Coming up in the Print Version of Architecture Kenya Magazine - Candid Interview with Arch. David Mutiso, FAAK.

The Architecture Kenya team spent some quality time with Arch. David Mutiso, FAAK who opened up in a candid interview with our editors.

Meet this old man, still young at heart and learn about his days at Alliance with the popular principal, Carey Francis, how he developed interest in architecture, the hurdles he encountered. Also learn about his days at the Ministry of Public Works as the first native Chief Architect.

David tells us his side of the story regarding the design of KICC. He talks about his key projects, the UNEP headquarters and of course Buru Buru housing.

Do not miss your copy of the inaugural issue of Architecture Kenya Magazine which will be out by end of September 2011.

To advertise in the magazine, contact the editors through architecturekenya@gmail.com

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Coming soon: City on Rail

Imagine a city that no longer relies on motor vehicles to ferry citizens to work; a city where you park your car and board a train — not because your car broke down, but because the train is faster and more efficient. Imagine a Nairobi where trains use underground tunnels for the 15-minute ride from the city centre to the airport, a Nairobi that does not have kilometre-long traffic gridlocks.

Now stop imagining, for that Nairobi is right here with you. Yes, Nairobi will soon be a city on rail once The Kenya Railway Corporation completes constructing a mega railway station in Syokimau, and the transformation that project will bring to the entire length of Mombasa Road is already attracting investors the way the the new Thika Road did.

Dubbed the ‘Core System,’ the Syokimau station is among the flagship projects outlines in the Kenya Vision 2030 development project and is estimated to cost Sh16 billion. The 100 kilometre-long railway line is the first phase of three, connecting Nairobi to Ruiru, Embakasi Village, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and Kikuyu.

The railway line will feature new diesel-electric trains with a capacity of 200,000 people per day and a maximum speed of 180 kilometres per hour, contrasting sharply with the current diesel engines that do up to 20 kilometres per hour.

Besides providing fast, reliable, safe, affordable and world class commuter rail services within the Nairobi Metropolitan region, the railway system is also expected to ease congestion on Mombasa Road because some of the traffic will be transferred to the system.

To accommodate the expected surge of motorists opting to go the rail way, the Syokimau Station will have a 1,200-slot parking yard. The current 50 functional train stations serve at least 35,000 commuters daily. Passenger and freight trains servicing the main railway line between Mombasa and Kisumu have a maximum speed of 50 kilometres per hour.

For this, most people would rather brace the traffic on the roads than be on the rail because they consider trains to be too slow. “With the high speed of the new trains, travelling time from the central business district to JKIA will significantly reduce from the current 90 minutes to 15 minutes,” the Managing Director of the Kenya Railways Corporation Nduva Muli said.

It is not just commuters who will benefit from the project. Businessmen too will reap from the completion of the project. This is because the station will have shops and restaurants where passengers can enjoy a cup of coffee as they wait for their ride. Other businesses and trading centres will also rise at the other stations in Kikuyu and Ruiru.

Businessmen have the opportunity to provide bus and shuttle services from the Syokimau terminus to JKIA in just five minutes. The shuttles will operate for a while before the link line connecting Syokimau to JKIA is completed. The 6.5 kilometre-long line will cross Mombasa Road through an underground tunnel at the cost of Sh3.2 billion — the most expensive part of the Core System.

“The Syokimau station will serve mostly residents of Syokimau, Mlolongo, Athi River, Kitengela and Kajiado who will have the option to complete the journey to the Central Business District in comfort by train after parking their cars or being dropped by public means,” Mr Muli said.

But KRC faces two major challenges to the completion of the project: encroachment along the Nairobi–Kibera-Makadara–Embakasi railway corridor and the menace that is matatus and buses blocking the entrance to Nairobi Railway Station.

Discussions are underway with the World Bank, Nairobi City Council and the Ministry of Local Government to come up with a speedy solution. This is the first time since independence that Kenya is building even one metre of rail. The current network was built by Indian slaves and the Imperial British East Africa Company in the 1895.

It began at the Kilindini Harbour along the coast and arrived in Nairobi in 1900. The KRC therefore seeks to not only build new lines but also rehabilitate the current stations. In 2008, the Government of Kenya launched the Vision 2030, a development blueprint aimed at transforming the country into a middle-income state.

