The largest UN office in Africa- Nairobi offices is set to undergo a US $70m face-lift. This initiative will be implemented in line with environmental regulations so as to increase accommodation of staff and also ease accessibility for people with disabilities.
Proposals have already been presented to the UN General Assembly by Secretary-General António Guterres. Focus will be on upgrading the structures that have hosted diplomats for the last three decades in Gigiri.
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Additionally, Mr. António said the expansion will also include instruments that will ensure “efficiency and sustainability in energy consumption.” This is an indication that the UN body wants to lead from the front when it comes to green energy.
The US $70m development project is approximated to run for the next seven years. Expansion will commence early 2018 and run to the end of 2024, uplifting blocks A-J of the UN Offices in Nairobi.
The mega project will see office blocks replaced or modernized to comply with the organizations own environmental policies as well as ensure safety for employees.
The upgrade follows a 2015 feasibility study that reviewed the ability of the structures at the Gigiri Complex to withstand earthquakes as well as meet environmental needs and the economic use of available space on the 143-acre piece of land that hosts the largest UN office in Africa.
The development might lead to Kenya’s hold on to the UN centre, having initially wrangled with key Western countries on whether to relocate some of the offices to Europe.
The United Nations Office in Nairobi is one of the four major UN office sites where several different UN agencies have a joint presence. It was established in 1996.
The UN Complex at Gigiri contains a ‘green’ building, a completely energy and carbon-neutral building, housing UNEP and UN-Habitat offices. The building is the first of its kind in Africa, recycling water and using natural light to reduce reliance on artificial lighting.
In addition, the building is designed to use natural flow of air as a substitute to air conditioning, and it contains solar panels to generate all the energy that the building would consume.
