Gillman Barracks Is Set To Become A New Housing Estate — Here’s What We Know So Far

Less than a third of the existing buildings at Gillman Barracks will remain standing after the area is transformed into a new housing estate in the future, based on a recent environmental impact assessment (EIA) and heritage study released by the Housing & Development Board (HDB) on July 10.

The heritage study, conducted by conservation consultancy Studio Lapis, assessed all 86 buildings in the compound known as Gillman Barracks. The existing buildings are spread out across seven clusters in a 40ha plot of land.

The most evocative heritage building that will be spared is the original block on Alexandra School in Preston Road, which was constructed in 1939. The building sits on the highest hilltop within the area and currently houses the Preston Campus of the ISS International School.

Meanwhile, three British-built colonial era buildings will also be kept. They consist of the former regimental headquarters of the Singapore Combat Engineers (Block 6), the services canteen and social club (Block 9), and the old sergeants’ mess (Block 22).

The other buildings which will also be retained include 14 of the 16 garrison-style semi-detached houses along Preston Road, which were built between 1925 and 1939. Also surviving is the Telok Blangah Substation, completed in 1974 and still in active operation. It was noted for its modernist bronze-anodised aluminium curtain wall facade.

The 25 retained buildings currently carry no formal heritage protection, which means that government agencies will be considering public feedback before deciding whether a formal conservation status should follow.

What will not survive are the buildings during the period when the site was used by St Andrew’s Junior College and the Pasir Panjang Vocational Institute, both of which opened in the 1970s. Among the losses are SAJC’s lecture theatre, main block, and athletics track. Their buildings sit in a low-lying southern section that would need significant ground-raising for flood mitigation.

View of SAJC with now demolished barrack blocks on the hill in the background. (Source: St Andrew’s Junior College, The SAJCian 1979)

In the report, Ho Puay Peng, a professor at NUS’s Department of Architecture, said retaining clusters of buildings in this manner, rather than individual buildings, is the right call. “The buildings have more value in clusters, and their significance is expressed in a group rather than as individual buildings,” he says.

Today, the buildings at Gillman Barracks are used for a variety of interim residential, commercial, creative lifestyle, educational uses, and forested areas that make up part of the Southern Ridges. Some of the former colonial era buildings at Gillman Barracks feature event spaces, exhibitions, art galleries, and dining establishments, and a hub for entertainment and culture.

Plans to turn Gillman Barracks into a future residential estate with a mix of public and private homes were first unveiled in 2024, and the area was also mentioned in the 2025 Master Plans as when large portions of the compound were rezoned for residential use.

In the latest study, HDB says that the development of Gillman Barracks is required in order to meet rising housing demand and to better serve existing and future communities in Bukit Merah. It adds that the overall demand for housing in Singapore is set to increase as household sizes shrink and housing aspirations increase.

A map illustrating the HDB study of Gillman Barracks and the various land uses indicated in the Master Plan. (Map: HDB)

Gillman Barracks is not the only landmark site that is set to go in order to make space for Singapore’s future residential needs. HDB also released a study on July 10 that paves the way for two-thirds of Maju Forest in Clementi to be cut down to make room for a new residential estate in the Sunset Way neighbourhood.

The environmental study also documented 293 plant species and 178 fauna species. Among them, 22 plant species and 11 fauna species are of conservation concern. Most of the flora and fauna are concentrated in two habitats: a native-dominated secondary forest and a freshwater stream.

HDB plans to retain both habitats within an eight-hectare green area that makes up about a fifth of the future housing estate. Ecological corridors will connect more than five hectares of existing greenery with over two hectares of new native-species planting.

The idea is that this will allow the future housing estate to serve as a stepping stone for wildlife moving between HortPark, Telok Blangah Hill Park, Berlayar Creek, and Labrador Nature Reserve. A nature trail along the Old Jurong Line railway corridor near the site is also being studied.

Prof Ho says that running the environmental and heritage studies simultaneously allowed findings from each to reinforce the other: the forest stream, for instance, is both an ecological asset and an essential part of the site’s terrain and character.

Some of the former colonial era buildings at Gillman Barracks feature event spaces, exhibitions, art galleries, and dining establishments. (Picture: SLA)

The groundwork to plan for future HDB flats at Gillman Barracks is in place

For now, the government has not publicly shared how many new HDB flats will be built at Gillman Barracks in the future. But the nearby 48-hectare Berlayar estate is expected to house 10,000 homes, giving a rough sense of what a similarly sized southern site can deliver.

The more relevant question may be the eventual classification of the Build-To-Order projects there. Eugene Lim, key executive officer at ERA Singapore, expects BTO flats at Gillman Barracks to fall under HDB’s Prime or Plus category, given the site’s proximity to the city and Labrador Park MRT on the Circle Line.

Flats in those two categories carry a 10-year minimum occupation period and an income ceiling for the subsequent resale buyer, but also a more heavily subsidised launch price. In terms of the private residential market there, comparable 99-year condos nearby have been trading at $1,755 psf to $2,496 psf in 2026, from Reflections at Keppel Bay to the newer Reef at King’s Dock, based on caveats.

The proportion of public housing and private homes at Gillman Barracks will be determined once the consultation closes on Aug 6. The completion of the environmental and heritage studies clears the way for urban planners to start developing concrete plans that may appear in the next master plan.

The public feedback form for the Heritage Impact Assessment of Gillman Barracks can be found here. The public feedback form for the Environmental Impact Assessment of Gillman Barracks can be found here.