Commercial Projects

Britam Tower Facts & Photos

At 200.1 metres, Britam Tower is the tallest building in Kenya.

Updated on

November 16, 2024

Britam Tower in Upper Hill, Nairobi. PHOTO | FILE

When Britam Tower opened its doors to the public in July 2018, it became the tallest building in Kenya – overtaking the nearby UAP Old Mutual Tower.

Located on Hospital Road in Upper Hill, Nairobi, Britam Tower comprises two separate buildings: a 32-storey office tower and a 15-storey parking silo with an interlinking bridge at the top floor to allow evacuation in case of emergencies.

The skyscraper has a total lettable space of 350,000 square feet – spread across 32 usable floors – with 1,000 parking bays that serve diplomatic missions, multinationals, and banks.

Black pyramid

Britam Tower, whose construction started in 2013 and ended in September 2017, boasts a prismatic shape, and at its widest, it looks like a black pyramid with the top corner missing, and from other views it is a slenderer black prism.

The design is achieved by having a base with four corners and a roof with two. The corners are crossed diagonally on the tower to the upper levels as it tapers.

With a height of 200.1 metres – and 32 usable floors – Britam Tower is the tallest building in Kenya and the third tallest skyscraper in Africa.

“We have eight high-speed lifts to travel from the ground floor to the top floor in less than 30 seconds. These are the fastest in any building in Africa,” Britam Group said during the official opening of the building in 2018.

Structural expressionism

Britam Tower was designed by GAPP Architects and Urban Designers, in collaboration with Triad Architects, and it adopts structural expressionism – an architectural style that incorporates elements of high-tech industry and technology into building design.

The tower was completed at Sh8.8 billion ($70 million).

In December 2018, Britam Tower became the first building in Africa to feature in the Top 10 Emporis Skyscraper Award list. It was ranked 10th in the list that featured other outstanding buildings in the world.

High-profile tenants

Britam Group had earlier specified that the tower would target diplomatic missions, multinationals, financial institutions and other high-profile tenants.

Upper Hill was then popular with multinationals and blue-chip financial services companies seeking to expand their operations away from the city centre.

However, according to a 2017 report by commercial property services company Broll Kenya, Upper Hill later lost its shine due to the heavy congestion experienced in the area despite being the closest office node to the central business district.

This factor coupled with the high supply of offices in the area forced landlords to lower rents and ease lease terms to maintain and attract tenants.

READ: New offices sit empty as Nairobi’s Upper Hill loses shine

“Some A-grade buildings in Upper Hill are now charging the equivalent of B-grade rentals. There is a notable interest in the newer office nodes of Kilimani, Riverside, and Karen, where space offerings are mostly A-grade in nature,” the report said.

The worst hit were buildings completed in 2015 and later, which were “still struggling to acquire tenants,” the report said. “This can be attributed to a poor pre-let uptake, additional stock available, and delays in development.”