Works for the construction of the tallest building on the African continent- the Pinnacle Towers in Nairobi, have been commissioned. Standing at 900 feet (274 metres) the Tower will overtake the current holder of the title of the tallest building on the African continent- Johannesburg’s Carlton Centre. The Carlton Centre stands at 732 feet (223 metres), with 50 floors.
The Pinnacle Towers in planned to provide 70 floors of mixed space; comprising of 45 floor Hilton Hotel, 20 floors of first class office space, a roof top bar and a helipad. The building will house the highest viewing deck in Africa.
The building will also have five floors of shopping space, entertainment, and restaurants, a health spa, gym and an infinity pool. It will also include 200 residential ran by Hilton Hotel of one, two, and three bedroom fully furnished luxury apartments.
At its base, the building will boast of three floors of basement parking, a gaming zone and a luxury mall spread across three floors.
The KSh20 billion (US$200 million) Pinnacle Towers is being developed by Hass Petroleum and White Lotus project.
Kenyan media quoted Abdinasir Hassan, Hass Petroleum Executive Chair, East and Central Africa as saying at the commissioning, “The building will have a helipad, which will be at over 800 feet (243 metres), again, making it the highest on the continent. We thought it wise to put the helipad here so that people can fly directly to the hotel and beat Nairobi’s hectic traffic.”
When complete in 2020, the Pinnacle Tower will dwarf the much anticipated Hope City in Accra, Ghana which will stand at 270 metres, housing 75 floors of space planned for an ICT hub, university, hospital, among others. It is however, not clear why Hope City is estimated to cost US$10 billion, while the Pinnacle Tower is costed at just US$200 million, nearly 8o per cent difference.
Before the Pinnacle comes on the skies, the 10 tallest buildings on the African continent in descending order are: The Carlton Centre- Johannesburg, South Africa (223 metres, 50 floors), Hassan II Mosque-Casablanca, Morocco (210 metres), Ponte City Apartments-Johannesburg (172metres), Bahia Centre, Oran, Algeria (161 metres), Nitel Tower, Lagos, Nigeria (160 metres), Marble Towers, Johannesburg (152 metres), The Pearls Apartments, Kwa Zulu Natal (152 metres), South Africa’s Reserve Bank Building, Johannesburg (149 metres), 88on Field, Durban, (146 metres) and the Egypt Ministry of Foreign Affairs Building (142 metres).
