The Usual Place Podcast

Saving our old buildings from obscurity: What can young people do?

In this episode, find out how millennials and Gen Z youth can help revive Singapore’s old buildings.

Natasha Ann Zachariah

Follow topic:

Synopsis: The Usual Place host Natasha Ann Zachariah hunts for new perspectives on issues that matter to young people.

Can young people rejuvenate Singapore’s old buildings? That was the question Natasha teased the audience with during the video podcast’s first live event. Held on Feb 12, the show was a part of ST Podcasts’ Live!, a series of six events this year to celebrate ST’s 180th-year anniversary.

Organised by The Straits Times in partnership with the Singapore Land Authority (SLA), the event drew more than 80 people in an intimate setting at The Foundry in Prinsep Link, which was the former Elections Department building.

(From left) Event emcee Dan Koh of Money FM 89.3, The Usual Place host Natasha Zachariah, SLA chief Colin Low and content creator Ng Wee Liang taking a wefie with the audience. The ST Podcasts Live! event was held in partnership with SLA at The Foundry on Feb 12.
ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM

The two guests on the show were SLA chief executive Colin Low and Mr Ng Wee Liang, a real estate university student, who creates social media content on Singapore heritage, arts and culture.

As Mr Low put it, buildings are not just physical structures.

“They are opportunities waiting to be unlocked… (and are) a reflection of our collective history, our shared identity, what we were in the past, what we are today, what we will be, and our inspiration and foundation to what we can be in future,” he explained.

(From right) The Usual Place host Natasha Zachariah with SLA chief Colin Low and TikTok heritage sensation Ng Wee Liang, who creates content on Singapore heritage, arts and culture, during a recording of the podcast on Feb 12.
ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM

But how do we get young people to care about old buildings they may not even know?

Mr Ng, 25, says that unfamiliar buildings can become meaningful once young people form new memories in them.

But he argued they should have accessible programming and business rather than catering only to a more affluent crowd, which might limit their appeal to younger Singaporeans.

Using New Bahru, a lifestyle destination at the old Nan Chiau High School in Kim Yam Road as an example, Mr Ng pointed out that free events and pop-up booths could work to draw in students like himself to visit more than once.

For SLA, the challenge is to find the “right formula” for each space rather than going with the bidder offering the highest rent.

Throughout the session, Mr Low cited revived spots such as The Foundry, Kada in Kadayanallur Street and Dempsey Hill that have “multiple offerings for different people”.

As he put it: “There’s no one cookie-cutter (spot).”

Highlights (click/tap above):

1:27 How do we get younger people to care about heritage spaces?; Hunting for the right tenants for The Foundry

4:57 From Nan Chiau High School to New Bahru

8:38 How would Mr Ng encourage his Gen Z peers to look beyond the facade?

10:38 Making revamped spaces accessible to all; Pop-up booths, free events could draw crowds

14:38 Remembering the history of these old spaces

15:53 What’s the old building behind Maxwell Food Centre?

17:41 Will social media save our old buildings?; How does SLA find the “right formula” for the spaces it manages?

22:25 A ‘copy’ of Dempsey Hill in Malaysia

25:09 No cookie-cutter experiences

Saving our old buildings from obscurity: What can young people do?

Follow topic:

More on this topic

See more on

Saving our old buildings from obscurity: What can young people do?

Follow topic:

More on this topic

Narratives of old buildings can be shaped to appeal to youth, says SLA CEO in ST podcast

Podcast: The FOMO over old buildings before they go

See more on