URA Heritage Award74 Emerald Hill
Library House
A near-lost 1916 shophouse → a restored home, tile and timber intact.
Conserved and brought back to life, a winner of the URA Architectural Heritage Award.
URA Heritage Award
A direct buyer of conserved shophouses · Singapore
The Straits Conservancy buys conserved shophouses directly from the families who hold them, at a fair market price, in complete confidence, with a clean and certain close. No agents. No listings. No fees.
Independently benchmarked against recent conserved-shophouse sales. We pay for what your building is truly worth, with no heritage discount.
We buy with our own committed capital, not a fund chasing a mandate. We'll show proof of funds at the first meeting.
A clear written offer in weeks, not the many months an open-market sale can take. We complete on your timeline.
No agent's commission. We cover standard legal and conveyancing, and we buy as-is, with no repairs, staging or viewings.
Held a conserved shophouse for years? The open market can mean agents, public listings, strangers walking through your home, and your business becoming everyone's. We offer the opposite: a quiet, direct sale to a real buyer.
Sell to most buyers and your shophouse becomes a line item: gutted, flipped, forgotten. Sell to us and it becomes a story we keep. We are stewards, not traders. We hold, restore and honour the families who built these shophouses before us.
The families who lived and traded within these walls are part of the building's story. We keep that story, your name and your history, rather than erase it.
We conserve the original fabric and hold for the long term, with your building brought back to life, not broken up for parts or flipped.
Through our sibling The Straits Museum, the heritage of these shophouses is shared with the public and carried to future generations.
Led by founder Fang Low, who treats every shophouse as a chapter of Singapore worth keeping.
We sign an NDA before you share a single detail. Your name and your building never become public.
We see the building and value it against recent conserved-shophouse transactions and independent valuation.
You receive a clear, written offer promptly and with no obligation. Not an endless conversation.
Your lawyer and ours close the sale when it suits you. We pay from our own committed capital.
On Serangoon Road, Tan Hiap Hong was the last traditional charcoal shop in Singapore, in the same shophouse for the better part of a century. We acquired the building to conserve it and keep its story alive. The Straits Times told the tale.
Featured & exhibited
Also exhibited at the Red Dot Design Museum
A real buyer with a real record, not a broker fishing for a listing. We've conserved Singapore shophouses for three decades, won the country's top heritage award, and we close.
Watch our heritage & placemaking film →
We restore with conservation-grade craft, keeping original tile, timber and frontage. Sell to us and your shophouse is looked after, not broken up for parts.
URA Heritage Award74 Emerald Hill
A near-lost 1916 shophouse → a restored home, tile and timber intact.
Conserved and brought back to life, a winner of the URA Architectural Heritage Award.
URA Award · WSJLorong 24A · Geylang
Eight 1920s shophouses → eight architects, one conserved Geylang street.
A URA Architectural Heritage Award (2013) and a Wall Street Journal feature.
Red Dot MuseumAcross Singapore
Forgotten shophouses → conserved, original craft carried forward, never stripped.
Part of one of Singapore's largest conserved-shophouse portfolios, exhibited at the Red Dot Design Museum.
The Straits Conservancy is a heritage conservation social enterprise. We rescue Singapore's dilapidated and at-risk shophouses and heritage buildings, restore them with conservation-grade craft, and safeguard our tangible built heritage for future generations of Singaporeans.
Our vision: to become the leading social enterprise creating new futures for historic buildings across the Straits.
Free, timed, invitation-only visits to selected private heritage homes. Step inside conserved shophouses, black-and-white bungalows, heritage apartments and other remarkable places, or register interest in opening your own property with clear household and neighbour safeguards.
No walk-ins, public addresses or event-scale crowds. Every visit remains subject to host consent, property rules and any required approvals.
Plan a visit or open your house
"I pledge that half the proceeds from the eventual sale of The Straits Conservancy will go to The Straits Museum, to keep the living culture of the Straits open to all, in perpetuity."
Fang LowFounder, The Straits Conservancy
We match heritage trades, longstanding local businesses and independent operators with conserved ground-floor spaces, subject to compatible approved use and the required permissions. Flexible entry terms help strong concepts prove demand while public interpretation and neighbourhood programmes keep heritage economically active.
Commercial tenancies are managed by The Straits Conservancy. Any cultural programming by The Straits Museum is separately curated and funded.
Explore available spacesWe invite a small number of aligned family offices, private investors and lenders to review select asset-backed opportunities. Stewardship is the strategy, and disciplined value creation is the engine.
Owners often begin by looking for a shophouse agent, broker or valuation. We offer a different route: a confidential, direct sale to a principal buyer that acquires for its own account.
Send us the location and basic building details. We can sign an NDA, review the shophouse privately, arrange one focused inspection, benchmark the property and make a written offer. You remain free to decide with your lawyer and advisers.
You can approach a principal buyer directly. A licensed shophouse agent may be useful if you want broad market exposure and a public sales process. The Straits Conservancy is not an estate agency and does not market properties for third parties. We consider purchases for our own account.
We consider recent comparable transactions, tenure, land and built area, approved use, conservation status, location, frontage, tenancies, condition and required works. Owners should rely on their own legal, tax and valuation advisers before accepting any offer.
Yes, we can review tenanted properties and family-held ownership arrangements. Existing leases, title, ownership and completion requirements are considered with the seller and the relevant professional advisers.
Yes. Our direct process is designed to stay private. There is no public property listing, advertising campaign or general viewing schedule. We can sign an NDA before sensitive details are shared.
We focus on whole conserved shophouses and other heritage buildings in Singapore where long-term stewardship and viable reuse are possible. Every building is reviewed individually for location, tenure, approved use, condition and fit. Looking to invest instead? See our Singapore shophouse investment approach.
Tell us about your shophouse in confidence. You'll deal directly with our founder, not a salesperson, and nothing you share becomes public.
contact@straitsconservancy.org
Private and confidential. We sign an NDA before you share any details.