Vacant school sites in Singapore now house a sustainability hub, co-living spaces and a pre-school

SINGAPORE – A number of former school sites across the island, left vacant in recent years, have been returned to the community and reimagined for a variety of uses, from housing a pre-school to becoming co-living spaces.

In the past five years, 20 vacant school sites – 12 of them from schools that merged – have been returned to the Singapore Land Authority (SLA).

SLA and the Ministry of Education (MOE) gave the update in response to queries on the number of vacant school compounds they manage, and whether more sites would be returned to SLA in the light of recent school mergers.

Of the 20 former school sites managed by SLA, nine have been handed over to public agencies to facilitate development plans in areas such as healthcare and housing.

About half of the 11 remaining sites have been adapted for reuse and for various community, education and healthcare accommodation purposes, SLA said.

The remaining sites are undergoing review or being prepared for longer-term development plans.

Ms Carrie Wong, director of SLA’s business planning and development division, said: “If there are no immediate plans for the land, SLA optimises these state properties and land by putting them to meaningful economic or social and community uses for the interim period, in a way that is attuned to market needs.”

One such site is

the former Loyang Primary School

which was left vacant after the school merged with Casuarina Primary in 2019.

The site was divided into two parcels. One has been taken up by pre-school operator NTUC First Campus to house one of its two My First Skool large childcare centres, which can accommodate 1,100 children – with 990 slots for childcare and 110 for infant care.

At full capacity, the centre, which started operations in May 2023, can have 175 educators and support staff.

Ms Thian Ai Ling, general manager of My First Skool, told The Straits Times that the overall design of the centre was inspired by the history of Loyang and the area’s past streams and rivers.

The centre was the only Singapore finalist in the completed schools category at the World Architecture Awards in 2024.

The school’s field now features a spiral ring structure and an unstructured play area for pre-schoolers.

Ms Thian said 11 yellow flame trees that surround the campus were left untouched.

She said: “It was an intentional effort to keep them. We didn’t want to cut them down, because we wanted to keep the heritage of the place and have nature be front and obvious to our children.”

The school has 60 classes in four levels and three outdoor play areas – on the ground floor, the second level and the third level.

The centre’s principal, Ms Tang Hui Min, said that one of the advantages of having a bigger campus is that the school can design its own play areas exclusively for its pupils.

“It’s very conducive to do things in this space because this space is ours,” said Ms Tang.

She added that the children do not have to leave the centre for outdoor play, making it safer for them, and that the play areas are intentionally designed to support outdoor learning, as well as structured and unstructured play.

The remaining parcel of the former Loyang Primary School is tenanted to Vidacity, a sustainable start-up innovation centre.

The former general office and principal’s office are now used to hold weekly community workshops where participants can develop tinkering skills and learn how to upcycle, among other things.

The classroom and learning facilities have been repurposed as 16 start-up studios and one research laboratory that offer start-ups space to develop their sustainability projects.

One example is Ferticlay, which uses a studio space in Vidacity to upcycle food waste, like shells and coffee grounds, into alternative clay materials that can be used for homeware and building materials. 

Ferticlay director Jodie Monteiro said that the studio space, formerly a computer lab, is also used to hold workshops for companies, schools and small groups.

She told ST that compared with being in an isolated unit in an industrial estate, spaces offered by hubs like Vidacity bring like-minded start-ups together, facilitating useful conversations to drive innovation.

“Being in Vidacity, it’s easy to toss ideas to one another and identify collaborations, not just with the start-ups here, but also with industry leaders,” said Ms Monteiro.

Vidacity also has eight greenhouses and a formal office space – N9 offices – made out of three former classrooms, with meeting rooms, private office space and areas for hot desking.

MOE has announced the mergers of

46 schools since 2019,

including primary schools, secondary schools and junior colleges, in response to falling birth rates and changing demographics in housing estates.

An MOE spokesman said the ministry currently has nine vacant school sites.

Four sites will be redeveloped to be used as interim holding sites or permanent campuses. The remaining five sites will be returned to SLA for other uses.

The SLA awarded a tender on Nov 18 to TS Home – a dormitory provider – which will work with co-living operator The Assembly Place and Crawfurd Hospital to convert the former Henderson Primary School into a co-living space with senior-friendly features.

Built in 1977, the school ceased operations in 2002 after a merger. This is SLA’s first use of a price and quality tender that encouraged proposals for an inter-generational co-living community.

It is also part of SLA’s broader effort to repurpose state properties, such as shophouses in Hindoo Road and

the former Bukit Timah Fire Station,

for co-living use.

Renovation works, which will commence on Dec 16 and cost about $5.5 million, will create recreational facilities and transform classrooms into single-room and double-bedder residential units for both the young and the old.

A total of 53 units for the elderly on the ground floor will be fitted with assisted living facilities such as grab bars in toilets and flushed flooring.

There will also be recreational facilities such as a gym, walking tracks, a convertible basketball court and an events space.

Residents can expect to move in by mid-March 2025.