Upper Thomson

Upper Thomson
Name transcription(s)
 • Chinese 汤申上
 • Pinyin Tāngshēnshàng
 • Malay Upper Thomson
 • Tamil அப்பர் தாம்சன்
Upper Thomson

Location of Upper Thomson within Singapore

Coordinates: 1°21′23.49″N 103°50′12.45″E / 1.3565250°N 103.8367917°E / 1.3565250; 103.8367917Coordinates: 1°21′23.49″N 103°50′12.45″E / 1.3565250°N 103.8367917°E / 1.3565250; 103.8367917
Country  Singapore
Government
 • Ruling parties People's Action Party
(part of Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC)[1]

Upper Thomson, often simply known as Thomson, is a subzone located in Bishan, Singapore. It is situated between MacRitchie Nature Reserve and Bishan Park.[2] It consists of both residential and industrial area.[2] Singapore's biggest Mahayana Buddhist temple, Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery, is located in Upper Thomson.[3]

Residential homes includes a mixture of landed properties, condominiums and Housing Development Board (HDB) blocks.

Etymology

Upper Thomson was named after its namesake road, Thomson Road. Previously known as Seletar Road, this road was subsequently renamed "Thomson Road" named after John Turnbull Thomson, a government surveyor who also helped to lay this road. [4]

Housing

The convenient location, due as its proximity and the ease of access to the Central Area, popular schools, parks and other parts of Singapore; combined with an aesthetic environment that is near forest and reservoirs tends to make property prices in the area significantly higher than other parts of Singapore. Due to this fact, a large number of condominiums can be found in Upper Thomson as well. These include the likes of Green Meadows, Thomson Grove, and down to the Lentor area with the likes of Bullion Park. Private housing makes up the bulk of the housing in Upper Thomson with a modicum of HDB flats and shophouses. The low rise housing in the area is notable and this stretches from Macritchie Reservoir to the Peirce Reservoirs, consisting of neighbourhoods like the Thomson Ridge area, the Little Canada area and Venus drive, and goes up to Jalan Rebana and through Ang Mo Kio to Seraya Crescent and Jalan Leban, arching at the Thomson Hills and Happy Park areas and culminating at the Teacher's Estate.

Amenities

Upper Thomson is home to many companies related to the automotive industry.[2] Examples include the Vicom Vehicle Inspection Centre,[2] one of the authorized vehicle testing and inspection centres in Singapore,[5] and an Independent Damage Assessment Centre (IDAC),[2] an independent centre that assesses vehicles that were damaged in accidents for insurance purposes.[6] The Land Transport Authority of Singapore (LTA) has a branch office in Upper Thomson which houses its Vehicle and Transit Licensing division.[2] The offices of Citicab and Comfort taxi companies, both under ComfortDelGro group, are also located in Upper Thomson.[2]

Upper Thomson is one of the few places where funeral-related services are available.[7] The Bright Hill Crematorium and Columbarium, located within Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery,[8] provides crematoria services and facilities to store ashes of the deceased.[7] In 2007, the government announced that it would construct a purpose-built funeral parlour in Upper Thomson.[9] This plan was met with fierce opposition by nearby residents, since local superstitions associate death and dying with bad luck.[9] Residents were also concerned that the value of their properties will decrease as a result of the funeral parlour.[9] In response, the government promised that the area would not become a "funeral parlour hub" and that the parlour would be located in the industrial area and thus away from the residential estates.[9] Despite the negative associations of living near a columbarium, a study of property prices of properties in Upper Thomson by the Singapore Real Estate Exchange found that a flat near the columbarium fetched a higher price as compared to a larger flat of similar age that was further away from the columbarium.[7] The study concluded that the effects of the columbarium on housing prices in the area was offset by the presence of amenities like popular schools.[7]

Education

The campus of Ai Tong School, a Special Assistance Plan primary school established in 1912, is located in the Bright Hill Drive area of Upper Thomson.[10] It relocated its campus from its previous campus in Ang Mo Kio to its current location in Upper Thomson in 1992 to cope with rising student enrollment.[11]

A new Junior College, currently unnamed, would be built in Upper Thomson.[12] This junior college, the 20th junior college in Singapore, would be affiliated to Catholic High School (Secondary), CHIJ Saint Nicholas Girls' School (Secondary) and Singapore Chinese Girls' School.[12]

Transportation

Upper Thomson will have two MRT stations in 2020 when Bright Hill MRT Station and Upper Thomson MRT Station, on the upcoming Thomson-East Coast MRT Line, opens.[13] This line will link Upper Thomson with the Central Business District of Singapore.[13]

Upper Thomson contains one of the oldest roads in Singapore, which is also one of the longest and tends to be a vital link from the northern part of Singapore to the Central Area and the Downtown Core, as well as the rest of the island. The road is split into three lengths, Thomson Road, Old Upper Thomson Road and Upper Thomson Road. The Old Upper Thomson Road was designed to link the villages in the northern region with the Downtown Core.

References

  1. ↑ "Boundaries of Altered Polling Districts" (PDF). Elections Department, Singapore. 2015-02-27. Retrieved 2015-06-28.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Sin Ming: Residential and Automotive Hub". Streetdirectory.com. Retrieved 2015-09-11.
  3. ↑ "Clearer skies, roads for temple's neighbours". Asiaone. 2013-03-01. Retrieved 2015-09-11.
  4. ↑ Victor R Savage, Brenda S A Yeoh (2003), Toponymics - A Study of Singapore Street Names, Eastern Universities Press, ISBN 981-210-205-1
  5. ↑ "List of LTA Authorised Inspection Centres" (PDF). Land Transport Authority. 2009-03-24. Retrieved 2015-09-11.
  6. ↑ "Independent Damage Assessment Centres (IDAC)". Motorcar.com.sg. 2009-05-02. Retrieved 2015-09-11.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Columbarium near home? No big deal, say some S'poreans". The New Paper. 2015-01-07. Retrieved 2015-09-15.
  8. ↑ "Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery". Retrieved 8 Jan 2015.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Ghim Lay, Yeo (2007-10-08). "Not another funeral home, please". Asiaone. Retrieved 2015-09-15.
  10. ↑ "Ai Tong School". Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan. Retrieved 2015-09-11.
  11. ↑ "Our History". Ai Tong School. Retrieved 2015-09-11.
  12. 1 2 "Bishan-Ang Mo Kio area to get new JC in 2017". Asiaone. 2014-01-04. Retrieved 2015-09-11.
  13. 1 2 "New Thomson MRT line to open in 2019". Asiaone. 2012-08-29. Retrieved 2015-08-02.

See also

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, January 21, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.