My first Magazine St Joseph's Home_40th Anniversary magazine.compres | Page 33

1989
30-YEAR LEASE
FOR JURONG WEST
LAND SIGNED
13 SEP
2014
I went with the scary option and
thought about exactly what
MOVED
I want to put into this new
OUT OF JURONG
home. It was going
WEST TO THE
to be really big. I
TEMPORARY
8
DEC
shared my ideas
HOLDING SITE IN
with the team
2014
MANDAI
and together, we
fine tuned the
KEYS HANDED
proposal.”
OVER TO DEMOTION
We
COMPANY TO
18 FEB
presented it to
DEMOLISH OLD
2017
CWS in March
BUILDING
2013 and
28 APR got their
Balik Kampung
2015 approval.
St Joseph’s Home
Then a
JURONG WEST
tender was
LAND WAS BLESSED
called for
AND HANDED
OVER TO THE MAIN
interested
CONTRACTOR
architectural
firms to present
their ideas. Seven
31 MAY
eventually
2016 were
shortlisted.
“We
TOPPING OUT
had two sessions
CEREMONY
where the team shared
our vision for the home. I
didn’t have any powerpoint
TOP OBTAINED
ON BRAND NEW 13 JAN
slides, I just spoke. In the end,
BUILDING
2017
only one of them got it right and
managed to translate it into more
or less the home that you see
today” says Sr Geraldine.
The winning firm was SAA
Architects.
The land was going to be
saved after all.
Going to Grow
On 13 Sept 2014, the staff and just
over 100 residents bid Jurong
West farewell and headed to the
former Villa Francis Home for the
Aged in Mandai - their temporary
abode for the next two years.
Meanwhile, work on the old
site began in earnest.
“The design that I had in mind
came from what I’d observed
over the years. I wanted to build
something that would provide for
the future. We could not simply
be preoccupied with providing
the bare essentials of food and
lodging. The home needs to
have life and every person ought
to be able to find a corner for
themselves to explore. If they’re
good in handicraft, then they
should have some place to go to
do that.”
LEAVING THE O
LD HOME IN
JURONG WEST
St Joseph’s Home | 31