Month: March 2014

foundation-str

roof-str

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The procedure from house design to construction is as below 3 steps.

1. Architectural design Outline proposal.

https://www.a4architect.com/about-us/fees-breakdown/
At this stage, the size of the rooms are discussed on the costs, merits and demerits. The shape and style of the house is also looked into. There are various styles such as Islamic, African traditional, European, Modern etc.

https://www.a4architect.com/2014/01/17/house-styles-kenya/

If the budget is huge, the rooms can be bigger and vice versa.

If the budget is huge, the house can have complicated shapes eg circular, curvilinear, etc since such shapes usually cost more in labour.

This stage usually takes a period of 1 week to 1 month to complete.

2. Architectural design. Scheme design.

After the house size , shape and style is determined, the drawings are set up in A1 sized paper with elevations, sections, floor plans, site plan and location plan for submission to the County Government department of planning.

This process on average takes around 1 month. The County planner will check the drawing to see if it confines to the County by laws and may recommend changes to enable it fit within the by-laws eg roof drainage away from neighbouring plot, house position at least 6 meters away from main access road , septic tank 1.5 meters away from neighbouring plot etc. etc..

3. Construction supervision.

After approval, the architect will then supervise the building to ensure that the contractor/foreman/fundi is following and understanding what has been designed in the process of construction. This is usualy periodic, in 2 to 4 week period interval of site visits. This process continues till completion of the house.

Francis Gichuhi Kamau, Architect.

In Kenya, concrete roofing tiles are mainly manufactured by Mareba at Industrial Area and Manson Hart in Nairobi.

Makiga engineering, also in industrial area, sells machines that can be used to produce concrete tiles at a small scale.

There has not been new technological advancement in Kenyan concrete roof tile. Advancements such as a wider range of colours, texture and light weight concrete , would enable a new entrant into the Kenyan market gain traction.
Both Mareba and Manson Hart are household names in Kenyan roof tile market, having been around for over 40 years.

Cost.
large tile size 16inch/400mm by 13 inch/330mm

This size costs kes 450 per m2, add overlap to bring to approximately kes 600 per m2.

This cost is more or less same to clay roof tiles.

2m gauge 30 steel roofing sheet 470.
This translates to around kes 300 per m2 net, without allowance for overlap.

Concrete roofing tiles are more expensive than plain roofing sheet gauge 30 but cheaper than stone coated steel roof tiles at kes 2,100 per m2 and bituminous felt at kes 2000 per m2.

Production process.
Concrete roofing tiles are made from concrete, a mixture of water, cement, sand and aggregate.

The mixture is poured into a mould when wet and vibrated in place then cured for several days in moist condition.

Francis Gichuhi Kamau, Architect.

Kenya Government should use the below guidelines to steer the development of a land policy that enables growth of the Republic.

Problems facing the Country that Land laws can resolve.

1. Unemployment.
2. High food prices.
3. High rental costs.
4. High house sale ,land prices and rapid land price escalation.
5. High cost of roads construction in Nairobi periphery
6. Huge traffic jam in Nairobi
7. High Income and Value Added tax

1. Unemployment.

The current land regime whereby any person who owns land in Kenya can leave it idle without any repercussion from the Government creates situations whereby the majority of Kenyans, who earn a living from farming, lack an opportunity to farm.

For example, assume a land owner in Nakuru owning 1000 acres of agricultural land in an area which can support rain fed farming. If the land owner chooses to farm on the land, he has no choice but to employ people, reducing the number of people who are jobless. If the land owner chooses to leave the land idle, as in the case currently on many parcels of agricultural land in Kenya, many Kenyans become jobless.
In developed countries, such land owners are given a specific agricultural target to meet by the Government. If they don’t meet this target in terms of agricultural productivity, then the Government instils measures to ensure that they don’t slow down the economy.

Below is a link to Virginia State, USA on how they determine the value of agricultural land to determine how each land should be looked at in terms of agricultural productivity.

Below is a link on how Oregon, USA , determines the value of forest land.

http://www.oregon.gov/DOR/timber/pages/index.aspx

http://usevalue.agecon.vt.edu/SLEAC.htm

When the land value is determined, a certain tax % of the annual land value is set . Land owners will then have to pay the Government the amount set whether land is idle or farmed. Since no one would like to pay money to Government without any gain, land owners will then be forced to farm on their land to earn the money to pay off the tax, hence in the process, create allot of employment for other people.

