By Jan Fox
In Summary
- Once completed towards the end of 2015, the Hub will feature six separate buildings connected by open-air walkways with retail and office spaces, a medical facility, a fitness centre, restaurants, cafés and even a lake in its grounds.
- The second phase will see the addition of a hotel and a conference centre.
- The Hub’s design includes a waste water treatment plant, a system for harvesting rainwater and the use of energy-efficient lighting.
Karen has long been recognised as one of Nairobi’s
greener areas, with its abundance of indigenous trees and proximity to
both the Ngong Road Forest and the Nairobi National Park.
Over the last few years, however, the leafy suburb has
become a hotspot for developers seeking high returns from commercial and
residential buildings, a construction boom that is threatening to
damage the environment.
There is one developer, though, that has recognised this risk, and is determined to sustain Karen’s natural charm.
The Hub is the new mall which, once completed
towards the end of 2015, will feature six separate buildings connected
by open-air walkways with retail and office spaces, a medical facility, a
fitness centre, restaurants, cafés and even a lake in its grounds.
The second phase will see the addition of a hotel and a conference centre.
The developers have hired an expert consultant —
Greenkey Environmental Solutions—to help reduce its impact on the
environment and the surrounding infrastructure.
‘‘Greenkey monitors all of the environmental and
health and safety aspects of the project. We’ve been on board right from
the start—managing the sustainability of the design, the land impact,
any potential contamination issues, water usage, the amount of waste
generated, replanting vegetation,’’ said Amrish Shah, one of Greenkey’s
directors.
‘‘As far as I know, it’s a first in Kenya for a
project of this scale to hire an individual consultant to supervise and
help mitigate its environmental impact. There is no suggestion of
‘greenwashing’ here at all—the developers are genuinely keen to make The
Hub as sustainable as they can,’’ he said.
The Hub’s design includes a waste water treatment
plant, a system for harvesting rainwater and the use of energy-efficient
lighting.
The water to be used for irrigation, the
air-conditioning towers and for cleaning the floor, will be recycled. At
least 50 per cent of the development has been dedicated to green spaces
which will include the lake and a nature trail.
Both will form part of what used to be the Rusty
Nail restaurant’s expansive garden, which once occupied part of the 20
acre plot.
Many of the mature, and indigenous, trees that made
the restaurant’s garden so popular, have been preserved, including two
big fig trees and a row of jacarandas. And some of those that had to be
cleared have been replanted in a nursery on site.
Making a building as eco-friendly and sustainable
as possible is one thing, but ensuring the same throughout the
construction process is another.
One way that The Hub’s developers have done this is
by providing energy-efficient jikos to the cooks who prepare lunch for
up to 600 workers on site.
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