Singapore Expats

Hi There

Our rental of a conservation house has just fallen through. We were split between that and and the four seasons. Now we are back to renting in the four seasons, but the block we are looking at (Summer) is right next to a tower that is supposed to be coming down later this year.

Although my daughter and I are interested in watching the building come down and go up (we would have a birds eye view), I am really worried about the noise and dust etc. Also how much lower would the rent be once demolition has started? If they halve then I would rather wait!

Anyone have any experience or advice on this?

Many thanks

Berni

Definitely can be noisey, but it's hard to avoid living next to a construction site in Singapore. If they start closing traffic lanes, like at ion orchard, that can be a major pain too. If you sign a 2 year lease, it'll be going on throughout your stay.

It's a tough one -- can you go back, and look at the flat during the day with the windows open? It might give you a better idea.

If you live in the Orchard area there will be construction close by -- it's almost unavoidable.

Also, why not put your name on the list for a conservation house as well ?? (since you were interested in a shop house). You can stay at Four Seasons -- get your bearings and figure things out and then by the time your lease is up you'll know if you're ready to take on an older place.

avoid! avoid! avoid!
it was a nightmare for me about 3.5 years ago... they start construction early morning (including saturdays) and finish late at night. suffice to say that i didn't get much sleep during those times, which affected my mood, and affected my work!

berni29,

Rent won't be any lower at all. Noise will drive you around the bend. Also, contractors here are famous for disregarding the rules with regards to decibel levels and times allowed (like after certain hours in the evenings) calls to various government agencies often will cause short-term temporary relief but you can bet they will revert to habit shortly. Dust will always be a problem even if you have full-time aircon (buildings here aren't what you would call airtight )

If you know it's going to happen during the duration of your prospective lease then I'd stay far, far away unless you have the temperment of a stone statue.

Hi

Thank you for the replies.

The apartment I was looking at is in the Four seasons summer block and faced the block that will be coming down later this year. I have seen another appartment in the summer block that faces the pool, so I am thinking that the noise will be a lot less. I really like the apartments in the four seasons so I might go for this one.

Many thanks

Berni

In tightly packed tower blocks (sound like a place we know?) noise reverberates and gets amplified -- especially when they're jackhammering a 20-story condo down bit by bit, pausing every now and then to throw the rubble down the chute. So just to add my voice to the choir, no, you do not want to live anywhere near a building being demolished. Construction is more bearable, as at least the noisy bits are intermittent.