2. High Food Prices.

Currently, in Kenya, no land law prohibits a land owner from leaving their land idle. In developed countries, annual land value tax as explained above ensures all land is used for the zoning purposes set. If the land is zoned educational, it must be used as such. If the land is zoned agricultural, it must be used as such. This in effect will cause allot of agricultural production which in turn will reduce the demand hence lower food prices. Lower food prices will then enable the Government to Govern with less security issues and less chances of citizen unrest like was seen in the recent Arab spring riots due to high food prices.

For example, if all land owners in agricultural zoned lands in Kenya farmed, food prices will automatically fall down.

3. High rental costs.

If the Government of Kenya land laws prohibited land owners from leaving land zoned as residential to lie idle, the land owners will then be forced to develop the plots and in effect, increase the number of houses for rent hence reduce the overall rent due to competition.

Land zoned as residential, especially around urban areas is zoned a single or multiple dwelling depending on location. In Karen, Runda etc, the land is zoned as single dwelling per half acre plot. In Hurlingham, Ngara, Eastleigh etc, the land is zoned as multiple family dwellings per minimum 1/8th plot.
Land laws can be designed to encourage developers to construct as pr zone. The current situation such that even if the land is situated in a high density residential zone, the land owner is forced to apply for a costly change of user, doest encourage high density development. Also, most Government planners tend to automatically request that developers build lower density.This should be the other way round whereby Government planners would discourage low rise, low density developments. Many a time, developer have had to bribe Government planners to be allowed to build high rise.

Government can install an annual land value tax to force developers to build to the maximum zones for the area. For example, if a developer constructs a bungalow in an area zoned for high rise, the land value tax should be such that the rent accrued form the bungalow is almost swallowed by the tax . This will force the land owner to construct a higher density to circumvent this.

4. High house sale ,land prices and rapid land price escalation.

The current land regime should be changed to enable reduction of the rate of land price escalation.
When land law allows for people to buy land for speculation purposes, then wait for a few years and resell at a profit, this added profit is in essence a drain to the economy. Land as a finite, scarce resource, when held by a land owner idly , as happens all around Nairobi in Kitengela, Juja, Ruiru, Naivasha etc., ensures that less land for sale is available. When there is less land for sale, demand rises and people who need the land to use for a house, farming, industry, school etc. become desperate and pay higher. This high pay is what the land owner terms as profit. When the new buyer pays the high price, he then loads the costs into the consumer. If he builds a school, the fees will be higher. If a farm, his food sale price will be higher. This is in turn felt by the economy as rising cost of living. When cost of living rises, this becomes a high rate of inflation. When the rate of inflation rises, the bank interest rate rises. When bank interest rate rises, there is less money circulation in the economy hence a vicious cycle of poverty.

By installing an annual land value tax, where the land value is predetermined by the Government depending on the zoning of the area, this will prevent people buying land to hold and resell at a later date since the cost of the annual land value tax will have to be paid out of pocket by the land buyer. When speculation is discouraged this way, only land buyers who are planning to develop the plots will buy land hence low demand for land hence lower land price appreciation.

5. High cost of roads construction in Nairobi periphery

When Government installs an annual land value tax, this will in turn cause most land owners holding idle land around Nairobi to either develop so as to make money to pay off the tax or sell the land to developers ready to build. This will increase the amount of houses available near the city hence most Nairobians will not need to travel far off every day to far places such as Thika, Kitengela, Limuru etc. They will buy houses and rent near the city. This will save the tax payer money that could have been used to lay road infrastructure in these far away places away from the city.

6. Huge traffic jam in Nairobi

When many developments come up in the vacant lands near the city, Nairobians will then travel less distances to and from work, hence negating the need to use vehicles hence less traffic jams.

See the article below on how Texas, USA, encourages a pedestrian city.

http://www.keyetv.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/in-sprawling-texas-walkability-gains-toehold-16910.shtml

7. High Income and Value Added tax.

There are 3 factors of production|land|labour|capital.

Current VAT in Kenya is at 16% with income tax at 30%. Research shows that if labour and capital are taxed high, then people will not see the need to work so hard for the Government to then tax them. For example, if Kenya Government taxed employees at a hypothetical 100%, meaning they take all your salary as tax, then the employee will see no need to continue working.

