Author: A4KENYA

Early this week on Tuesday 14th April 2015 there was a presentation by French Architect Thierry Bogaert on High Strength Concrete and its advantages. This was at Athi River Mining Cement company’s new offices at Westwood Park, Ring road, near Westgate in Westlands, organised by Athi River Mining Company Managing Director Mr Pradeep Paunrana who had invited me for the event.

The usual cement available in the Kenyan market has an average strength of Class 32.5. Athi River Mining cement has a wide range of strengths available, including Class 32.5, 42.5 and 52.5 cement.

This class 42.5 and 52.5 strength cement which is much stronger than the usual class 32.5 found in hardware shops around the country has numerous advantages as listed below.

1. Saving on plinth area usable space due to low volume and foot print. With a stronger concrete mix, for the same support, the columns will be thinner hence suitable for internal spaces where thin columns are much appreciated e.g social halls, churches, lecture halls etc.

2. Savings on form work. Since the columns and beams will be much thinner for the same strength, the form-work needed to support the wet mix will have less surface area, ensuring a considerable savings towards construction costs.

3.Reduction of overall building self weight. With stronger cement used, the columns, beams and slabs can be thinner, hence lighter, meaning the overall building weight is reduced hence lower costs of construction achieved.

4. For open spaces eg halls, lecture rooms and churches, stronger cement can enable longer spans in between columns, freeing much needed space for increased visibility.

5. Strong cement allows for higher water permeability and minimal chances of cracking.

6. High strength cement enables very high rise tall structures to be constructed safely.

With the introduction of class 42.5 and 52.5 strength cement by Athi River Mining cement company, Kenya’s construction sector is set to change dynamically for the better as developers tap in to the added benefits for their projects.

Francis Gichuhi Kamau, Architect.
info@a4architect.com
0721410684

Securing buildings against terrorism needs all solutions from security experts e.g RECCE Company, sociologists to give solutions to prevent radicalization and architects to design safer buildings. Terrorism is now becoming a usual occurence worldwide and there seems to be no immediate remedy in the near future, hence need to secure oneself in advance.

There are ways that buildings can be designed to inhibit, discourage and minimalise life lost during terror attacks. Previous architectural designs usually prevent the usual type of intruder who would want to break in and steal. Currently, this type of crime is less life threatening than terrorist attacks hence need to design buildings with terror attack in mind more than in petty break-in crimes.

For malls, i have analysed design solutions here below
https://www.a4architect.com/2013/09/terrorism-in-malls-how-to-use-architecture-to-prevent-attacks/

For Educational institutions, the windows facing the corridors can be designed to be longer as opposed to being high. This will increase visibility such that students can be aware of impending attacks. The Garissa university class room windows on the side facing the corridors were high such that the students cold not be able to see the terrorists before they entered the classrooms.

Window grills.

All windows in classrooms and accomodation rooms should have no grills. This will provide easy escape in times of peril eg from teror attacks or fire. This window below saved many lives. If the other windows opened easily like this one, many more lives would have been saved.

Use of window films can also help in case of grenade attacks in keeping the glass together to prevent injury.
Exterior planning.

Educational buildings should be planned without a central focal point atrium in the middle. This design where rooms surround the building with a central courtyard in the middle is what made the Westgate siege and Grarissa University attack so successful since terrorists could be able to heard the victims to the centre point and keep vigil at the entrances.
The central courtyard design forms a perfect death trap for terrorists.

From the aerial view above, most buildings have the same central enclosed courtyard design similar to Westgate mall, providing perfect scenarios for terror attacks.

In future, Kenya Government can work out redesign solutions for all Government buildings which can be easy target for attacks such as schools and hospitals. Shopping Mall developers should also ask their architects to incorporate safe design typologies in case terrorists attack.

Francis Gichuhi Kamau, Architect.
info@a4architect.com
0721410684

Recently,there has been several occasions of buildings collapsing in Kenya. A building has just collapsed in Roysambu today 2nd April 2015.

There are several reasons to this.

