One Pearl Bank condo residents upset access to sky garden on National Day restricted to 120 people who paid for tickets

Some residents at One Pearl Bank in Outram Park were left unhappy after access to their 39th-floor sky garden was restricted to ticket holders during a National Day event.

The space was open from 5pm to 9pm for ticket-holders, according to a resident who spoke to 8days.sg, leaving residents without tickets unable to watch the National Day Parade fireworks from the sky garden.

The restriction to the floor also extended to the gym and social lounge on the same floor, Shin Min Daily News reported.

The event included a live screening of the celebrations and a buffet, with tickets priced at S$5 for children and S$10 for adults.

The management clarified with Mothership that the temporary access arrangements were implemented for safety and crowd-management purposes.

No access

The resident had planned to watch the fireworks from the sky garden, but made other plans after learning that access would be restricted to ticket holders.

He expressed his disappointment at being unable to watch the fireworks comfortably from his own home.

“I was rejected from my own home,” he told 8days.sg.

The resident, who owns a two-bedroom unit worth about S$2 million and pays more than S$300 a month in maintenance fees, said the issue was not the ticket price.

Rather, he felt residents should have priority when it came to common areas.

Safety and crowd-management purposes

In response to Mothership's queries, the Management Corporation Strata Title (MCST) Council and Savills Property Management, the managing agent of One Pearl Bank, clarified that the temporary access arrangements were implemented for safety and crowd-management purposes.

Level 39 is subject to a statutory SCDF occupant load limit of 157 persons, which applies to the level as a whole, the statement said.

To manage attendance within this limit, management said access to level 39 was temporarily restricted to registered event participants and essential event personnel from 5pm to 9pm.

Taking into account management, security and cleaning personnel needed for the event, 120 tickets were made available to residents, 8days.sg reported.

"Residents were informed of the arrangements in advance, and normal access resumed after the event," they added.

"The celebration was organised as a community event for residents, with registration required to facilitate attendance planning and crowd management."

They added that the nominal contribution of SS$5 for children and S$10 for adults was collected to cover catering costs.

Others felt the same way

Others felt the same.

In residents' chat messages seen by 8days.sg, one resident said that while paying to attend a booked function seemed reasonable, blocking off the entire level made them “feel uneasy”.

Another said the “main gripe” was residents' “freedom of passage and usage of common facilities”.

Residents also questioned whether similar restrictions could be imposed during future celebrations, such as New Year's Eve.