When will the PPHS flats be demolished?

When will the PPHS flats be demolished?

I was recently asked on whether the flats used in the interim under the Parenthood Provisional Housing Scheme (PPHS) could remain in use beyond Q1 2030, when the site is scheduled to expire. 

While I would certainly welcome an extension - after all, it would allow future residents (myself included) to enjoy those unblocked views for a little longer - an objective view clearly shows that such an outcome is highly unlikely. The reasons are detailed below, and together they paint a consistent picture of why this is the case.

An aerial view of PPHS flats situated in the Tanglin Halt Estate

Significant Dependencies

In my earlier post, I explained that if demolition begins immediately after PPHS flats are vacated in early 2030, site reinstatement and preparatory works will then proceed which will take more than a year. Realistically, construction works on these sites can only begin thereafter in 2031–2032.

Given the typical 4 to 5 year development timeline, this places the completion of the final projects in the estate some time between 2035–2037, which is almost perfectly aligned with HDB’s announced 2033–2038 completion window for the wider Tanglin Halt redevelopment.

The implication is straightforward, which is the main reason why an extension is unlikely: There is no room for extending the PPHS flats beyond its current Q1 2030 expiry without significantly disrupting HDB’s redevelopment timeline.

Demolition timing becomes the key bottleneck in the broader redevelopment timeline, where an extension of the use of the PPHS flats would ripple across multiple aspects of the redevlopment plan, affecting both infrastructure readiness and project timelines.

One (of a few) example of this dependency can be seen in the upcoming road works along Commonwealth Drive.

Based on recent tender documents, the widening of Commonwealth Drive next to Tanglin Halt Cascadia, to two lanes in each direction, is expected to finish by early 2028. 

However, when such works are completed, this widened stretch - which extends from Tanglin Halt Cascadia to the road highlighted in yellow below - will still narrow back to a single bidirectional lane beside Tanglin Halt Courtyard, which is highlighted in red. This defeats the purpose of the road expansion.

A comparison of the upcoming road works on Commonwealth Drive next to Tanglin Halt Courtyard (left), estimated to complete in early 2028 based on tender documents, and the final plans consistent with the 2025 Master Plan (right). 

Why is this the case?

Because Blk 64, currently serving as PPHS flats, sits directly along this bottleneck. As long as Blk 64 remains, the road cannot be widened. This becomes even more critical when you consider that the future entry/exit point of Phase 2 of Tanglin Halt Courtyard sits along this exact stretch, which connects Commonwealth Drive to the drop-off area and carpark of the upcoming commercial development.

While the entire stretch would eventually be expanded to two lanes in both directions, this cannot occur until demolition of the PPHS flats.

New Rental Flat Supply Is Rising Significantly

Since 2020, HDB has been increasingly integrating rental units within new BTO projects. Across various estates, around 2,000 new rental flats are expected to be completed by Q1 2030. These are purpose-built rental units with a long useful life, rather than interim conversions. 

Additionally, based on BTO launches up to February 2026, at least 750 more rental units are projected to be ready in the following year, by the first half of 2031.

The interim use of Tanglin Halt SERS blocks as PPHS flats doubled the available PPHS supply, from roughly 2,000 to around 4,000 units. With at least 2,750 new rental units completing between now and 1H 2031, the new rental stock represents a sizeable supply which will help to smooth the transition when PPHS flats within the Tanglin Halt estate expires in Q1 2030.

PPHS Site Expiry and Applicant Eligibility

For PPHS applicants, the PPHS site expiry should fall at least four months after the probable completion date (PCD) of their BTO flats. 

However, most recently launched BTO projects now have PCD between late 2030 and 2032. This means that applicants of recent and upcoming BTO projects will not be able to select the PPHS flats within the estate. If HDB had intended to extend PPHS usage, such a renewal would almost certainly have been announced by now.

Why spruce up flats if they are used for such a short period of time?

Based on a written response by MND, vacant SERS flats must undergo sprucing works to bring them up to a rentable, safe, and habitable condition before they can be offered to families awaiting their new home, even if the interim use is short.

PPHS flats in MacPherson Lane, spruced up by early 2026 and slated to be used until end-2028. (Credits: 99.co)

A case in point would be the interim PPHS flats at MacPherson Lane, which underwent similar scope of sprucing works and will only be used for less than 3 years until redevelopment works for the site is slated to commence in end 2028. In contrast, the Tanglin Halt estate's PPHS flats would have been used for up to five years by the time the site expires in Q1 2030.

Conclusion

By the time redevelopment plans were announced in 2023, the broader plans and strategy for the estate was already largely in place, complete with a timeline for how the plans would unfold. The introduction of interim PPHS flats fits into this timeline rather than shape it. With the above considerations taken together, we can reasonably conclude with a high degree of confidence that an extension of PPHS use in the estate is highly unlikely.