A Great Architectural Marvel in Nyeri's Wilderness - Treetops

After covering the War Memorial church located in Nyeri, the Architecture Kenya team must have thought that was the last they would cover of the town located at the central highlands of Kenya. But that was not to be, another marvel came about, though located 17 kilometres from the town, it can still be said to be in Nyeri.



As the name suggests, Treetops Hotel was literally built into the tops of the trees of Aberdare National Park. The idea was to offer guests a very close view of local wildlife in complete safety. This concept was borrowed from an Indian tradition called Shikar, which was a form of hunting in colonial India, where hunting was done on a platform mounted on a tree in complete safety and comfort.

The hotel, initially run by Eric Walker, was operational in 1932 starting with a modest two roomed tree house to the fifty rooms it has today. The original structure was burned down by African guerrillas during the 1954 Mau Mau uprising, but the hotel was later rebuilt near the same waterhole where it was initially.



It rises straight out of the ground on stilts and has four decks and a roof top viewing platform. It has a rustic external feel, with matching interior decor. Large timber framed windows dot the internal spaces and a rooftop terrace provides a perfect location for viewing the wildlife below.

The Dangers of Buying a House Before it is Built

[caption id="attachment_1588" align="alignnone" width="750" caption="A model of a house.Image Source: Daily Nation"][/caption]

When Elizabeth Lwali decided to buy a house, she looked for a bargain and found one that she has never regretted. Located in Embakasi, Nairobi, Ms Lwali’s house is a three-bedroom apartment with an en suite master bedroom.

Unlike many people who go for a completed house, Ms Lwali, an investment officer with a Nairobi-based pan-African housing finance and development institution, bought hers even before the foundation was laid. She was asked to pay a 20 per cent deposit when the construction started in October 2007. The amount also acted as the booking fees. She cleared the balance when the project was completed last year.

As the project was nearing completion, she arranged for finances to settle the balance. Her husband and she raised over 50 per cent of the money from their own sources. Ms Lwali paid the balance (30 per cent) through an employer mortgage scheme. There is already a tenant in the house. For Ms Lwali, the wait was worth it.

“It is always cheaper to buy at the beginning. I bought my unit for Sh3.5 million, but those who are buying similar units in the same project are paying almost double, at Sh6.5 million. I have made capital gains while doing nothing, literally.”

The process she followed in acquiring the house is called a pre-sale or buying on paper or buying on the plan — or simply buying off-plan.

Strictly speaking, a pre-sale refers to anything (a house in this case) sold before completion — whether half-way, quarter-way, or 90 per cent complete. This arrangement has become common in Kenya since the rebound of the real estate sector in Kenya over eight years ago. Experts estimate that about 60 per cent of new housing projects in the country are sold under pre-sale arrangement.

People go for this kind of arrangement because they are looking for a bargain as pre-sale houses are substantially cheaper than similar ones by the time the construction is completed.

As a buyer, it also gives you some “breathing space” to arrange for the financing. Pre-sales come with sweeteners — buyers are even allowed to pay the deposit in instalments. During the construction period, you can move from one bank to another, seeking mortgage financing.

Or if you are a business person, you can stagger your payments to your comfort. Off-plan selling also enables developers not to pump in their own money, relying on deposit instead. All in all, it is a risk management tool for both the developer and the buyer.

And as Ms Lwali attests, pre-sales can be gratifying. “My experience was good. I was not required to put in any additional money. “There were no ugly experiences. I did not have to insure anything. All I had to do was to make the necessary extra payments — including stamp duty, legal fees, and three-month service charge deposit, — when required.”

However, despite success stories like Ms Lwali’s, property experts are warning that pre-sale arrangements are not 100 per cent safe for buyers. Although they have obvious advantages they transfer an “excessive” level of construction risks to the buyers, most of who are looking for bargains.

“Pre-sales are not safe for buyers, especially at this time when the cost of building materials is on the increase, sometimes to a level that makes it not practically feasible to deliver the project at the proposed deadline and price,” says Mr Wilberforce Oundo, a director with Roack Consult.

