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https://mothership.sg/2020/05/jurong-west-hawker-centre-close-down/ Jurong West Hawker Centre (JWHC) is closing down and will remain shut for at least 10 months. This shock announcement was made by the National Environment Agency on May 5, 2020. NEA said the hawker centre will only be reopen sometime in the second half of 2021 after the exit of the current operator, Hawker Management. Hawker Management, an enterprise under Koufu described as "socially-conscious", will not renew its three-year contract with NEA when it expires on Aug. 6. NEA is seeking a new operator and will carry out potential renovation work in the interim. Not ideal performance standards Hawker Management said its "ideal performance standards" were not met. The company said results did not meet our ideal performance standards despite Hawker Management's efforts. "Following HM's (Hawker Management) appointment as the operator of JWHC in 2017, HM had seen to be putting in the necessary resources to bring vibrancy to Jurong West Hawker Centre and support the local hawker trade," the company said in a media release. "Koufu, as a public listed company, has an obligation to safeguard our shareholders’ interests, therefore we have made the difficult decision to exit upon expiry of the contract in August 2020 to focus efforts on other aspects of our business." Hawker Management said it remains committed to managing the hawker centre until the end of the contract term. Rental waivers It added that it will provide rental waivers for stallholders from June until Aug. 6, the end of stallholders' tenancy. It will also offer a S$1,000 relocation fee to eligible stallholders. NEA and Hawker Management said they will help stallholders relocate to available stalls at existing hawker centres and markets managed by NEA, or to coffee shops and food courts run by Koufu. Existing stallholders will be offered to return to Jurong West Hawker Centre when it is ready, said NEA. This is on top of the government's three-month rental waiver as part of the Resilience Budget. NEA said it will conduct a request for proposal to seek new ideas from operators to improve the two-storey hawker centre and market. The agency said it will conduct conduct public consultations to gather ideas and suggestions from the community. The hawker centre has been badly hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. There are about 10 stalls in operation now.

https://mothership.sg/2022/12/bukit-canberra-hawker-centre-open/ North-siders can soon get their grub at the new Bukit Canberra Hawker Centre, which will be opening on Dec. 17. The hawker centre is part of a 12-hectare integrated sports and community hub in Sembawang, which also includes an ActiveSG indoor sports hall that opened in October 2022. The hawker centre's opening comes slightly ahead of schedule, as it was initially slated to open in Q1 2023. The place will be able to seat around 800 patrons and will have 44 stalls serving the usual hawker fare, as well as other more unique food options such as mookata, Hainan & Harbin cuisine, Mexican-Indian fusion food and BBQ Melaka Seafood. Ong shared that the hawker centre will also feature healthier eating options. Additionally, a programme called "Belanja A Meal" will allow diners to buy meals for less fortunate residents. CHAS, Pioneer and Merdeka Generation card members will also benefit from daily discounts on food. Bukit Canberra Hawker Centre will feature some eco-friendly initiatives. It will have an "eco-friendly waste grinder system", which will turn food waste into compost. Stalls will not serve disposable cutlery for dine-in orders, and only eco-friendly packaging such as paper bags and boxes, food wrapping papers and oxo-biodegradable plastic bags will be used for takeaway orders. Energy-saving appliances and lighting will also be installed. Diners can also check their calorie intake via "Traffic Light Calorie Count" information in green, amber or red on the menus. This will allow diners to make informed choices about their meals. Location: Address: 21 Canberra Link, Singapore 756973 Opening hours: 7am to 11pm, daily Opening date: Dec. 17, 2022

