How is SG's Master Plan 2025 shaping future office hubs?

Reaffirming its commitment to decentralisation, the Singapore government’s Draft Master Plan 2025^[1] outline strategies to grow regional hubs while also reinforcing the CBD's position as it evolves into a mixed-use district. This Master Plan iteration spotlights Bishan and Tampines as key regional office hubs.

While planners still envision the Jurong Lake District (JLD) as the largest business district outside the CBD, the latest Master Plan offers more specific details on Bishan's development into a sub-regional centre.

The plan marks vacant land parcels around Junction 8 for a new business hub, featuring over two million sq. ft. of office space, comparable to Paya Lebar Central. New and refreshed amenities will support the future hub, including a polyclinic, a hawker centre integrated with a revamped bus interchange, and open spaces.

Bishan’s transport connectivity, proximity to the CBD, and strategic location adjacent to the business corridor north of the CBD (e.g., Novena and Toa Payoh) position it as the next potential business hub along this strip. However, this transformation is a long-term approach, requiring targeted incentives.

For perspective, Paya Lebar Central's development took approximately 10-15 years. Authorities released the first major government land sales (GLS) plot for office development in 2011, with Paya Lebar Square completing in 2014. However, it only emerged as a prominent office location in 2019 after Paya Lebar Quarter (PLQ) was completed. Initially, marketing PLQ was challenging because it was necessary to attract occupiers to a less established office location. Commitments from anchor tenants like Great Eastern, NTUC Income, SMRT and government-related entities like the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore and Workforce Singapore, provided the breakthrough. These commitments instilled confidence in other occupiers.

Authorities developed TRC as Singapore’s first regional centre. However, most of the office buildings in TRC are currently over 20 years old, potentially limiting their ability to attract new tenants seeking modern workspaces.

Master Plan 2025 seeks to transform underused land in the TRC into new housing, workplaces, and community facilities to future-proof the TRC for new live-work-play trends. Plans are also in place to create a seamless pedestrian and active mobility network to link up areas within the TRC.

Upcoming development sites in Bishan and Tampines will inevitably compete for occupiers and investors with existing decentralised options available for sale via the GLS programme. These options include the JLD Master Developer white site, the Woodlands Avenue 2 white site, and the Punggol Walk commercial site.

The white site at JLD has recently made its tender conditions more competitive in the 2H25 GLS programme by reducing the mandatory office component and transferring that area to the residential component to boost the master developer’s cash flow.

With numerous options available, developers will make strategic site selections informed by their unique development strategy, location optimism and potential synergies with existing assets.

Figure 1: Singapore’s key economic gateways

Source: OneMap, URA, JLL Research

[1] The Master Plan is a statutory land use plan released by the government every five years to guide Singapore’s development over the next 10-15 years.