Mr Oundo has witnessed many cases where, towards the end of a project’s completion, the developer asks buyers to top up their payments to match the prevailing market prices, in total disregard of the pre-sale contract signed, which clearly states the price.

“It is not unusual for developers to change prices at the end of construction. I have seen cases where a developer goes back to those who had booked and asks them to top up and refunds the money of those who are unable to increase their payments.

“Sometimes the depositors are also asked to pay any penalties or costs incurred. There are quite a number of such cases that have happened towards the end of the project,” he says.

Whereas some developers are forced by circumstances like unexpected jumps in the cost of building materials to renege on pre-sale agreements, most do it out of greed.

This has been so, especially given the rapid rise in property prices in major cities like Nairobi. According to Mr Oundo, most developers would rather return the deposit for units booked earlier, then sell them at a higher price.

“The developer’s argument is very simple: ‘I am in business and I want make more money. So, if you can’t give me the money then I would rather break the contract and sell this property at a higher price’,” he says.

Developers forced to increase prices because of higher cost of construction materials find comfort in the law.

The Architectural Association of Kenya contracts allow the contractor to vary the contract terms if the prices of some specified and principal materials increase beyond 15 per cent.

The contractor is not obliged to seek approval to vary the contract. Kenya’s property experts are not the only ones urging buyers to exercise caution with pre-sales.

In its new book, Housing Finance Policy in Emerging Markets, the World Bank says pre-sales can be risky for the consumer.

“Problems occur when there is no construction lending but large advances paid by the consumers, and the developer fails to deliver the expected housing product — in terms of quality, time, and price — leaving households to take the whole risk and face dire legal straits in trying to recover their advances (deposits),” says the book.

According to the publication, consumers, especially those who earn low or moderate incomes, frequently commit all their savings to make a down payment. Should the project or developer fail, individual consumers rarely have the resources to pursue a case in court to recover their deposits, which is unlikely when the developer is bankrupt or has been left with insufficient assets.

“If the unit that is delivered does not meet promised standards, a consumer who pre-purchased it with a mortgage has little recourse except to default on the mortgage and pass the problem on to his or her lender,” it says, noting that this is the main cause of the few non-performing mortgage loans in China.

In particular, it notes, consumers are usually ill-equipped to judge progress or quality of construction of a large development project. “Several scandals of this nature have been made public,” says the report.

Another disadvantage of pre-sales is that they presume that one’s (financial) circumstances will remain the same or improve for the entire construction period.

Usually, one is given 14 or 30 days to complete the payment upon issuance of the certificate of occupation. But sometimes your circumstances have since changed and you may no longer qualify for a mortgage and are unable to get alternative funding.

Sometimes people lose jobs before completion of the construction. Mr Oundo says the most heart-rending case of a pre-sale gone sour was that of a friend who paid a 30 per cent deposit, then lost his job towards the end of the project last year.

“He was buying a Sh15 million house on Kiambu Road and signed the contract, confident that nothing would happen to his job,” he says.

Things were made worse by the fact that the sale contract was lopsided. It said that in the event of default, he had to pay interest on the outstanding balance.

He ended up losing the 30 per cent deposit (Sh5 million) and another Sh3 million in penalties, forfeitures, and interest.

The contract did not have a provision for varying the price, but it clearly stated that in the event of default, the purchaser would forfeit 20 per cent of the deposit paid as well as pay interest at the prevailing bank interest rates on a monthly basis in the event he was unable to complete the payment.

“The developer’s argument was, if he had not booked the property, someone else would have bought it.

“He was supposed to pay the remaining 70 per cent within 30 days after practical completion. Unfortunately, he lost his job about a month to the completion date,” says ms Oundo.

Lesson: Buyers need to ensure that the pre-sale contract they sign is foolproof and does not leave room for any changes/amendments instigated by the developer.

The recourse, Mr Oundo notes, lies in ensuring that the sale agreement is so tight that it has no provision for varying the price or refunding the deposit.

If that is included in the contract, he says, then the only recourse you have is to go to court and seek specific-performance — that the developer is obligated to deliver to you the product/property instead of giving you the money.

