September BTO 2012 - Keat Hong Quad

Keat Hong Quad (updated)

Understanding the development

1. Overview, block 815A will be 19-storey high and the other 2 blocks will be 20-storey high.

2. To the north, there will be landed housing area which will benefit this development in terms of wind movement from the north. Further north, there’s one Palm Gardens development which will not bother me too much as there’s a gap between block 2C and 2D and this gap will funnel a strong tunnel wind from north to this development.

3. To the west, there will be Keat Hong Axis while to the south, there’s a neighborhood park which measured more than 40m. I would say, this is a good development in terms of location as both north and south will allow a sustain wind movement and not much blocking to be expected since further south is a reserved site for school. The fact that the school is located further away to the south will also minimize any future traffic movement during peak hour.

4. Please note that based on URA masterplan 2008, the school not supposed to be at the shown location, you may want to check or highlight it to HDB.

5. Readers are advice to use information found here as a study guideline only and use it at your own risk.

6. Future development to the east will not effect this development.

7. For a standard flat, I’m quite happy with the surrounding of this development.

8. Seems like they have taken my concern for staircase next to units seriously and avoided it here!

9. For new readers, please read this review with http://raremerchandise.blogspot.com/2012/09/knowing-your-bto-units-part-1.html

As each development is uniquely design and to gel in their existing surrounding, readers are advice to read through my older posting which have tallied to almost 89 posting since early 2011. 

10. To do this review, it will take me up to at least 5 hours of work for each development inclusive of time work on the graphics. If you appreciate what I’m doing here, you can visit or ‘like’ my page on facebook here:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Raremerchandise-moneychannel/108060382560724

11. Recently there’s been a surge in daily readership (20% of daily traffic) from places other than Singapore, coming from Venezuela, Peru, Egypt, Indonesia, Bangladesh and of course the mainstay still from Japan, Korea, Malaysia, US, UK, Canada, Australia, Russia, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, India and some EU countries. If you have any question or you want to understand more about Singapore’s model of public housing, you may email me or just post a question here to understand how this system can work in your country and benefit more people in your country.

Block 815A

01, 03, 13 and 15

1. 13 and 15 will have moderate west sun exposure to main façade while 01 and 03 will not have any exposure to west sun on the main facade. Stack 13 will have a gable end at the master bedroom facing direct west which may affect the master bedroom comfort level while stack 01 gable end exposure will be minimized by stack 15.

2. All 4 stacks will have ample wind from the N-NE. Pls note that units lower than MSCP to the north may not have this luxury. There will be no potential S-SE wind exposure as the main façade is facing north.

3. This block consists of 144 units sharing 2 numbers of lifts. The ratio is decent at 1 lift to 72 units, considered not comfortable and the waiting time may be too long. Take notes that these are all 4-room flats, potentially housing 460 people with ratio of 1 household to 3.2 pax.

4. Breathing space is ample to the north, but views will be limited due to blockage from Palm Gardens development.

5. Stack 13 and 03 should have ample sun light/ventilation to yard area for cloth drying, while the other 2 are limited to the courtyard area.

6. Potential buyers are advice to check on the model before making a purchase if you were to avoid looking into MSCP (multi storey car parking).

7. Long walk to the lift lobby for stack 01 and 03.
8. Stack 01 and 03 will have 4 numbers of water tank over the top most units. Technically it's safe, it's more of the psychological effect to me and then again the water tank still need to be on someone's roof top since water flow via gravity will be cheaper than having a pump room to pump the water up.

05, 07, 09 and 11

1. 11 and 09 will have moderate west sun exposure to main façade while 07 and 05 will not have any exposure to west sun on the main facade. Stack 11 will have a gable end at the master bedroom facing direct west which may affect the master bedroom comfort level while stack 07 gable end exposure will be minimized by stack 09.

2. All 4 stacks will have ample wind from the S-SE. There will be no potential N-NE wind exposure as the main façade is facing south.

3. This block consists of 144 units sharing 2 numbers of lifts. The ratio is decent at 1 lift to 72 units, considered not comfortable and the waiting time may be too long. Take notes that these are all 4-room flats, potentially housing 460 people with ratio of 1 household to 3.2 pax.

4. Breathing space is ample to the south; future development to the south will have implication to any extended views to the south.

5. Stack 11 and 05 should have ample sun light/ventilation to yard area for cloth drying, while the other 2 are limited to the courtyard area.

6. Long walk to the lift lobby for stack 05 and 07.
7. Stack 05 and 07 will have 4 numbers of water tank over the top most units. Technically it's safe, it's more of the psychological effect to me and then again the water tank still need to be on someone's roof top since water flow via gravity will be cheaper than having a pump room to pump the water up.

Block 815B

21, 23, 25, 27 and 29

1. 21 and 23 will have moderate west sun exposure to main façade while 25, 27 and 29 will not have any exposure to west sun on the main facade. Stack 21 and 27 will have a gable end at the master bedroom facing direct west which may affect the master bedroom comfort level.

