By October 2023, a large part of Redhill Close estate has been bulldozed, with only a couple of blocks left standing. Another old Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) estate has silently walked into the history.

Redhill Close was declared for Selective En-bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS) back in 2011. The small SIT housing estate was built in 1955, almost seven decades ago. Sometimes known as Redhill Estate in its early days, it was originally made up of 22 blocks that simply numbered 1 to 22. The blocks, fondly known as chek lau chu (“seven storey house” in Hokkien) by the locals, were built within and along a closed loop (also named Redhill Close) accessible from the main Jalan Bukit Merah.

Then-Governor of Singapore Sir Robert Black (1906-1999) toured the newly-built Redhill Close in August 1955, shortly after he took office. He also visited other SIT estates at Queenstown, Tiong Bahru and Outram.

From the fifties to the seventies, Redhill Close estate that appeared peaceful during the day, however, was notoriously dangerous at night. Robbery and hooliganism were rife, and house break-ins and gang fights were common. Cases of thefts and stabbing at Redhill Close frequently appeared in the news. The situation was so bad that the residents of Redhill Close wanted to form their vigilante group to patrol the lanes at night and keep an eye on unescorted women and children.

One major secret society that operated at Redhill Close and caused troubles to the residents was sio ang koon of the 24 Group, who committed several high-profile extortion, robbery and rape cases in the seventies. In 1976, the police stormed a 11-storey unit at the nearby Block 88 of Redhill Close with tear gases. Hidden inside was a notorious gang leader, who was involved in a series of armed robberies throughout Singapore. He retaliated by shooting at the policemen, but was eventually shot dead in the head by a police sniper.

Hygiene and fire safety were major issue too, as squatters and some residents built illegal attap huts around Redhill Close to rear pigs, which were left roaming around the estate causing much annoyance to the ground-floor tenants. Some inconsiderate ones even threw the dead pigs into the drains, leading to choked waters and mosquito breeding. The huts were also prone to fires, putting the nearby residents at risk.

There were several public amenities built around Redhill Close, which included schools, market, community centre, temple and an old folk’s club.

Three neighbourhood schools – Bukit Merah North School, Bukit Merah South School and Redhill School – were established in the fifties, around the same period as the development of the Redhill Close estate. Proving basic education for the students living in the area for three decades, the three schools were eventually merged in 1986 to become Bukit Merah Primary School.

In 1998, Bukit Merah Primary School merged with Alexandra Hill Primary School and shifted into the latter’s campus. Its own premises were occupied in the early 2000s by Gan Eng Seng Primary School and Bukit Merah Secondary School which lasted till today.

Chin Leng Keng, or Zhen Ren Gong Temple, was a Chinese joint temple established in 1978. Built at a cost of $300,000, the temple was a merger of four old temples – Kai Kok Tien, Chin Lin Keng, Ban Sian Beo and the 1oo-year-old Leng San Teng – that had to make way for redevelopment purposes. Chin Leng Keng temple stands beside the former Block 12 of Redhill Close.

The Bukit Merah Old Folk’s Club was set up at two adjoining flats at the first floor of Block 14 Redhill Close. Opened on 30 June 1979 by Lim Chee Onn, former Member of Parliament (MP) for Bukit Merah, the club regularly organised recreational activities for the elderly living in the area.

In the early eighties, one end of the closed Redhill Close loop was “opened up” to improve the traffic flow within the estate. It was extended and linked to Jalan Bukit Merah, converting Redhill Close into a one-way open loop with an entrance and exit via Jalan Bukit Merah. As a result, Block 4 was demolished to make way for the new junction, and Redhill Close estate was left with 21 blocks.

In 1983, under the national policy to encourage home ownership, the HDB offered the residents of Redhill Close estate to purchase their flats at $20,000 each. For a large part of its history, the Redhill Close flats, since 1955, had mostly been used as rental flats.

As an incentive for home ownership, Redhill Close was given a major upgrading project in 1984, where the residential units’ old windows and doors were replaced with new ones, and new mosaic tiles were laid for the bathrooms and toilets. New power cables were routed and laid at the grounds between the blocks. Repainting of the blocks were also carried out.

Redhill Close underwent another HDB’s upgrading program in the mid-nineties. 91.6% of the homeowners voted for the upgrading that came with refurbished toilets and additional utility rooms. Covered walkways, landscaped courtyards and new block facades were also added to the estate.

After the 2011 SERS announcement, HDB began building new replacement blocks at the nearby Henderson Road as a relocation option for the Redhill Close residents. By 2018 and 2019, most of the estate’s residents had vacated their homes.

In 2020, some of the vacant Redhill Close blocks were used as temporary accommodation to house the foreign workers, so that they could continue to provide the essential services and facility management during the Covid-19 pandemic period. The demolition works eventually commenced in 2023. The blocks were pulled down one by one, marking the end of this old SIT estate.

Published: 21 October 2023