Source: Daily Nation

Collapsed Buildings, Who Do We Turn To? - Kamichore Mutindira

[caption id="attachment_1580" align="alignnone" width="750" caption="A Kenyan rescuer tries to retrieve a body under a pile of rubble after a six-story building under construction collapsed in the Pipeline neighborhood of Nairobi - Image Source: To be verified"][/caption]

It is sad to learn that the building which collapsed in Embakasi had been condemned and earmarked for demolition. Through a court order, the owner managed to keep the structure standing until the matter faded from the limelight. Having ensured that the issue had been forgotten, casual labourers were hired, oblivious of imminent danger.

Since nature does not compromise, the building went down, taking away several lives.

The flurry of activities to rescue people trapped in the building was haphazard and uncoordinated. So far, there are people who are unaccounted for while the story has already lost taste.

Public officials mandated to ensure safety of such projects came out to pinpoint reasons for the collapse, leaving out those who approved the plans and the identity of the owner. In the not-too-distant-future, a similar scenario will emerge, this time in a different locality.

Who do we turn to? To add insult to injury, there is unsubstantiated information insinuating that there are weak and poorly designed buildings in Kasarani, Dandora, Mathare North and Embakasi that can cave in any time.

Can the Architectural Association of Kenya (AAK) be allowed to condemn and immediately demolish buildings that do not meet set standards? On the same note, construction companies should be vetted in order to bar quacks from this profession to save lives and resources.

Source: Daily Nation

Bill to Tame Rogue Contractors

[caption id="attachment_752" align="alignnone" width="750" caption="A building that colla[sed in Kiambu as a result of poor workmanship by the contractor"][/caption]Efforts to rid Kenya’s construction industry of cowboy contractors could soon pay off after a Bill to regulate the sector sailed through the first reading in Parliament last week. The Bill seeks to establish the National Construction Authority to oversee the construction sector by registering and accrediting contractors and regulating their activities.

It will also promote professionalism by ensuring only trained construction workers and site supervisors are registered. Currently, there is no legislative framework for centralised registration and training within the construction industry.

The registration of contractors is fragmented and each government agency maintains its own register on administrative basis only. There is also no mandatory continuous professional training for technicians and artisans in the industry that would lead to issuance of licences and certificates.

Lack of a centralised self-regulation and registration mechanism for contractors in the industry has led to the proliferation of non-performing contractors with little or no capacity to undertake works. Fragmented registration of contractors, on the other hand, has created a situation where non-performing contractors and those debarred in a ministry or institution can migrate and actively tender for projects in other ministries and institutions on account of multiple registrations or change of legal status.

Activities of the non-performing contractors have resulted in collapse of buildings in urban centres, often occasioning loss of life due to poor workmanship and non-compliance with specifications; poor infrastructure; and delayed completion of works (leading to project cost over-runs) and stalled projects.

If established, the National Construction Authority will address these challenges mainly by helping get rid of rogue contractors and promoting professionalism.

Source: Daily Nation

Problems facing cities need new thinking, says UN-Habitat boss

In October last year Joan Clos, the 62-year-old, two-time mayor of Barcelona, Spain, became Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat).

[caption id="attachment_1561" align="alignnone" width="750" caption="UN-Habit boss Joan Clos tours Kibera slum - Source: Daily Nation"][/caption]

His predecessor, Dr Anna Tibaijuka of Tanzania, had long tried to impress on world leaders the need to reduce by half the number of people living in slums and squatter settlements by 2015, the target date for achieving the UN’s Millennium Development Goals.

It is an ambitious vision because the population of African cities is projected to more than triple over the next 40 years, according to a UN-Habitat report – The State of African Cities 2010.

Those who flock to the continent’s cities in search of work and a better life will continue to swell the already bursting slum populations. And while Habitat’s vision is to create a better urban future for all, there is no doubt Dr Clos has his job cut out for him.

The way he sees it, he has already had an opportunity to become familiar with urban development as a city councillor in the 1980s, mayor in the 1990s and as head of Metropolis, an international network of cities that specifically opened his eyes to the broader global perspectives of urbanisation.

Today, as a UN under-secretary-general, he hopes to develop, together with his team, new strategies for sustainable urbanisation.

