Actis’ $250m Garden City project wins Africa Property Investment Best Green Building in Sub-Saharan Africa
Garden City, East Africa’s first integrated residential, retail and office development, has won Africa Property Investment’s Best Green Building in Sub-Saharan Africa for its retail and residential spaces.
The award, announced at the API Summit and Expo 2017, recognises innovation and outstanding achievement across the entire property industry. The projects were judged on a wide range of criteria including location; infrastructure and transport access; integration into the environment; originality of the concept; technical and architectural quality; services offered; sensitivity to the local community; innovation; sustainability; corporate staff involvement; response to market demands; financial performance; occupancy; and the impact of the project on economic convergence.
Garden City, developed by Actis, a leading growth market investor, responsible for the Junction Mall and Nairobi Business Park, is a flagship mixed-use development in Kenya, set on 32 acres in Nairobi. The development comprises of a 35,000m2 destination retail mall with over 100 stores offering a wide selection of the best Kenyan and international brands; a recreational park with an open air amphitheatre showcasing art installations by Kenyan artist Peterson Mwangi; and 215 residential units of 2 and 3 bedroom apartments and 4 bedroom villas. Garden City also hosts the largest solar paneled carport in Africa, on the mall’s rooftop parking area. The development
Commenting on the award, Louis Deppe, Partner at Actis said: “We are delighted that Garden City has been awarded Best Green Building in Sub-Saharan Africa. Actis’ vision was to create a “live-work-play” environment to cater for the community in the North East suburbs of Nairobi, hitherto poorly served by modern retail, office, housing and leisure facilities.Like other Actis projects, Garden City has sustainability at its core and is the first mixed-use development in East Africa to gain international LEED’s green certification. The residential development is the first to achieve a Green Star rating in Kenya from the Green Building Council of South Africa. Actis has followed international best practice in terms of waste management and energy efficiency.”