The redevelopment of the Victoria Concert Hall and Victoria Theatre necessitated an archaeological investigation in the downtown civic district. The Singapore Symphony Orchestra generously permitted two evaluation trenches to be dug within their garden compound in July 2010. The successful recovery of both colonial period and pre-modern Temasek artifacts resulted in a co-sponsored rescue archaeology project by the Singapore Heritage Society and the National Heritage Board. The three-week rescue operations targeted part of Old Parliament Lane where an underground extension of the complex would be built. The yield of 654 kg of artifacts attests to the existence of a rich riverside emporium between the 1300s and 1600s.

The rescue excavation at the Victoria Concert Hall site provided a lot of new insights about the inhabitants of Temasek and their activities. Chinese gaming piece and ceramic tokens were recovered from the site. The tokens were probably locally manufactured and were fashioned out of broken ceramics sherds. The excavation also recovered human teeth, the first occurrence of human remains from the pre-modern period in Singapore.