The same applies to taxing capital e.g. if matatu owners were taxed 100%, they will see no need of the effort to run the matatu for 0 income, hypothetically speaking.

On the same note, hypothetically, if the Government taxed land at 100%, the land productivity will not be affect. Crops will still grow on the 100% taxed land, as in, the land does not change a thing after increase of tax, since land is not as a result of human enterprise, but rather a God given resource, just like the air we breath.
Therefore, from the hypothetical examples above, Kenya Government can reduce VAT and Income tax to spur more productivity and lower cost of living then increase or create a new tax on land value to compensate.

This land value tax will be impossible to evade since land can not be hid. This means KRA will easily meet its tax targets, targeting the well off land owners, and easening the poorer consumers.

Francis Gichuhi Kamau, Architect.
info@a4architect.com

Urban sprawl is defined as below.

Urban sprawl is the spreading of a city or its suburbs. It often involves the construction of residential and commercial buildings in rural areas or otherwise undeveloped land at the outskirts of a city.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_sprawl

Over 80% of Kenya’s economy relies on agriculture. This employs over 70% of Kenyans. The paradox to this is the fact that only 20% of Kenya’s land mass can support rain fed agriculture. To make the situation even more complex, this 20% area houses over 75% of Kenya’s population. Source. http://landportal.info/resource/documents/national-land-use-policy

With the above facts in mind, Nairobi will most definitely have very high pressure on land. To free land for agricultural purposes, Nairobi planners will need to borrow a leaf from developed countries such as USA.

In Australia, solutions to prevent urban sprawl are underway.
http://m.dac.dk/en/dac-cities/sustainable-cities/all-cases/transport/perth-beating-urban-sprawl/

In USA, the issue of urban sprawl is being resolved through various interventions as the concept of smart growth below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_growth

Basic principles of Smart Growh

There are 10 accepted principles that define smart growth.

1.Mix land uses
2.Take advantage of compact building design
3.Create a range of housing opportunities and choices
4.Create walkable neighborhoods
5.Foster distinctive, attractive communities with a strong sense of place
6.Preserve open space, farmland, natural beauty, and critical environmental areas
7.Strengthen and direct development towards existing communities
8.Provide a variety of transportation choices
9.Make development decisions predictable, fair, and cost effective
10.Encourage community and stakeholder collaboration in development decisions.

The disadvantage of Urban Sprawl in Nairobi are as below.

1. Sprawl increases travel distance of people to Nairobi CBD. This in turn causes more fuel to be used hence more CO2 pollution to the environment hence greenhouse effect.
2.Sprawl results to more people buying personal cars and using then for transport hence more traffic jams in our roads. This is because people would have to travel from far away places such as Jja, Kitengela and Kangundo, hence the only reliable means of transport is personal cars.
3. Sprawl results in farmlands and other ecological wetlands being destroyed as people build their homes in the outskirts of Nairobi. Kiambu in particular has been seriously affected by this whereby the red soils and favourable climate area has been converted into residential land due to urban sprawl. In a country that relies 80% on agriculture, loss of agricultural land is very detrimental to the economy.

4.Sprawl wastes our tax payer money on unnecessary infrastructure. The money used to build roads, sewers and other infrastructure in Nairobi outskirts can be saved if more people lived closer to the city.

Solutions.

To prevent urban sprawl in Nairobi, below are the solutions.

1. Moving JKIA to further away from Nairobi, preferably near Daystar university on the 14,000 Acre East African portland cement land. JKIA causes neighbouring developments in Ruai, Utawala ans Syokimau to be only 2 levels high due to the flight path. This causes people to move further away to build houses hence more pressure on agricultural lands in Nairobi outskirts. Without JKIA, Ruai, Utawala and Syokimau could be able to accommodate 5 to 6 storey buildings which will house more people.
2. Alienate Government idle lands around Nairobi such as the KEVEVAPI South B land, Ministry of Agriculture land spaning from Karen/Shade hotel all the way to Ngong town, Ministry of Agriculture land at Kangemi etc etc. The land can then be sold off to private developers who can then construct high rise buildings that will house many and curtail urban sprawl into agricultural lands.
3. Enforce idle land taxation on land owners owning idle lands near Nairobi eg near Kenyatta university on Thika road. This will make these land owners to develop homes and offices hence less spreading of buildings into agricultural lands. This enforcement should also be done on educational institutions holding huge land masses near Nairobi eg Kenya high school, Nairobi school and Lenana school. These schools can then develop into colleges and universities or lease their lands to other high rise developers.
4. County Government planning departments to ensure developers construct high rise buildings as opposed to low rise. Currently, planners usually discourage developers from building many storeys high. This should be discouraged and instead, developers encouraged to build many storeys high as long as structural engineering designs are done to ensure structural integrity.