2. All 5 stacks will have ample wind from the N-NE. There will be no potential S-SE wind exposure as the main façade is facing north. Stack 25 may have stronger wind flow due concentration of tunneling cross wind.

3. This block consists of 190 units sharing 3 numbers of lifts. The ratio is decent at 1 lift to 63 units, considered ok and. Take notes that these are all 4-room and 5-room flats, potentially housing 608 people with ratio of 1 household to 3.2 pax.

4. Breathing space is ample to the north, but views will be limited due to blockage from Palm Gardens development.

5. Stack 21 and 29 should have ample sun light/ventilation to yard area for cloth drying, while the other 3 are limited to the courtyard area. Stack 25 will be worst off.

6. Extreme long walk to the lift lobby for stack 27 and 29. Good for young family but not with elderly staying in.

7. Stack 25 may not be as pleasant by having main door next to refuse chute.
8. Stack 27 and 29 will have 5 numbers of water tank over the top most units. Technically it's safe, it's more of the psychological effect to me and then again the water tank still need to be on someone's roof top since water flow via gravity will be cheaper than having a pump room to pump the water up.

17, 19, 31, 33 and 35

1. 17 and 19 will have moderate west sun exposure to main façade while 35, 31 and 33 will not have any exposure to west sun on the main facade. Stack 19 and 33 will have a gable end at the master bedroom facing direct west which may affect the master bedroom.

2. All 5 stacks may have limited wind from the S-SE due to blockage from 815C. Stack 19 will be limited as well.

3. This block consists of 144 units sharing 2 numbers of lifts. The ratio is decent at 1 lift to 72 units, considered not comfortable and the waiting time may be too long. Take notes that these are all 4-room flats, potentially housing 460 people with ratio of 1 household to 3.2 pax.

4. Breathing space is limited to the block across; shortest distance is at no more than 20m.

5. Stack 19 and 31 should have ample sun light/ventilation to yard area for cloth drying, while the other 3 are limited to the courtyard area.

6. Extreme long walk to the lift lobby for stack 31 and 33. Good for young family but not with elderly staying in.
7. Stack 33 and 31 will have 5 numbers of water tank over the top most units. Technically it's safe, it's more of the psychological effect to me and then again the water tank still need to be on someone's roof top since water flow via gravity will be cheaper than having a pump room to pump the water up.

Block 815C

37, 39, 41, 53 and 55

1. 53 and 55 will have moderate west sun exposure to main façade while 37, 39 and 41 will not have any exposure to west sun on the main facade. Stack 53 and 39 will have a gable end at the master bedroom facing direct west which may affect the master bedroom.

2. All except stack 41 may have limited wind from the N-NE due to blockage from 815B.

3. This block consists of 144 units sharing 2 numbers of lifts. The ratio is decent at 1 lift to 72 units, considered not comfortable and the waiting time may be too long. Take notes that these are all 4-room flats, potentially housing 460 people with ratio of 1 household to 3.2 pax.

4. Breathing space is limited to the block across; shortest distance is at no more than 20m.

5. Stack 53 and 41 should have ample sun light/ventilation to yard area for cloth drying, while the other 3 are limited to the courtyard area.

6. Extreme long walk to the lift lobby for stack 39 and 41. Good for young family but not with elderly staying in.
7. Stack 39 and 41 will have 5 numbers of water tank over the top most units. Technically it's safe, it's more of the psychological effect to me and then again the water tank still need to be on someone's roof top since water flow via gravity will be cheaper than having a pump room to pump the water up.

43, 45, 47, 49 and 51

1. 49 and 51 will have moderate west sun exposure to main façade while 43, 45 and 47 will not have any exposure to west sun on the main facade. Stack 51 and 45 will have a gable end at the master bedroom facing direct west which may affect the master bedroom comfort level.

2. All 5 stacks will have ample wind from the S-SE. There will be no potential N-NE wind exposure as the main façade is facing south. Stack 47 may have stronger wind flow due concentration of tunneling cross wind.

3. This block consists of 190 units sharing 3 numbers of lifts. The ratio is decent at 1 lift to 63 units, considered ok and. Take notes that these are all 4-room and 5-room flats, potentially housing 608 people with ratio of 1 household to 3.2 pax.

4. Breathing space is ample to the south; future development to the south will have implication to any extended views to the south.

5. Stack 43 and 51 should have ample sun light/ventilation to yard area for cloth drying, while the other 3 are limited to the courtyard area. Stack 47 will be worst off.

6. Extreme long walk to the lift lobby for stack 43 and 45. Good for young family but not with elderly staying in.

7. Stack 47 may not be as pleasant by having main door next to refuse chute.
8. Stack 43 and 45 will have 5 numbers of water tank over the top most units. Technically it's safe, it's more of the psychological effect to me and then again the water tank still need to be on someone's roof top since water flow via gravity will be cheaper than having a pump room to pump the water up.

Copyright © 2012 by Chua Soon Ching

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