1. Government, represented by the County Government Planning departments, is not doing enough to enforce developers to use qualified consultants to design and supervise buildings. With rampant corruption, developers and Government liaise together and bend the rules whereby Government looks the other way as the developer uses unqualified designers to design and supervise the building. The County Government has the role of ensuring the developer has used qualified architects and engineers for the design and supervision of the building.

2. Government, through Kenya Bureau of Standards, is not doing enough to prevent substandard building materials to get into the market. The steel quality and sizes available in the market is substandard. Same to cement and electrical wiring products. When developers use these, the building will have failure. Usually, when the developer hires qualified design and supervision architects and engineers, they will inform him of the substandard materials. Unfortunately, most developers do not hire these hence they have no chance to know if the materials they are using are substandard.

Solution.
Solution lies in Government reigning in on corruption and ensuring that County Government planning departments and Kenya Bureau of Standards do their job as fully described in the bye laws. Human nature is such that the developers will always look for the short cuts so unless Government stands in the way firmly and forces developers to use the right way, these problems will still occur.

Individual architects and engineers can only prevent buildings failing when they are hired by the developer and get to supervise the construction. In Kenya, there are developers who side step these professionals and hence creating buildings which are risky to their inhabitants. Architect and Engineer fees are on average 10% of the construction costs, which is not high and which is also the international standard worldwide so the fees are not high.

Architect Francis Gichuhi Kamau. B.Arch.U.o.N. M.A.A.K[A]
info@a4architect.com
0721410684

Gabbion walls are used to retain soil from steep embankments . They are also used to create extra strong walls for buildings.

They are usually 2 meters long by 1 meter high by 1 meter wide.
For retaining wall structures, its best to step them by 1 foot depth.

Buildings such as the Fort Jesus have been built using stones that are roughly the same size asgabion walls, placed on top of each other without cement mortar bond.

Gabion walls have the advantage of not using cement mortar to join in between.

An Italian family known as Maccafferi patented a particular method of making Gabions , known as the maccafferi gabion. This was in 1893.

Gabbions can also be used for interior decorations.

They can also be used to construct interesting sculptures and works of art too.

Some gabions are infilled using wooden logs.

Gabions are an innovative way of decorating outdoors.

In areas where there are plenty of stones, gabion walling can be used so as to reduce the cost of cement for joining .

Francis Gichuhi Kamau, Architect.
info@a4architect.com
0721410684

Local construction materials available are abundant. These include building sand, masonry stone, ballast, timber, cement, ceramic tiles, paint, steel rebar and clay/concrete roofing tiles.

These offer a source of employment to hundreds of thousands of Kenyans. In the stone mining and extraction industry alone, we can guestimate at least 10000 people employed directly in Juja, 8000 people in the kiserian/Isinya/Kitengela/Rongai quarres, 10000 people in the coastlal coral stone quarries and another 10,000 people in the Kericho/Kedowa and Nakuru quarries.

The number of people employed in the sand harvesting industry, mainly in Machakos, Kajiado and Naivasha areas is even higher. Same case with employees in the ballast extraction businesses.

The timber industry in Kenya is also a source of livelihood to hundreds of thousands of Kenyans, from the farmers who plant the eucalyptus and cyprus trees, to the saw millers, timber yard sales people and finally to the fundis and carpenters who earn from offering specialized carpentry skills to the public.

The cement industry is also huge. Thousands of people are employed in the limestone mines in Garissa, Pokot areas. There are also thousands employed in the gypsum mines transportation industry. The cement factories also employ a further huge number to process the cement. The cement re-sellers in the hardware shops and the fundis who work on cement products also benefit greatly from this industry.

At least 2 million people are employed directly from the local construction materials industry form my guestimations.

Most of the residential units in Kenya, mainly the low and middle class category, are the main consumers of the local materials. High end houses tend to have large fractions of materials coming from outside the country.

The reason is the fact that for the low and middle class buildings, cost is of essence, and since local materials are usually of less cost than imported ones, the local materials win over in the price wars. In high end buildings, cost os not a critical consideration. Other factors such as style, fashion, aesthetic appeal, uniqueness and quality come into play.

