As Singapore enters the new millennium, we will see an increasing number of businesses moving away from the South-Centre in a general decentralisation.

Land uses will change. The South-Centre will retain its command of the highest land values on the island, but increasingly, space in the Regional Centres will be regarded at a premium. Land uses which cannot shape up will have to ship out.

An especially clear example of this is that of the Fraser & Neave soft drinks factory.

When the company first started operations in Singapore in 1883, its factory was located in the heart of town at Battery Road. Increasingly squeezed by rising land rents, it moved to River Valley Road in 1954.

In the early nineties, it was obliged to relocate its premises for a second time, this time moving all the way to Tuas. At its old site at River Valley stands the spanking new Valley Park condominium.

This pattern is being repeated throughout the island.

Industrial land uses are giving way to upper-middle income residences. What is interesting is that this trend is a reversal of that which is taking place in most other developed countries, where the upper-middle class value a suburban location more than a central one. In fact, it is usually residential land uses which are outbid by industrial ones.

A business which is bucking the above Singaporean trend is that of the Ikea furniture store.

When the business first arrived in Singapore, it was at a peripheral location in Sixth Avenue. It then moved to an area of higher population density and greater accessibility at Katong. In 1995, it moved again, this time to an even more central location at Alexandra. It is obvious that Singaporeans seem to have a penchant for Scandinavian furniture.

Part 2: Bukit Timah Nature Reserve

Reproduced with permission from the site formerly known as 'No Place Like Home', © Kenneth Y T Lim 1995-9