So now stall operators need to pass SOC in order to conduct their business in Bukit Canberra Hawker Centre, since they will need to clear the counter top to get out of their stall in the even of fire? 😅 On a serious note, why place the fire extinguisher outside the stall if the stall personnel are not allowed to gain access to their stall from the front? Any safety expert can confirm if the design of the new hawker centre violated the fire safety requirements? Source: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/hawkers-worry-about-stall-design-after-fire-at-newly-opened-bukit-canberra-hawker-centre SINGAPORE - Foodcourt operator Canopy Hawkers Group will check if additional mitigation measures are needed after hawkers raised safety concerns following a fire at the newly opened Bukit Canberra Hawker Centre last Tuesday. One hawker said she had to climb over the fixed counter at the front of her stall to escape when an unattended stove at Long Xiang Ho Chiak Scissors Cut Curry Rice caught fire. Several hawkers also pointed out that fire extinguishers are placed beyond their reach on walls outside their stalls. Canopy Hawkers Group said the design layout of the stalls was made in consultation with a Qualified Person prior to deployment and is in compliance with the Fire Code, including on means of escape. A Qualified Person is a registered architect or a professional engineer. The single-storey hawker centre has 44 stalls, which are arranged in five hexagonal structures of eight to nine stalls each. Each stall has openings at the back leading into a common area shared by other stalls in the same ring. There is only a single common door allowing exit from the interior of each ring. Madam Christine Lock, 47, who runs a nasi lemak stall two stalls away from the one that caught fire, said she was with her husband when the fire broke out. She said she managed to scramble over the fixed counter, which is about 80cm high, but is worried about older and less mobile hawkers. “What if there’s a 70-year-old man in the stall, who may not be fit enough to climb over? What then?” Madam Lock said that to reach the fire extinguishers placed in front of the stalls, hawkers have to go out from the back of their stall, and then past the single common exit door. A hawker who wanted to be known only as Mr Lee said: “It’s quite ridiculous. The fire extinguisher is far away. If the back catches fire, then I have to jump out over the front counter.” “At least I can still get out,” said the 29-year-old, who runs Mexican-Indian fusion food stall Snack That Food Up. “But others may not be able to.” Another hawker, who wanted to be known only as Ming, said it takes her about a minute to walk from her front counter to the back exit, and round to her stall front. She said: “Sometimes, customers with a disability buy my food. Once, it was peak lunch hour and I had to carry someone’s plate to the table for him, but there were other people queueing too. “It wastes a lot of my time to walk one big round, since there isn’t an opening at the front counter.” She added that she had raised the issue with Canopy Hawkers Group several times. Darren (not his real name), who has been in the hawker business for more than 10 years and runs a stall at the hawker centre, said stallholders were informed of Canopy Hawkers Group’s “front counter clause” prior to the centre’s opening in December 2022. The Straits Times understands that stallholders had signed contracts that state that the stall front should allow for no entrance or exit of any person from the front of the stall. Tenants also have to place fire extinguishers within the stall. Canopy Hawkers Group, which has had experience running various foodcourts and coffee shops over the past 12 years, said the hawker centre, which is its first, was inspected for fire safety on Sept 13, 2022. An SCDF spokesman confirmed on Saturday that a Temporary Fire Permit, allowing the owner of the hawker centre to operate for 11 months before obtaining a Fire Safety Certificate, was issued to Bukit Canberra Hawker Centre on Sept 13. The permit is issued only if the fire safety work of a project has been satisfactorily completed with only very minor outstanding issues, he added. The certificate will be issued only after the completion of all fire safety works in the project.

https://mothership.sg/2020/04/woman-ang-mo-kio-dine-out/ A woman was caught eating at a hawker centre on the second day of Singapore's Covid-19 circuit breaker (CCB) mode. During this period, which lasts from Apr. 7 - May. 4, Singaporeans should only leave the house for essential errands, such as buying food. Woman approached by officials while eating Pictures of the incident were circulated on social media and messaging apps on Wednesday, Apr. 8. In one picture, the woman was seen eating at a table while being approached by what looks like two Enforcement Officers (EOs) in white. In another picture, she was holding a plastic bag while being engaged in conversation with two uniformed policemen. A video capturing the exchange shows the woman waiting while an EO was writing something on a table. The incident appears to have taken place at Ang Mo Kio Avenue 6 Market and Food Centre.