How Conservation Got its Groove Back

Tacky- sounding title that but conservation efforts have been given an entirely new facade with new developments that have incorporated conservation buildings within the development.

Technically a necessity(since it's a conserved building you can't raze it down and that conserved building happens to sit squarely on your coveted plot of land..), developers have been quick to turn the conserved building into a distinctive marketing advantage.

It probably first started with Spring Grove- the old American ambassador's house was converted into a clubhouse. The trend is becoming more evident now, with developments like Draycott 8(the colonial clubhouse is a major pulling factor and adds a decided atmospheric air to the development) and Nathan Place. The old house of Tan Sri Tan Chin Tuan(you would have noticed that glorious old colonial structure sitting in the middle of the Cairnhill Crest development) has similarly been incorporated by the developers- possibly as another clubhouse?

The trend is somewhat preceded by slightly older developments in Geylang and the East Coast, where old colonial houses have been compartmentalized into several houses, wirth apartments being built around it, or where a colonial house, retaining its old structure and garden, has simply been divided up into individual apartments.

The incorporation of the Peranakan conservation home within a development has been somewhat easier- with its convenient, terrace-like build, the incorporation of Peranakan shophouses had always been, to my opinion, an attempt at capitalizing on the novelty factor of Peranakan shophouses, particularly amongst locals who desire both the novelty of shophouse living and condominium facilities and foreigners who wish to purchase a Peranakan shophouse without the hassle of applying for approval to purchase.

The precedent:
http://www.urbanespaces.com/gorgeouscons.html

Trendy developments:
http://www.urbanespaces.com/eastcoastshophsefac.html