How towers are competing for Nairobi's skyline

Nairobi’s skyline is set to change drastically in the coming years after more companies and State parastatals announced the development of skyscrapers, some as high as 60 floors.

Some are already under construction in Westlands, Upper Hill and Nairobi's Central Business District (CBD)

The latest announcement was made by the State’s pension manager National Social Security Fund (NSSF).

However, before the NSSF announcement, there had been the construction of 88 Nairobi or Nairobi’s Icon, a luxurious residential tower targeting high-net-worth buyers or investors, whose construction had started years back. 

Standing at a height of 150 meters with 47 floors, the iconic tower is located on 4th Ngong Avenue and opposite Citam Valley Road.

Being developed by Lordship Group, it will give visitors and residents a view of Nairobi’s skyline from each unit and spectacular sunsets from their sunset deck on the 34th floor.

The building, which is now almost complete, will have four unit categories, including studios, one and two-bedroom fully furnished executive apartments, two-bedroom executive-plus apartments, sky suites and penthouses.

"The building is almost complete with expected launch towards the end of May this year," said Lordship Group Chairman Jonathan Jackson in a recent TV interview.

He said the building has 330 apartments, 500 parking spaces, with each penthouse having a swimming pool and comes with all amenities available in a five-star hotel.

The NSSF plans to put up a Sh30 billion 60-storey building in the heart of Nairobi, opposite Nyayo House at the junction of Uhuru Highway and Kenyatta Avenue on an idle land, which has been used for commercial parking.

The building is expected to be the tallest in East and Central Africa.  It will become a landmark mixed-use skyscraper that will redefine Nairobi’s skyline while cementing the city’s position as a regional commercial hub.

This is not the first time NSSF has ventured into the construction of a tower in the CBD.

It has Hazina Towers along Moktar Daddah Street, whose construction started in 2014 and was initially planned to go upto 39 extension to the Hazina Trade Centre, but later scaled down to the current 15 floors.

This was due to a dispute between Nakumatt Holdings, which had Nakumatt Lifestyle supermarket as its anchor tenant.

On one hand, Nakumatt Holdings Ltd accused NSSF of breach of the agreement, claiming that it had delayed in surrendering the leased space for the defunct supermarket chain to run its outlet.

Speaking recently, NSSF Managing Trustee and Chief Executive Officer David Koross said the decision to go vertical reflects both commercial logic and long-term planning for workers’ savings.

“That land has been idle for years and has not been giving contributors any benefit. It is valued at about Sh4 billion, and our objective is to unlock that value through redevelopment and sell the completed units to investors so the money flows back to the Fund,” said Koros during a TV interview.

The building will have two towers, A and B and once completed, Tower A will rise to 60 storeys (about 260 metres), making it the tallest building in East and Central Africa.

Tower B will stand at 35 storeys, approximately 140 metres and will host premium office space, a business hotel, serviced residential apartments, retail outlets and conference facilities, alongside an observation deck on the 56th floor and parking for about 1,150 vehicles.

The building will herald in a new era of Nairobi’s CBD usage, which has increasingly become a daytime-only business district to live and work.

“We want people to live in the city again. When you introduce housing, hotels and retail into the CBD, business activity extends beyond office hours and supports a 24-hour economy,” Koross said.

Currently, the Kenyatta International Convention Centre, which has 32-floors and goes up to 105 meters high, offers a helipad for visitors to observe Nairobi's skyline.

The NSSF building will now beat 88 Nairobi, Britam Towers, which currently stands at 200 metres at 32 floors, followed by GTC Tower at 184 metres at 42 floors.

It will be competing in the Horn of Africa region with the likes of Ethiopia’s Commercial Bank headquarters at 46 floors and 209 metres, Nairobi’s Old Mutual Tower at 163 metres and 33 floors and Times Tower at 140 metres and 38 floors.

According to Koros, the construction will start next month after breaking ground at the end of this month. Construction is expected to take about three years.

The building will be built by China Road and Bridge Corporation, a subsidiary of China Communications Construction Company.

Another building, which will define Nairobi's skyline and specifically Westlands after the GTC Tower, is Standard Investment Bank’s SIB International Centre.

The groundbreaking of the building that is located opposite Sarit Centre at the intersection of Ring Road Parklands and Lower Kabete Road happened last year, in early December.

This new development of the proposed 32-floor building will be SIB’s headquarters, valued at Sh3 billion, and will also serve as a hub for its growing operations, housing trading desks, advisory teams, and wealth management experts.  

This investment, SIB said, reflects the firm’s ongoing influence in reshaping Kenya’s banking and investment industry.

“We are not simply breaking ground for a new building, we are laying the cornerstone for the next generation of excellence in Kenyan and African investment banking,” founder and Managing Director of Standard Investment Bank, James Wangunyu, said during the groundbreaking event.

“As these walls rise, and the apex of this building is achieved, so too must our ambition to build not just a head office, but a headway for the next generation of African financiers, innovators, and visionaries.”

The construction is expected to be complete by mid 2028.