Nairobi, the city that hosts his office, is home to a little over three million people, according to the 2009 census, and is projected to receive a million more by the end of the decade.

More than half the world’s population already lives in cities — nearly quintupling the number in the 1950s, according to The Global Report on Human Settlements 2011.

But the the fact remains that come the end of the day, the majority of city workers would rather trek back to their informal settlements than remain in rural areas trying to eke out a living from agriculture.

The allure of the city remains its shiny skyscrapers, better infrastructure and hope for a better tomorrow – even though today, residents face issues of inadequate water and food supply and poor, sometimes inaccessible, healthcare.

So why not develop the rural areas and stem this heavy influx to the cities? According to Dr Clos, that may not be the right solution.

“There is no evidence that we can create a prosperous rural area. In any case, we have no resources to make rural areas as good as the cities,” he said. “The more we entertain the myth of rural richness, the more we delay in getting the solutions for the city.”

The key to sustainable urbanisation, he believes, is for leaders to develop a positive urban policy.

“We should begin with aligning our psychological state of mind in order to stop viewing the city as a liability. We must begin to see the city as an asset for growth and development before we act.”

Dr Clos knows many things about urbanisation and the kind of action that could make it sustainable, however ambitious.

During his tenure as Barcelona mayor from 1997 to 2006, he implemented the design and preparation of the Barcelona@22 Project aimed at renovating the city’s industrial and technological zones.

He spearheaded the additional renovation of some 250 hectares of land in one of the city’s most deprived areas to create social housing, hotels and offices. His bold move earned him a number of awards including, a gold medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects for transforming the city.

And now the challenge he faces is to transform the world’s cities.

“My vision is to promote the rethinking of a city’s capability to be the engine of growth, prosperity and job creation,” he says.

Job creation, he says, is a priority issue for UN-Habitat. Through its youth fund, the agency provides grants of up to $25,000 (Sh2,075,000) every year, for new ideas and solutions for job creation, good governance, adequate shelter and secure tenure.

A graduate in medicine with qualifications and experience in public health administration, Dr Clos is not blind to the health, sanitation and security issues that compromise the benefits of rapid urbanisation.

As informal settlements become more and more congested, the reality of communicable diseases sets in. The fact that informal settlements in a good number of cities around the world make difficult quick access to public services is also worrying.

“Cities, not just in Kenya, have narrow inroads that may not allow for mobility or access by fire brigade vehicles, for example, should a need arise, and yet, there is a regulation prescribing the percentage of land allocated to streets,” he said.

With the continued global rapid rate of urbanisation, more competition over land and land-based resources like water are to be expected. The to-do list of Dr Clos and his team cannot but grow longer.

Source: Daily Nation

Designed to save Mother Earth - New UNEP HQs

Environmental conservation and the war against global warming are among the biggest responsibilities of governments today. Scientists have been working round the clock to design innovative ways to build eco-friendly cars, machines and, in the past few decades, buildings.

With statistics from the American Institute of Architects indicating that buildings account for an estimated 48 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions, the United Nations and some governments and civil groups have been pushing for “green” features in the design of new buildings.

Unlike the concrete and glass boxes that need huge amounts of non-renewable resources to run, green buildings are designed to support rainwater harvesting, bicycle commuting, solar heating, natural ventilation, and many other environmentally friendly practices.

This, in turn, ensures that the structures emit fewer greenhouse gases, consume less energy, use less water, and offer their occupants healthier environments than those in typical buildings.

These innovations are meant to make urban development environmentally sustainable and user friendly. To walk the talk, the United Nations’ Nairobi office launched one of the most eco-friendly structures ever built in the Kenya, and probably Africa.

Housing the headquarters of both the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (Habitat), the new structure is designed to reflect the two organisations’ mission statement — sustainable urban development.

With 6,000 square metres of solar panels, natural ventilation systems, and many other green features, the building is expected to be energy sufficient in a year’s time.

“The building sector is the single largest contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions, with one third of global energy use taking place in offices and homes,” explains Mr Achim Steiner, director-general of the United Nations Office at Nairobi.