The Vision is based on three pillars. The Economic Pillar seeks to improve the prosperity of Kenyans through an economic development programme with the aim of achieving a gross domestic product growth rate of 10 per cent yearly. The Social Pillar intends to build an equal and cohesive society in a clean environment, while the Political Pillar creates a democratic political system that is founded on issue-based politics that respect the rule of law as well as protect the rights of every Kenyan.

The Vision 2030 flagship projects are being implemented in five stages — of five years each — beginning in 2008. The stages are called ‘medium-term plans’ and are, therefore, the pace setters in rapid growth generations.

The 2008-2012 medium-term plan has over 20 flagship projects under various ministries, among them the Syokimau Railway and the Thika Road super-highway. The road is expected to be completed by June next year.

With the deadline for the 2008-2012 medium term plan fast approaching, ministries are in a last minute rush to beat it, implementing as many projects as they can. For that, the government has made significant progress. And the Kenya Railway Corporation refuses to be left behind.

Phase two of the railway project will include an additional 70 kilometres of rail, connecting Thika, Lukenya and Limuru, while the third phase will add 100 kilometres more extending to Ngong, Kiserian, Rongai and Kiambu.

When all three phases are completed by 2030, Nairobi will not just be the city in the sun, but also the city on the rail.

Source: Daily Nation

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Kenya loses Sh1.4 billion on collapsed buildings

Kenya has lost more than Sh1.4 billion as a result of collapsed buildings in the last 15 years, Board of Registration of Architects and Quantity Surveyors (BORAQS) says. Chairman Gideon Mulyungi said 24 buildings have collapsed in the country since 1996. “Forty-one lives have been lost and 47 people injured over the same period,” Mr Mulyungi said in an interview.

The chairman, who is also Ministry of Public Works secretary blamed land developers for not engaging qualified professionals resulting to the collapse of buildings. He regretted that quacks were also purporting to act as qualified professionals while local authorities are “sometimes” not enforcing the law.

Asked who was sleeping on the job, Mr Mulyungi said: “You and I for refusing to comply with the law despite the fact that the industry is the fastest growing having registered a growth rate of over 400 per cent from Sh38 billion to Sh190 billion in the last 10 years.”

Mr Mulyungi also called on the public to change its attitude and comply with the law on construction. He said unsafe construction sites could easily be detected as they lack signboards and approval from the relevant local authority, use of substandard materials and suspicious speed of implementation.

Mr Mulyungi said BORAQS has put in place measures to minimise the collapse of buildings including the amendment of Cap 525 of the Laws of Kenya. The revision of the law is to empower the board to regulate the profession rather than the registered member, reign on quack professionals and rogue developers.

The board also wants to register more professional bodies and regulate politicians. The board further plans to start campaigns against construction sites that are not properly labelled “as the public supports us by reporting suspicious construction sites.”

BORAQS will meet other professionals associations from East Africa in Kampala on Thursday to sign mutual recognition agreement on cross-border practice of architecture under the common market protocol. BORAQS which is mandated with registering and regulating the professions of Architecture and Quantity Surveying in Kenya is also seeking partnerships with the local authorities, professional associations and corporate entities.

There are 1353 architects in the country compared to 711 quantity surveyors. Since independence 28 architects and 15 surveyors have been suspended. Twenty architects and eight surveyors have also been de-registered since 1963, Mr Mulyungi said.

He said for one to serve as an architect he must have had a minimum of five years training in architecture from an approved University followed by two years practical experience under a registered architect. A quantity surveyor needs a minimum of three years training in quantity surveying from an approved University followed by a two years practical experience under a registered quantity surveyor.

A law aimed at instilling professionalism and boosting capacity in the country’s construction industry will soon be tabled in Parliament. A National Construction Authority Bill has since been developed to register and regulate contractors.

The enactment of the Bill is expected to enhance professionalism and help boost the capacity of local contractors to competitively bid and win contracts locally and in the region. The move is part of the reforms earmarked by his ministry to bring order and coordination to the entire building industry.

The World Bank and its private sector lending arm, the International Finance Corporation, recent report ranked Kenya poorly, especially in the construction industry.

