Two large concrete insignias of British infantry battalions are hidden in Gillman Barracks' forest.
SINGAPORE – Hidden in a secondary forest near Gillman Barracks’ remaining buildings are two large concrete insignia of the infantry battalions that the former British military camp housed.
Only one of its panels was face-up, while the others – assumed to be the remaining pieces of the insignia – were overturned next to it when The Straits Times visited the site on March 8. After the British handed over Gillman Barracks to Singapore in 1971, the site became the first home of the Singapore Army’s combat engineers till 1984. Dr Kwok said the wide ditch between Alexandra Road and the barracks was used for bridge building training by the engineers, who could train safely yet realistically at an area right next to their camp.
Any further demolition of its structures would mean the area “no longer has a critical mass of buildings to retain its identity”, he added. Retaining multiple buildings in a future neighbourhood will “allow relations between them to be explained, experienced and appreciated” by future users of the site, he said, adding that urban design guidelines for new developments will have to be used to protect key vistas and view corridors that give the area its character.
Military heritage advocate Lukas Ming Menkhoff said Block 9 represents a distinct typology common in 1930s-built military buildings in British Malaya. Mr Menkhoff said that the potential loss or reduction in size of Gillman Barracks is “greatly concerning”, given the steady loss of other pre-independence military sites such as KD Malaya, as well as Roberts, Nee Soon and Selarang barracks.
Mr Ho, the founding partner of architectural conservation consultancy Studio Lapis, said the upcoming heritage study is an opportune moment for the history of other sites in the area to be investigated, such as the former St Andrews Junior College and Pasir Panjang Vocational Institute campuses, which both officially opened in the 1970s.
Botanist Shawn Lum, a senior lecturer at Nanyang Technological University’s Asian School of the Environment, suggested that the environmental study for Gillman Barracks take into account the findings from the survey of the former Keppel Club site, Labrador park and nature reserve, and the Southern Ridges, as well as Alexandra Woodlands and stretches of the Rail Corridor.
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