Xinhua’s Nairobi Office Tower Set for Completion in February

Construction is well underway on Xinhua News Agency’s office tower in Nairobi, with the imposing building now set for completion in February next year.

The 16-storey tower on George Padmore Road in Kilimani, Nairobi, is Xinhua’s first purpose-built office block outside of its headquarters in Beijing.

The Xinhua Tower, a mixed-use development, includes 30 executive offices, 36 two-bedroom apartments, and 24 studio suites that will exclusively house the media giant’s employees.

It will also include one level of basement parking, a clubhouse and shared recreational areas on the podium levels.

Initially set for completion in September, Xinhua Tower will also serve as the Africa headquarters for the Chinese Global Television Network (CGTN).

The Xinhua office complex has been set up to be as ‘green’ as possible. It will feature, among other things, solar energy, greywater recycling, rainwater harvesting, and LED lighting.

The building has been designed to allow natural temperature control with the main spaces facing North-South for maximum light while minimising heat from the sun. On the other hand, all the East-West facing facades have been fitted with sunshades to reduce solar heat gain into the structure.

“At the back of our minds, this being a Chinese government project, it has been very important that design resolutions are reached in conformity with not only local but also Chinese design codes”, says Kihara Mungai of Tectura International, the project’s architect.

The Xinhua Tower, which is expected to be a landmark in Nairobi’s upmarket estate of Kilimani, is designed to permit natural ventilation.

With the wind direction being from East to West, the complex will allow wind to blow through it, thereby creating an area of low pressure that will support the natural ventilation of the rooms.

The development comes at a time when Chinese companies are increasingly investing in the Nairobi real estate market in a move that further reinforces the city as the regional hub for property investments.

Chinese State-owned multinational Avic is, for example, putting up a Sh40 billion property in Nairobi’s Westlands. The six-tower complex will be the hub of the company’s Africa operations.

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The Avic Tower, whose tallest wing will stand at 184 metres with 47 stories, will be among the tallest buildings in east and central Africa.

Chinese developer Erdemann Property is also building a Sh6 billion residential housing project in Athi River on the outskirts of Nairobi. The project will be the company’s third phase of Great Wall Gardens, which comprises 2,000 two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartments.

Other Chinese companies that have invested heavily in the local real estate market include China National Aero-Technology International Engineering Corporation, and Jiangxi Water and Hydropower Construction Company, both of which have taken up a nearly 40 per cent stake – amounting to Sh7 billion – in the Two Rivers development on Limuru Road in Nairobi.

The development, whose retail component was launched in February 2017, will consist of residential homes, shops, office blocks, and five-star hotels.

China Wu Yi has also set up a prefabricated materials factory in Athi River, Machakos – a development that also features Kenya’s first construction materials supermarket.

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