Resident confused over repainting in Bedok void deck, town council says specifications 'not closely followed'

Recent repainting works at the void decks of a Bedok HDB estate did not go as planned, prompting some laughs and confusion online.

On Sep. 6, a resident of the estate expressed his frustration in a TikTok post titled "Triggering my inner OCD", which has since gained over 93,000 views.

Across several photos of the repainting, the TikTok user wrote "WHY".

He elaborated in his caption, addressed to the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC): "Why AHTC...Why can't you just repaint the entire tile!!!"

In a reply to a comment, the user explained that his frustration was with the choice "not to paint the entire tile", making the painting seem incomplete.

When Mothership visited the affected estate in Bedok North St 3 in the evening of Sep. 9, the painting remained as pictured in the TikTok post.

The void deck columns appear to have outlines of differently sized "tiles" arranged together.

A minority of these supposed tiles were painted maroon, blue, and green, creating new squares and rectangles across the outlines.

Large swathes of white can also be seen across the entire area in a seemingly haphazard manner.

While some comments joked that the design looked like a QR code or "leftover paint", others said that it looked "not bad" and "very abstract" especially when seen from afar.

One commenter, who claimed to be a fellow resident, lamented the choice of colours.

“We want something pleasing to the eyes when we go home. Instead we see these mix & match so obiang gives me more headache. We waited so long to have a fresh look and then this!” the person wrote.

Here's what the void decks in the same estate looked like just a few months ago, as captured in a separate video uploaded by the same TikTok user in June.

AHTC's response

In response to Mothership's queries, AHTC explained that the painting works were designed to align with the designated colour scheme for the block, which was selected by residents through a poll.

"However, we noted that the specifications were not closely followed, and the final outcome did not meet the Town Council’s expected standards," the town council added.

AHTC will be following up with the contractor to address the matter.

Top images from Wu Xueting/Mothership and BenSolo219/TikTok