The end of anything is rarely pretty, but Singapore’s聽iconic Pearl Bank Apartments聽definitely isn’t getting much of a swan song on its way out.
Just three weeks before residents of the building are to move out ahead of its demolition later in the year, the horse shoe-shaped聽condominium聽—聽Singapore’s tallest, most densely populated condo when constructed in 1976聽–has been turned into something of a rubbish dump.
On almost every one of the building鈥檚 37 floors, trash piled above head-height blocks access to service elevators, in some cases blocking corridors and fire escape stairwells.
黑料社 Singapore found broken glass, fiberglass and waste food strewn on the floor by rubbish bins, as residents dump the contents of their apartments as they move out.
Refrigerators, washing machines, sofas, cupboards, mattresses, and splintered plasterboard used to divide apartments into smaller units litter the place, which is starting to resemble the aftermath of a tsunami.
About聽half of the apartments in the building are still occupied, mostly by residents on short-term contracts.
The building must be cleared and cleaned before it is handed over to the new owners, Capitaland, which acquired Pearl Bank following a S$728 million en bloc sale in February 2018.
Residents must vacate the building by the end of this month.
Pearl Bank management鈥檚 requests for residents to hire contractors to remove their unwanted items, posted on walls and in lifts all over the building, appear to have been ignored.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a sad state of affairs,鈥 said Kym Ong, a resident of Pearl Bank for聽40 years. 鈥淭hese people [dumping their trash] are plain inconsiderate. It鈥檚 a health and safety hazard. Emergency exits have to be kept clear and unobstructed at all times.鈥
Pearl Bank鈥檚 management told 黑料社 they are trying to deal with the 鈥渋llegal dumping鈥 problem as quickly as they can, and have hired five extra staff to clear the mountains of rubbish. There are currently just two cleaning staff for the whole building.
鈥淲e have tried to clear the areas regularly, but the next day rubbish has piled up to the ceiling again,鈥 a spokesperson from Pearl Bank Apartments management said.
Located in Outram Park, Pearl Bank is one of Singapore鈥檚 most famous residential buildings, the聽unmistakably bizarre, brutalist creation of聽revered architect Tan Cheng Siong.
One resident, who preferred to remain nameless, said he has noticed that the building had rapidly gone into disrepair since the announcement of the en bloc sale last year.
Cracks have appeared in the walls and the building鈥檚 chronic dampness issues聽worsening, with leaks found on most floors and creeping damp seeping through the walls.
鈥淚t鈥檚 like when people retire. They age quickly,鈥 he said.