Conclusion.

Its my view that the above points will ultimately result to a better Kenya for all.
The solutions will almost certainly cause friction amongst certain people especially large land owners but after detailed debate, the advantages of this will be seen.
Francis Gichuhi Kamau, Architect.
info@a4architect.com

Nairobi National park covers an area of 4,200 acres. It boarders Langata road, Magadi road and Mombasa road very close to the city.

Environment.

The park is 4,200 acres of grassland. Forest land is 10 times as effective in cleaning the air of carbon dioxide as grassland. The huge tree trunks serve as carbon sinks where carbon dioxide is removed form the air and stored as tree trunks and oxygen is released for us to breath.

http://www.chiefscientist.gov.au/2009/12/which-plants-store-more-carbon-in-australia-forests-or-grasses/

Assuming a tree spacing of 700 trees per acre, the 4,200 acre land will contain at least 3 million trees.

According to the research below

http://sciencefocus.com/qa/how-many-trees-are-needed-provide-enough-oxygen-one-person

http://www.ncrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/jrnl/2007/nrs_2007_nowak_001.pdf

http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-resources/refs.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/04/science/how-many-pounds-of-carbon-dioxide-does-our-forest-absorb.html?_r=0

From the calculations below, 1 acre of forest stores 50.8 tonnes of carbon in form of leaves, bark, trunk/wood.
https://www.americanforests.org/assumptions-and-sources/

Trees’ Carbon Sequestration

The first step in determining how much carbon is sequestered by a single tree is to convert carbon to carbon dioxide (CO2) or carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). For our calculations, we used the common conversion of:

1 ton of carbon = 3.666 tons of CO2

This represents the weight of carbon dioxide (44) divided by the atomic mass of carbon (12). Next, it is estimated that one acre of trees stores 50.8 metric tons of carbon, so…

50.8 metric tons of carbon X 3.666 tons of CO2 = ~186 metric tons of CO2 per acre of forest

Since we don’t use metric tons as a common measurement in the U.S., we next need to convert tons to pounds:

1 metric ton = 2204.62262 pounds

and

186 metric tons X 2204.62262 pounds = ~410,060 pounds of CO2 sequestered per acre of trees

American Forests has estimated that our tree planting projects average 450 trees per acre, which leaves us with one final calculation:

410060 pounds of CO2/450 trees per acre = ~911 pounds of CO2 sequestered per tree planted.

This translates to 186 tonnes of carbon dioxide being removed from the atmosphere to prevent the Green house gasses effect on the environment.

Tropical savannahs remove/store 13 tonnes of Carbon from the environment per year compared to 54 tonnes removed by trees/forests.
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL31432.pdf

This means, as a means to protect our environment better from CO2 greenhouse effects, and to clean off CO2 from Nairobi , forest cover will be more effective than the grassland at Nairobi National park.

Karen residential estate, next to Nairobi National park, has a high density of forest cover hence better placed at cleaning the environment than the grassland at the park.

An acre of forest absorbs CO2 from approximately 3 cars. 4200 acres this will help absorb CO2 from 12,600 cars.

Jogoo road has an estimated traffic volume of 80,000 cars per day according to this article below
http://www.jambonairobi.co.ke/situation-reports/traffic-nairobi/traffic-situation/

Langata road has less than this so the forest will help clean a considerable chunk of air in the Langata, South c and Rongai regions.

Infrastructure costs.

The infrastructure surrounding it along Magadi road, Mombasa road and Langata road has cost the Kenyan tax payer billions of shillings.

It would only be feasible if the billions spent can be recovered back to the economy through ensuring better environmental harmony.

Conclusion.
Going forward, methods to establish the 4,200 acre Nairobi National park as a forest should be researched into.
A practical method to achieve this would be to lease the land in parcels of 1 acre to developers who are then restricted to using a maximum of 5% of the 1 acre plot to construct a building , then the 95% of the remainder to be fully covered by trees. Nairobi County Government and the Kenya Forestry service can then enforce this and terminate the lease of anyone flouting these rules.
Disadvantage.
The disadvantage of this is that in future, this can be used to grab the land and re change the rules , thereby creating higher ground building coverages and cutting off the trees. This would require a very strict policing and a very mature and understanding lessee who understands the benefits of the forest to the environment.

