houses to our list. Other additions are two houses in course of construction at Braddell Road Estate (one on W.E. Vote) one at Mount Emily (M.E. Vote), and a three-storey block of six flats at Marang Road for the Electrical Engineer.
The housing of Senior Staff is still a very difficult and somewhat day-to-day problem as shipping difficulties continue to make leave departures and arrivals uncertain. Officers still continue to occupy divided houses, but the recent additions mentioned above and the more steady flow of Officers on long leave will undoubtedly alleviate the position in the fairly near future.
From the foregoing, the Commissioners will see that they will have in course of development in 1949 the following major housing estates:—
(1)
Labourers Lines
No. of Rooms
(ii)
(i)
(ii)
Built and occupied since the re-occupation Brought back into
78
occupation by
(iii)
rehabilitation works
23
(iii)
Under construction and ready for occupa-
tion by April 1949
364
(iv)
(iv)
Under construction and ready for occupa-
tion by June 1949
80
(v)
Sites available and construction custs included in 1949 estimates
(v)
612
1,157
Monks Hill-Subordinate Quarters in flats. (Total accommodation for 192 flats when the scheme is completed).
Tanjong Katong Subordinate Quarters in small houses. (Total accommodation for 192 houses when the scheme is completed).
Alexandra Road-Single storied Labourers Lines. (Total accommodation for 570 rooms on the estate developed post-war when the scheme is completed). Lorong Lalat-Double storied Labourers Lines. (Total accommodation for 364 rooms when the scheme is completed).
Braddell Road-Senior Staff houses, Subordinate Quarters & Labourers Lines.
Layout on this large and extremely pleasant build- ing estate will be ultimately determined by the demand for each category of quarter.
35
35