Of late, high end buildings have recently started to embrace local materials, with cut mazeras being in the forefront of this. The recent car park at the Junction mall is cladded with local mazeras stones. Also, the recently completed buildings along Ralph Bunche road in Upper Hill such as the Mayfair centre, have utilised Mazeras stones for the cladding in the driveway areas.

New paint brands imported into the country such as Jotun are making headway , eating into the already established brand names such as crown paints.

Architect Francis Gichuhi Kamau,
0721410684.
info@a4architect.com

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=652855171536408&set=vb.249880261833903&type=2&theater

Availability of Land for Real Estate Development .

Land for Real Estate investment is available. Upmarket land for investment in Nairobi city CBD is available in Upper Hill, Westlands and Kilimani areas. Middlle class market land is available in surburbs 30 km radius from CBD in areas such as Rongai, Ruai, Ruiru and Kiambu.
Low class land is available in areas 50km from CBD in areas such as Kamulu, Isinya, Mai Mahiu and Thika/Juja farm.

Rate of Land in Various Counties

Land price varies depending on location. The most expensive is Nairobi CBD land at rates of kes 400 to kes 500 million per acre. The cheapest is in areas around Kangundo and Juja farm, costing around kes 1 million per acre.

Average Rate of Newly built Houses in Nairobi & outskirts

Approximately 20,000 units are built in Nairobi each year, while the demand for housing is at least 200,000 units per year.

Major Players of Real Estate Market in Kenya

Major players in Kenyan real estate include Banks, Savings and Credit Societies/SACCOs and international investors.

Support of Kenyan Banks for Housing Projects for Foreign Companies

Kenyan banks support foreign companies in Real Estate investment. Kenya Government has a policy that encourages foreign investors into the Real Estate sector.

Govt. Projects in housing for Social Developments

Kenyan Government, through National Housing Corporation, works on housing projects within social dimensions.

Will Federal Govt. / Counties provide land for Developers to build housing Complexes?

Each County Government is independent in policy decisions regarding provision of land for developers. Some counties have such arrangements.

Standard Design of Houses in Average Income Area ( 2 or 3 Bed Room )

www.a4architect.com can come up with standard designs for houses. Fees for design services are as outlined below

https://www.a4architect.com/about-us/fees-breakdown/

What is the General Trend of Market in terms of Housing ( Type of Houses, No of Bedrooms, Type / material of Construction, Prices Prevailing in the Market)
For upmarket areas eg Upper Hill, high rise mega structures of 20 floors are coming up for residential housing. For middle class areas, row housing, in maisonette design are coming up. For low cost areas, houses in own compound are coming up. Land cost and availability is the major determinant for the trend, with areas where land is expensive, having high rise structures so as to house more families within the same land hence economies of scale towards land cost.

Do you have any contacts in Higher Levels of Banks Like : KCB /Housing Finance Kenya/ CFC Stanbic / Standard & Chartered / Barclays etc (only High officials in respective banks dealing with Housing Finance)

Yes. We work with all major banks and have contacts at the top managerial sectors.

Architect Francis Gichuhi Kamau,
info@a4architect.com
0721410684

Cost Item	Kshs	%
Land	300,000,000.00	21.9170076
Preliminary	14,080,000.00	1.028638223
Construction	704,000,000.00	51.43191116
External Works	105,600,000.00	7.714786674
Contingency	70,400,000.00	5.143191116
Marketing	48,000,000.00	3.506721216
Financial Charges	126,720,000.00	9.257744009
Total	1,368,800,000.00	100
Financing Plan	Kshs	%
Developer	384,480,000.00	28.08883694
Debt Finance	704,000,000.00	51.43191116
Presales	192,000,000.00	14.02688486
Total	1,368,800,000.00	93.54763296
PROFIT
TOTAL SALES FOR 15 floors	1,920,000,000.00
TOTAL EXPENDITURE	1,368,800,000.00
NET PROFIT	551,200,000.00
% Profit Margin	40.26884863
Take home ammount.	851,200,000.00
	275,600,000.00
	575,600,000.00
Sale:
2 Bedroomed	17,000,000.00
CAR PARKING	190 PARKING SPACES

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