“So the design and construction of new buildings — and the refitting of existing ones — represents one of the key, low cost ways of combatting climate change while reducing electricity bills and dependence on fossil fuels.”

The building is designed like a chimney, allowing warm air from the ground level to waft across the office areas before escaping through the sides of the vaulted roof. This guarantees cool temperatures in the offices without having to use air conditioners.

Besides the washrooms being served by harvested rain water and being fitted with water-saving taps and lavatories, waste water is treated in a state-of-the-art aeration facility nearby and then used to irrigate the interior compound landscaped with the country’s four ecosystems in mind — forest, savannah, desert, and coast.

Solar panels are expected to generate around 750,000 kilowatt hours a year and measures have been put in place to ensure that the complex attains energy neutrality — where all power used by the building and its occupants over the year is met by renewable sources.

“We are aiming to have the building energy neutral over the course of the year, not for it to be completely energy independent,” explains Mr Rob de Jong, one of the experts leading the efforts to maximise the energy sustainability of the building.

“There will be some days when the panels will produce more than we need and others where there may not be enough sun.”

One of the biggest electricity consumers in the office setup after lighting is the information technology department.

To take care of this, the designers incorporated an innovative data centre cooling system that uses air and water rather than electricity -driven fans. There is an electronic meter at the entrance reading the electricity generated and the carbon dioxide emissions.

The opening of the office complex, graced by UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon coincided with the release of a report by the National Environmental Management Board that classified Kenya as one of the most water-stressed countries in the world.

Green architecture gained currency in the wake of the 1973 energy crisis when the concept moved from research and development to reality as governments sought ways of cutting costs and reliance on fossil fuels. But due to the high initial costs of alternative energy, the number of people venturing into this technology was few.

However, over the years research has yielded more innovative and relatively cheap photovoltaic cells, which has made it possible for more building projects to use solar energy.

While Europe and Asia have embraced green architecture, the concept is yet to be fully embraced in sub-Saharan Africa, unlike in South Africa.

The most important factor in achieving green architecture in urban areas is strict legislation and regulation. The South African government has already called for a consideration of minimum energy efficiency levels when setting up new structures.

However, South Africa is far ahead of other states in the continent since it has an institution in charge of green building issues and a fully-fledged grading system.

The Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA) is in charge of green movements and has launched a rating system called the Green Star SA.

Among the major eco-friendly structures to be approved by GBCSA is the new Nedbank Phase II building in Sandton, Johannesburg, the 24 Richefond Circle in Umhlanga Rocks, and Villa Mall in Pretoria

While the green building concept is still in its infancy in Africa, Asia is set for an era of environmentally friendly construction boom in the commercial building sector, what with the many multinational companies striving to be named the most ecologically friendly and responsible organisations in Asia.

Besides the image value, many Asia-based companies are embracing green building due to substantial savings in terms of energy costs that these structures generate.

Asian countries experience warmer climates most of the year, which results in high electricity bills to run air conditioning, sometimes amounting to almost a third of the building’s total operating costs.

According to research conducted by CB Richard Ellis, a leading global property company, Asia accounts for almost 75 per cent of the total annual global office space construction.

This finding is underlined by the fact that the demand for architects, engineers, and design managers specialising in environmentally sustainable construction is on the rise in the continent.

The City Square Mall is Singapore’s first eco-friendly shopping complex. Completed in 2009, the 12-storey mall was awarded the country’s Building and Construction Authority’s Green Mark Platinum Award for innovative “green” features like eco-restrooms designed to save water and electricity.

The $200 million (Sh16.8 billion) building was also hailed for using environmentally-friendly materials such as drywall partitions, a non-chemical anti-termite system, designated parking lots for hybrid cars, and sensors to monitor levels of indoor carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide emissions.

Having invested five per cent of the building costs in installing the “green” features, the mall’s eco-friendly design is projected to cut energy usage by approximately 39 per cent, compared to designs using standard industry code.

Other benefits include saving an estimated 11 million kilowatts of electricity a year, reduction of 5,700 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually — which would have required 25,000 trees to absorb — and saving an estimated $48,000 (Sh4 million) per annum in other expenses.

