{"id":31390,"date":"2020-01-29T15:27:52","date_gmt":"2020-01-29T07:27:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.99.co\/blog\/singapore\/?p=31390"},"modified":"2023-08-04T17:45:46","modified_gmt":"2023-08-04T09:45:46","slug":"you-probably-missed-this-important-change-to-our-cbd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.99.co\/singapore\/insider\/you-probably-missed-this-important-change-to-our-cbd\/","title":{"rendered":"You probably missed this important change to our CBD"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Today we’re going to look at one of the most ignored – but significant – changes in the URA Master Plan. That’s the CBD inventive scheme that was announced last year, received a few minutes of applause, and has apparently vanished from our mental radar. It seems that no one outside the experts fully realises how significant this all is:<\/p>\n

Huh, change to CBD? What did I miss?<\/h2>\n
\"CBD
This is the total population of the Raffles Place area on some weekends.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The CBD Incentive Scheme was announced way <\/em>back<\/a> in late March of 2019, to little fanfare. I can’t blame you for not paying attention to it, since most Singaporeans think the CBD is a zone that ceases to exist after Friday night and reappears on Monday morning.<\/p>\n

(Just try walking around the City Hall area on a Saturday; you’ll find more liveliness in a columbarium.)<\/p>\n

This is precisely what the CBD Incentive Scheme sets out to change. Under this initiative, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) will encourage more CBD office buildings to convert into mixed-use developments. Qualifying office buildings will get an increase in Gross Plot Ratio (GPR).<\/p>\n

(The GPR is used to determine the Gross Floor Area, or GFA, which determines how many units can be built. E.g. a GPR of 2.8 means that, for a land plot of 80,000 square feet, the GFA is 2.8 x 80,000 = 224,000 square feet).<\/p>\n

Along Anson Road and Cecil Street, GPR will be raised by up to 25 per cent, if the office development is converted to include hotels, residential, or other commercial use. For conversions to residential use with commercial use on the ground floor, the GPR can be raised up to 30 per cent.*<\/p>\n

*Subject to certain qualifications of age and minimum size of area
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

English translation of above paragraph:<\/h2>\n
\"Celebrting
More residential units in the CBD will add some life to the place.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Let’s face it, the CBD right now is 90 per cent office and 10 per cent Starbucks. URA wants to change that, so that we get more residential units, shops, eateries, etc; that stops the area from becoming a complete dead zone on weekends.<\/p>\n

As a plus point, having more residential units in the CBD will ease some of the demand on our roads and public transport systems (not by much, but maybe your face will be shoved up against one less armpit on the train to work).<\/p>\n

But here are the main things to note about the CBD:<\/p>\n