Another way is for the Kenya Forestry service to move in and plant trees and continue to maintain the park as it is, as both a national park and a forest at the same time.

Francis Gichuhi Kamau, Architect.

Current market rate for Nairobi CBD land is kes 300,000,000 an acre.

Assuming this land price is doubkled, to kes 600,000,000 an acre, would the land still be profitable?
Will it significanlty affect rental prices?

We can answer these questions by calculating Return on Investment on an assumed land cost of kes 600,000,000 per acre for a 10 and 20 storey building.

We will use known factors such as below
1. cost of NEMA and City Council Licencing at 0.1 and 1.3% of construction cost.
2. Cost of construction per m2 at kes 60,000.
3. Cost of consultancy at 12% of estimated cost of construction.
4. Cost of financing at 15% per annum for 2 years.

20 storey building.

Cost Item	Kshs	%
Land	600,000,000.00	11.18660829
Preliminary	42,336,000.00	0.789327081
Construction	3,024,000,000.00	56.38050577
External Works	151,200,000.00	2.819025288
Contingency	60,480,000.00	1.127610115
Architectural fees	181,440,000.00	3.382830346
Quantity Surveying	60,480,000.00	1.127610115
Structural Engineering	60,480,000.00	1.127610115
Elec/Mech Engineering	30,240,000.00	0.563805058
Interior Design/Landscaping	15,120,000.00	0.281902529
Legal fees	30,240,000.00	0.563805058
Project Management fees	30,240,000.00	0.563805058
Marketing	170,100,000.00	3.17140345
Financial Charges	907,200,000.00	16.91415173
Total	5,363,556,000.00	100
Financing Plan	Kshs	%
Developer	2,142,996,000.00	39.95476136
Debt Finance	3,024,000,000.00	56.38050577
Presales	680,400,000.00	12.6856138
Total	5,363,556,000.00	109.0208809
PROFIT
TOTAL SALES FOR 20 floors	6,804,000,000.00	37800
TOTAL EXPENDITURE	5,363,556,000.00
NET PROFIT	1,440,444,000.00
% Profit Margin	26.85613798
Take home ammount.	2,040,444,000.00
Rent	56,700,000.00
Rent per year	680,400,000.00
ROI	7.882945326

In a 20 storey building with land costing kes 600m per acre, constructed at 75% ground coverage and 70% of built up area rented or sold out, the building will return its investment in 7.8 years at a rent of kes 150 per square foot. Current rents in Nairobi are close to this figure at the moment.

10 storey building.

Assuming the same factors as above, but in this case, the building is constructed on only 10 floor levels, the arithmetics are as below.

2
Cost Item	Kshs	%
Land	600,000,000.00	20.09038665
Preliminary	21,168,000.00	0.708788841
Construction	1,512,000,000.00	50.62777436
External Works	75,600,000.00	2.531388718
Contingency	30,240,000.00	1.012555487
Architectural fees	90,720,000.00	3.037666461
Quantity Surveying	30,240,000.00	1.012555487
Structural Engineering	30,240,000.00	1.012555487
Elec/Mech Engineering	15,120,000.00	0.506277744
Interior Design/Landscaping	7,560,000.00	0.253138872
Legal fees	15,120,000.00	0.506277744
Project Management fees	15,120,000.00	0.506277744
Marketing	89,775,000.00	3.006024102
Financial Charges	453,600,000.00	15.18833231
Total	2,986,503,000.00	100
Financing Plan	Kshs	%
Developer	1,376,223,000.00	46.08142031
Debt Finance	1,512,000,000.00	50.62777436
Presales	359,100,000.00	12.02409641
Total	2,986,503,000.00	108.7332911
PROFIT
TOTAL SALES FOR 20 floors	3,591,000,000.00	18900
TOTAL EXPENDITURE	2,986,503,000.00
NET PROFIT	604,497,000.00
% Profit Margin	20.2409641
Take home ammount.	1,204,497,000.00
Rent	28,350,000.00
Rent per year	340,200,000.00
ROI	8.77866843

If the rent is kept at kes 150 per square foot, the Return on Investment is 8.7 years.
This is a very profitable venture.

