North Rift’s tallest building to be ready January next year

The ever increasing demand for office and residential space in the Uasin Gishu County capital of Eldoret has pushed property developers into overdrive mode, with Governor Jackson Mandago’s County Government’s spatial development plans also in full throttle.

Through its Spatial Planning and Development Control Programme, the county administration has developed land use standards and regulations and also secured funding for an Integrated Strategic Urban Development Plan that seeks to tackle Eldoret’s real estate demand.

“My government has formulated the County Housing Corporation and the Housing Policy to guide the housing sector,” Governor Mandago said in his State of the County address before the Uasin Gishu County Assembly recently.

“In order to fast-track land surveys and improve on resource mapping and maintenance of property boundaries, we have purchased modern equipment with GPS (Real Time Kinematic model) and a plotter at a cost of Sh5.7 million,” the governor announced.

“We have now developed regulations and zoning plans and are opening up residential and other areas for the development of commercial properties,” Mr Robert Ng’isirei, the Uasin Gishu executive for lands and physical planning, added in an interview early last month.

STRIDING INTO THE FUTURE

Cashing in on Eldoret’s insatiable demand, the Moi University Pension Scheme is constructing a 27-storey, twin-tower office block that will be ready for occupation in January next year, and which is expected to completely transform Eldoret’s hitherto conservative skyline.

The Sh1.8 billion building will have over 400 parking slots, including three basement parking levels to accommodate 200 vehicles and two podium parking levels, each taking up 78 vehicles.

This will considerably decongest Eldoret town, which is currently hard-pressed for public parking space.

According to a project brief made available to us by site engineer and project manager Malaba Keya, the managing director of Malaba Kenya and Partners, the office tower will have three shopping floors, with 17 levels reserved exclusively for offices.

A restaurant, health club and swimming pool will occupy the 24th floor, while a penthouse is planned for the 25th floor.

“The Moi University pension project was conceived by the board of trustees with the sole aim of securing and growing the members fund for comfort during retirement,” Mr Keya said in an interview on Tuesday last week.

“The architect then designed a building whose tower plan is like two speed boats, or a person striding into the future.

“The building will have the most modern Internet capability in Kenya, an advanced building management system and controlled access for maximum security.

“It really is the future of the current members of our pension scheme, who in a few years will enjoy earnings as pensioners,” the project manager said.

Moi University Pension Scheme manager Charles Nyamieno says office space at the new building, which will be the tallest in the North Rift, will go on sale from a minimum 9,000 square feet from October this year.

MODERN INTELLIGENCE

“The building will have modern, organised office space with modern ICT structures and will also be energy- and environment-friendly, using solar energy and harvesting rain water,” Mr Nyamieno explains. “It’s a modern intelligent structure that will stand the test of time.”

Financially-speaking, the Moi University Pension Scheme chief notes that by selling the office space rather than letting it, the pension scheme stands to make a profit of not less than 27 per cent of their Sh1.8 billion investment, which translates to a minimum of about Sh500 million.

“We are looking to realise a minimum return of 27 per cent but we think we’ll get 35 per cent going by the interest shown, and through feasibility studies carried out by Knight Frank and Ipsos which formed the basis of our investment,” Mr Nyamieno adds.

The Moi University Pension Scheme official is happy that everything is on course for the project’s completion.

“We are on course as the main structure should be ready by end of July and then we start the finishing and expect the building to be ready by December, 2015, and officially opened in January, 2016,” he says.

Key players in North Rift’s tallest building

•   Construction at the Moi University Pension Scheme building in Eldoret town started on September 2, 2013 and the 124-week project is on schedule for completion and occupation on January 16, 2016.

•   Malaba Kenya and Partners are the project managers and structural engineers, Kenchuan Architects Limited the project architects, and Bunei, Maungu and Associates the project’s quantity surveyors.

•   Electrical and mechanical engineering is being carried out by Donn Consultants while Simuplan are the physical planning experts and Epco Builders Limited the main contractor.

•   Other companies involved in the building’s development include Volcanic Plumbing, Marryat and Scott, Climate Engineering Works, Hyperteck Electrical Services Limited Joworld Agencies and Superserve Technologies.

•   Some of the salient features of the building are ground and elevated water reservoirs, solar energy for lighting common areas, water heating and an elaborate CCTV surveillance system.

•   The building is designed like a shoe facing east, a concept Moi University Pension Scheme manager Mr Charles Nyamieno explains symbolises “walking into the future where the sun rises from”.

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Controlled developments a strong point for Mandago’s new Eldoret

TWO YEARS AGO, Uasin Gishu Governor Jackson Mandago suspended the sub-division of land in the county. This was in order to allow the drawing up of a masterplan that would guide the county’s real estate and property development.

The move was principally aimed at placing checks and balances against the alienation of agricultural land for purposes of real estate development, a temptation largely motivated by increasingly attractive land prices.

The governor does not regret the move as it now forms an integral pillar in Eldoret’s real estate development.

“Unlike in the past when people would put up flats, bungalows and other developments without a plan, there is now controlled development of real estate development,” Mr Mandago said in an interview on Tuesday last week.

“We are now engaging the National Housing Corporation and the National Social Security Fund to develop flats in some of our estates.”

Controlled change of user, easing pressure on Eldoret’s central business district and expansion of land for residential use, are some of Mr Mandago’s biggest challenges as Eldoret is bursting at the seams with business potential.

“We have now developed regulations and zoning plans and are opening up residential areas and other areas for the development of commercial properties,” Mr Robert Ng’isirei, the Uasin Gishu executive for lands and physical planning, says.

“We are also working with some government departments to give us land for the planning of an industrial park.”

Mr Ng’isirei admits that pressure is high on Eldoret’s central business district but remains confident that with the plans they have developed, it will be managed.

“We are talking to the people who own old buildings within the central business district to develop them, but the problem remains traffic and parking areas,” he fears.

The North Rift region is home to millionaire athletes who rake in tidy sums from global marathons and track competitions, a factor that has had a significant influence on the spiralling property prices.

A cursory glance at prices on the Eldoret property market indicate a fast-growing economy.