Serving to Change
HOW THE
NEW HOME
CAME TO BE
The Ticking Time Bomb
Entering the old St Joseph’ s Home in Jurong West was like stepping into the warm embrace of Mother Nature. Her chirping birds, lively koi and lush greens made the place feel like a resort chalet rather than an institutional residence. It was as if time had stood still. But in reality, it was ticking away... to its impending‘ expiry’ on 5 April 2019. When the decision was made in 1989 to move from its original Gek Poh Road site to a bigger and better facility, a 30-year lease was signed for the land at Jurong
West. At that time, 30 years seemed a long way off. But once into the 21st Century, the sad fate became clearer as the deadline loomed.
The Alternative?
With the land lease up, St Joseph’ s Home would have to cease existing. The alternative is to find good reason to renew the lease. Says Sr Geraldine Tan who was already the Executive Director of the home then,“ I had ideas on how we could improve the design and services of the home. This was also the time when more people were showing up as‘ seniors’ in the statistics. So
Catholic Welfare Services( CWS) decided to renew the lease with a new proposal.” Sr Geraldine quickly called on a few architect friends and asked if she can build upwards, extending the low-rise one-storey brick buildings into six-storey blocks. They discouraged her saying the buildings were over 20 years old and thus unsuitable for upward extension. A better option was to tear down and rebuild.“ I said that is very scary right?” Sr Geraldine recalls,“ But in the end
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