Conclusions.

Even if the current land price per acre for Nairobi CBD properties rise by 100%, the rent increase will be very slight if the developers construct at 75% ground coverage and keep the floor levels to 10 and above.
Ths means the land price will keep on increasing until such a time that the cost will affect the rent significantly.

Assuming a worst case scenario where land price increases to kes 1.2billion per acre, and the developer constructs only 10 floors, the Return On Investment will be within 10.5 years.

Internationally, Return on Investment of over 15 years marks the point of unviability. Such a Return on Investment on a 10 storey building sitting on a 1 acre piece of land will only be reached if the land price reaches kes 2.8 Billion.
Assuming the current rate of appreciation per year of land price at 50%, this will be reached after 17 years in the year 2030.

Francis Gichuhi Kamau, Architect.
info@a4architect.com

A) What are the 5 reasons that one needs the services of an architect
when constructing his/house?

 

1. Achieving aesthetic appeal. The architect helps the house owner to achieve their personal aesthetic appeal that brings out the house owner’s taste and style. Just like the clothes we wear, no 2 people can exactly like the same style and fashion. The same happens to houses. No 2 people can exactly be attracted to the same style and design of a house. People tend to be attracted to particular styles depending on their socialisation.

For example, in Kenya, Europeans tend to be attracted to African style of houses eg the Allan Donovan house in Kitengela.

Africans in Kenya tend to be attracted to European style of houses eg Tafaria castle in Nyahururu

2. Cost control.
Architects assist the house owner to achieve cost control depending on their budget. House owners in high end areas such as Runda tend to construct using the most expensive materials and labour available in the market. To achieve this, the architect listens to them then advices them on the budget for high end homes. It would be a very big disaster for a house owner in Runda to end up with a house looking like the ones found in Kayole and Mathare north. Without proper consulting from the architect, the Runda house owner risks ending up with such.

Kayole

Likewise, for the land owner wanting to construct in Kayole, without proper advise by the architect on budget, they might end up constructing Runda like quality which will end up to be too expensive hence a loss since the rent returns in such areas is low.

3. Safety

Architects are gazetted by law to sign on drawings to be approved by the County Government. Once an architect signs on the drawing, the Government is satisfied that the house has been designed to a safe and secure standard for human habitation.
Architects also inform the house owner of services rendered by other consultants such as civil and structural engineers, quantity surveyors and services engineers.

The Haiti earthquake that killed over 100,000 people was blamed partly to lack of professionalism and poor Government approval of buildings hence unsafe buildings coming up.
The few buildings that have recently collapsed in Kenya are all due to the house owners not involving architects in the supervision of the building construction.

4. Return on Investment.

In buildings that are constructed as a business, for rent or sale, Architects assist the developers to carry out feasibility studies that ensure that whatever type of building is put up will return the investment that the developer has put in. For example, if the land is located in a high end area, the target market is the high class who prefer a particular size, colour etc. and if the land is located in a middle or low class area, customers being targeted from these classes also have their specific preferences. The architect then designs buildings that full-fill the preferences of the particular class.

5.Research into new methods and trends in the construction industry.

Due to their unique position whereby architects are always dealing with various international clients in the building industry, they tend to accumulate knowledge within the building industry . Such knowledge, e.g. new , better, cheaper building materials e.g. prefabricated panels, automated doors and windows help the house owner to achieve a better house. New design trends such as american style kitchens, duplex houses, attic roofs also assist the house owner achieve maximum space utility and rental returns on their building.

B) What are the likely consequences of failure to secure the services
of an architect?

Low returns on investment.
Most of the stalled buildings dotting the Kenyan landscape are owned by developers who did not seek the architect’s services. This resulted in them underestimating the cost of construction hence the building stalls before completion.
Also, due to lack of following the due process for County Government approval, some houses are stalled because the County Government has issued an order to stop construction. This happens whereby the houses are near security-sensitive buildings such as the State House, Deputy President’s official residence, Department of Defence Barracks, Airports etc.. For a developer to know this, the building has to be designed by the architect and submitted for approval whereby the Government then informs the developer of such restrictions. Areas such as Ruai, Utawala and Syokimau have such restrictions due to proximity to JKIA Airport.

Developers who fail to involve architects in design also risk the building collapsing . This results in both criminal and civil suits charged at them for negligence.

Francis Gichuhi Kamau, Architect.
info@a4architect.com