Shophouse's structure not affected: BCA

Minimal damage was done to the Tanjong Pagar conservation shophouse into which a car smashed early on Saturday morning, resulting in a fire and the deaths of all five occupants, said the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) yesterday.

The authority said an engineer was dispatched to the site on the morning itself, to assist with the assessment of the building structure.

"Other than some surface scratches on the column at the ground floor, the structural integrity of the building was not affected by the collision and the fire," said a BCA spokesman.

"BCA will direct the owner of the building to engage a professional engineer to carry out a more detailed inspection and propose rectification works, if any."

The Straits Times has contacted the building owner for comment. The shophouse, located at 37 Tanjong Pagar Road, has been vacant since its previous occupant, the Five Oars Coffee Roasters cafe, moved out on Jan 29.

A check on the Urban Redevelopment Authority's (URA) online map confirmed it as a conserved building within the Chinatown-Tanjong Pagar district marked as "historic".

The land the shophouse sits on is also designated for commercial development in URA's Master Plan, and privately owned, according to Singapore Land Authority data.

Architectural conservator Yeo Kang Shua, an associate professor at the Singapore University of Technology and Design, estimates that the shophouse was constructed in the late 1920s.

"It's fortunate that the columns probably did not sustain a direct impact," he said. "Also, because it's a reinforced concrete building with a fair-faced (smooth) brick facade… it didn't have much fire damage apart from soot sustained on the facade, from published photographs. If the second-level floor had been constructed with timber, the fire would have caused more damage."

Prof Yeo also said the damage was limited because of the speed with which the fire was put out, pointing to reports of the Singapore Civil Defence Force being alerted to the fire at 5.40am - less than 10 minutes after eyewitnesses first spotted the white BMW ramming into the shophouse and subsequently catching fire.