In the heart of Victoria Island, Lagos Nigeria, will soon stand an 18 Storey residential tower with seven 3-bedroom, thirteen four bedroom and two duplex penthouse apartments. Known as Ramzi Towers, the structure is designed to give 360 degree panoramic views from 5 Cowries Creek and the Lagoon beyond, to downtown Lagos and across the Gulf of Guinea to the Atlantic Ocean, its designers –SPARK Architects –revealed.
The project, managed by WT Partnership UK and engineered by Battle McCarthy UK, is been developed for Athena Capital Limited.
Described as the “pinnacle of contemporary luxury living in Lagos”, Ramzi Towers will be built of sprayed concrete and will be the tallest residential sprayed concrete tower in the world. SPARK, in a statement, explained this as a “uniquely Nigerian solution which responds to local climatic, social, financial and cultural drivers”.
“Ramzi Towers’ sprayed concrete curved shells provide structure, water-proofing, air-tightness, fire protection and solar protection in a single solution, while being sculpted to minimise wind resistance and to provide a curvaceous Nigerian response to the global vernacular.
“This sprayed concrete process was selected and advanced to minimise costs and build-time while providing limitless formal freedom to the design process. The Architects and Engineers have chosen the development of this simple on-site fabrication method against the backdrop of a local Contracting tradition that is not explicitly ‘high-tech’. As such, the building process is appropriate and empowering, enabling the local contractor, Deux Project Nigeria Limited, to deliver the highest inhabited sprayed-concrete structure in the world without needing to outsource the technical issues”, their statement read.
Construction of the landmark scheme, which won planning approvals in June 2014 and is SPARK’s first significant project in Africa, will begin between the months of September and October 2014.
A spokesman for the clients, Athena Capital Limited, explained to VENTURES AFRICA that Lagos was chosen for the project given its leadership position (in Nigeria) in areas such as economy, population, wealth et cetera. The spokesman further disclosed that the planning for the project began 16 months ago with the singular goal of creating and delivering a project never before seen in Nigeria and indeed anywhere in the world. “We refused to think small and we refused to believe because the project will be in situated in Lagos or Nigeria, we had to somehow compromise”, he added.
According to SPARK’s design, each home in Ramzi Towers is anchored by a centrally located kitchen that forms the hub of the spacious common area. The living, dining, bar, library and loggia areas are all interconnected around a central pre-fabricated kitchen hub. Dedicated lifts serve two apartments per floor on our lower levels. The uppermost floors will enjoy private lift access to spacious four bed apartments. These units contain additional reception or “morning” rooms that have been oriented to benefit from the morning sun. The top two floors are reserved for exclusive, exquisitely constructed duplex four bedroom penthouses with private roof terraces.
Elated about the project, the spokesman for Athena Capital Limited declared that “The success of Ramzi Towers and subsequent exceptional new real estate projects inspired by it will help convince people that the same way negativity is contagious is the same way positivity is contagious. It actually pays better in the short and long-term to do things properly and to the best of your God given abilities”.
The project team is also undertaking the establishment of a shadow program, where UK skills and knowledge are to be shared and transferred to local young Nigerian consultants, SPARK disclosed.
SPARK’s project director, Max Titchmarsh added; “(we) are excited to be part of a new generation of International consultants helping Nigeria re-discover its appetite for ambitious, innovative and sustainable development that can reflect the huge potential of this major economy. We think Nigeria is beginning a new chapter of global prominence and we believe that there is a new breed of domestic development and contracting expertise that will see the current surge of development activity translates into a lasting legacy”.