The biggest green project under construction now is the Freedom Tower at the site where the World Trade Centre once stood.

Branded the “Green Giant” and expected to be complete by 2013, the building will not only be the tallest in the world at 1,776 feet, but will also feature green enhancement concepts never tried in an urban structure before.

“It is going to stand out as a beacon to the rest of the world in pushing the environmentally friendly agenda,” explains Mr Guy Battle, president of sustainability consulting firm Battle McCarthy, that worked with the architects on the structure’s design.

At 1,200 feet above the building’s rooftop observation decks will stand a series of wind turbines that will generate up to 2.6 million kilowatts of electricity annually, which is 20 per cent of the building’s anticipated energy needs.

Placing the “wind farm” above the New York skyline is not only meant to expose the turbines to gushing winds, it also aims to display the wind energy enhancement technology to the city’s public.

“The long-term goal is to create carbon-negative buildings,” said Mr Battle. “Buildings consume half of all the energy in the world, but they should be giving back energy instead of only taking it”.

Apart from companies and organisations, there are individuals whose quest for green architecture deserves a mention.

When Bill Clinton was elected the US President in 1992, he announced a plan to make the White House the “model for efficiency and waste reduction” across the nation and the world.

Dubbed the “Greening of the White House”, the project was hailed as a success since the presidential villa saves more than $300,000 (Sh24 million) annually in energy, water costs, and landscaping since 1996 by enhancing the use of renewable resources.

After the successful greening of the White House, other major buildings like The Pentagon and the US Department of Energy have been given a green makeover.

Britain’s richest man, Lakshmi Mittal, plans to build a £30 million (Sh3.7 billion) mansion in the outskirts of London that designers claim will have a “zero-carbon” footprint once it’s completed.

According to the Sunday Times, the “green house” will be self-sufficient in energy and harness outdoor temperatures to create natural air conditioning.

This, in effect, will not only make the house a zero-carbon emitter, it will also make the entire 340-acre estate that it will stand on carbon-negative.

There are also instances where entire cities have gone green by implementing policies that are geared towards the use of renewable resources in building and transport.

The Dutch capital Amsterdam is one of the cities that have been hailed as nature’s best friends. It is termed the “ultra modern energy-saving metropolis”.

Millions of Amsterdamers prefer bikes to cars and hundreds of homes have registered with an innovative domestic energy management project. All these efforts are projected to slash carbon dioxide emissions by an impressive 45 per cent by 2025.

Nairobi and other major Kenyan urban centres, all of which grapple with perennial power and water shortages and traffic jams, can learn a lot from these urban centres which have implemented revolutionary ways of coping with the vagaries of energy deficiency, pollution, and congestion.

The Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) is also rushing to complete an eco-friendly building in Upper Hill that is bound to pioneer green architecture in the private sector.

The aptly coloured structure — the company’s corporate colour is green — is funded through the KCB Staff Pension Fund.

Source: Daily Nation

Kshs 2.7 billion in Variations for Thika Superhighway Construction Project

The escalating cost of fuel could increase the cost of completing the Nairobi-Thika highway.

This could result in further delay to completion of the Sh27 billion highway, which is scheduled for February next year.

Roads permanent secretary Michael Kamau said the government had a contingency plan to take care of such a predicament.

“If this project is delayed and the fuel prices continue behaving the way they are doing, then we have serious challenges on the amount of money we are going to pay on the variation on price,” the PS said while inspecting the construction progress.

He, however, said the project was nearly half-way done.

“After we changed the contractors, who were doing the re-routing of the water services, the progress level is at six per cent per month,” Mr Kamau said.

He said the contractors were working on the structural works — the underpasses and retaining walls — but had been set back by the current rains.

The PS urged the engineers to gear towards sectional completion of the road.

He noted that the Museum Hill interchange would be ready by July while the works at the Forest and Limuru roads junction were expected to be completed in August.

“We shall be using the flyovers and the traffic jam experienced there shall be eased,” he said, adding that street lights would be put up later.

The highway is expected to ease traffic congestion in the city. China Wu Yi Company, Sinohydro Corporation Ltd and Shengli Engineering Construction are building the highway.

Source: Daily Nation