More than 2,500 Tampines residents on Saturday, took part in the groundbreaking ceremony to mark the start of construction works on Singapore's first integrated town hub.

Dubbed a 'place of many places', the Tampines Town Hub will house, among others, a community club, a regional library and sports facilities under one roof.

Residents saw for the first time the development plans for the hub and a scale model of the 120,000sqm project, which is the size of about seven football fields, on the site of the existing Tampines Stadium and Sports Hall.

They were joined by the advisers to Tampines Grassroots Organisations, Minister for Education Mr Heng Swee Keat, Mr Mah Bow Tan, Mr Baey Yam Keng and Ms Irene Ng.

"I am very pleased that the starting point of the design is our residents' needs, and over 15000 residents gave their ideas," said Mr Heng. "Today's ground breaking, with over 2,500 residents, reflects this ownership by our residents."

Designed to make learning a part of everyone's daily life, the hub will also provide a range of multi-purpose rooms for structured learning, a community heritage gallery and culinary studios co-located within the library.