Source: Daily Nation

Eldoret town attracts Sh40 billion private sector real estate project

Eldoret Town has attracted a Sh40 billion real estate project, making it the single largest investment by the private sector in Western Kenya and the latest in a growing list of multi-billion-shilling investments outside Nairobi.

The initiative to be known as Sergoit Golf and Wildlife Resort was unveiled by Tourism Minister Najib Balala, a signal that it is eyeing to tap into the expected demand for accommodation as the western circuit opens up to tourists.

Sergoit Holdings Limited, the company behind the project says it will be built in four phases. It will entail over 2,000 villas, three golf courses, a 5-star hotel, a shopping mall, a conference centre, a hospital, schools and a private airstrip among other amenities enclosed in a 3,100 acre perimeter fence.

Sergoit means good luck ahead in Kalenjin.

Each phase will cost about Sh10 billion with Phase I expected to be completed in a year, according to Sergoit Holdings chairman Joshua Chepkwony.

Located 15 kilometres north east of Eldoret Town, the project is expected to be completed by 2016 with an expected boost to the tourism industry, currently grappling with an estimated 40,000 deficit in quality bed capacity.

Like Tatu City, the company will put up an independent management company to run physical infrastructure, including roads, power, water, waste, drainage and fibre optic connection among others, in what is being envisioned as a golf town, but on a co-shared ownership structure with residents.

Other features of the leisure and golf resort city include scenic nature and fitness trails, a view of game and scenery, rock climbing, athletic training tracks and a water splash.

“This investment will add to the existing bed capacity within this region, which is among the priority areas targeted for diversifying our tourism products,” said Tourism minister Najib Balala last week in Nairobi.

“Important too is the fact that the resort presents experiential and interactive tourism, which has become the latest trend among the youthful and middle class tourists from all over the world,” he said.

The project seeks to tap into the growing middle and upper economic classes as well as rising remittances from the Diaspora. Eldoret is Kenya’s fifth largest town and one of the fastest growing with a population of about a quarter a million.

Movement of the real estate market outside Nairobi is also being driven by the newly rich class of professionals and top civil servants who are looking for quiet peri-urban homes, but cannot afford the rocketing prices of similar property in the capital.

Other projects lined up outside Nairobi include a Sh1 billion investment into a 190-unit housing project by property firm Translakes Limited in Kisumu Town, a 2,400 acre holiday leisure and golf resort city, Longonot Gate, Naivasha’s exclusive Green Park and Vipingo Ridge estates.

VACANCY - PROJECT MANAGER, ROAD AND BRIDGES - SPENCON HOLDINGS

JOB PURPOSE:

Responsible for timely execution of the project(s) at site under strict time & cost schedules as provided in the DPP by adopting integrated project management methods across various Sites.

GENERIC DUTIES:

• Attend joint meeting and give accurate feedback to management for information and action.

• Plan, manage and integrate all Sites to ensure construction team members meet project safety, cost, time & quality objectives

• Prepare, review and cause to be approved the execution plan (DPP), procedures and schedules to ensure they are realistic and achievable

• Manage the delivery of the works as per approved project documents, established engineering practices and in accordance with employer specifications and requirements

• Ensure monthly preparation, submission of acceptable certificates to the consultant / Engineer and ensure approval is granted as per contract.

• Monitor, review progress of work, budgets, costs, and schedules for adequacy, funding, plant utilization and project risks in accordance with DPP and take appropriate action.

• Ensure that accurate, effective and timely site contractual documentation is maintained as per conditions of contract

• Maintain effective communication with all concerned including employer, consultant and any other regulatory bodies.

• Compile daily, weekly and monthly site production reports and have them delivered the required persons.

• Adhere to all QSHE procedures, policies and instructions COMPETENCIES MAP.

Educational Requirements:

• Degree in Engineering.

Professional Training/ Qualifications:

• Post Graduate qualification in a management discipline.

Skills Requirement:

• People, Communication, Analytical, Team building Skills, Computer Literate

Relevant Work Experience:

• 10 years.5 years experience on similar position or deputy & project type.

• Local and international Contracts Conditions

• Local and International labour trends.

All application letters and detailed CVs together with names of three referees should reach us not later than 27 July 2011 via recruitment@spencon.net or to the address below
Group Head of HR & Admin
Spencon Holdings Ltd.
P. O. Box 881-00606
Nairobi
Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted.