One Pearl Bank Residents Had To Pay To Access Sky Garden To Watch NDP Fireworks: “I Was Rejected From My Own Home”

Imagine having a sky garden in your condo with a prime view of the National Day fireworks — only to find out you can’t access it unless you pay.

That was the situation residents at One Pearl Bank in Outram Park found themselves in on August 9, when the condo’s entire 39th floor was reserved for a ticketed National Day event.

The event, which included a live screening of the National Day celebrations and a buffet, cost $10 for adults and $5 for children.

Residents without tickets were not allowed to access the 39th-floor sky garden from 5pm to 9pm — meaning no heading upstairs for a free view of the fireworks. The restriction also extended to the gym and social lounge on the same floor.

A One Pearl Bank resident, who wants to be known only as Mr C, shared with 8days.sg that he had initially planned to stay home and head up to the sky garden for the fireworks. But after learning that access would be restricted to ticket holders, he made other plans and went elsewhere to catch the fireworks.

“I feel a bit sour that I couldn’t watch the fireworks comfortably from my own home,” he says.

“I was rejected from my own home.”

Mr C, who owns a two-bedroom unit which he says cost about $2 million and pays more than $300 a month in maintenance fees, says the issue wasn't the price of the ticket.

“We pay maintenance fees every month, and then suddenly we're not even allowed to access the rooftop.”

He isn't against management organising a paid event or charging for food. He just feels residents should have been given priority when it came to accessing common areas.

“The common areas are for all the residents to enjoy,” he says.

Instead of closing off the whole floor, Mr C suggests management could have charged guests of residents, limited the number of visitors, or cordoned off part of the area for the event.

"I just feel there are better ways to manage this than charging residents and closing off the whole area."

Following residents' queries, the condo’s management council issued a letter on Aug 11 explaining that the restrictions were introduced for fire safety and crowd management.

According to the council, Level 39 has an SCDF occupant load limit of 157 people. It said there had also been feedback about overcrowding during peak occasions in 2025, including National Day and New Year's Eve.

Taking into account management, security and cleaning personnel needed for the event, 120 tickets were made available to residents. All were snapped up.

The council said the $10 adult and $5 child fees were a “token fee” to cover catering costs and help with attendance planning.

Mr C, however, questions whether charging residents was the best way to manage the crowd.

He notes that there are three lounges, a gym and outdoor seating areas on that level, “if they don't control [the number of people] day-to-day, why suddenly control on National Day?”  

“I think the idea of charging $10 is a bit [of a] wrong approach to control the crowd.”

Mr C wasn't alone.

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

There were also questions about whether the same thing could happen during future celebrations, such as New Year's Eve.

Mr C, who has lived at the condo for one-and-a-half years, says that the condo’s management team changed just a few months ago and this is the first time he has encountered such an arrangement.  

The council says it welcomes feedback on how crowd management and event arrangements can be improved for future major celebrations.

One Pearl Bank has 774 units and an estimated population of more than 2,000 residents.