The Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) will soon relocate its head office to new KCB Plaza in the fast growing Upper Hill commercial district.
The KCB bank headquarters currently based at Kencom house in the CBD will be moving to their ultra-modern complex that is nearing completion at the upmarket Upper Hill.
The 21 storey KCB Plaza consists of 15,960 square meters of office space and a car park that can accommodate 450 vehicles on five parking levels. The plaza is designed to use modern technologies to manage power and water efficiently.
It is fitted with solar panels for additional power supply and it has the ability to harvest rain water (and treatment) and a water recycling to bring down the cost of running the building. This is in line with the current global trend, where building are designed to adopt green architecture to cut down power and conserve water.
The KCB Plaza building was funded by KCB bank, through its pension scheme, and will be the main tenant. Inside the plaza, some of the 2 million KCB customers will experience a state of the art banking hall, personal banking facilities and present a better working environment for staff for improved service delivery. The bank has said the relocation of its major operation to Upper Hill will free up space in its Kencom offices which will be rented out for additional income for the KCB Pension Schemes.
The KCB Plaza will also provide conference facilities for meetings, conventions and workshops and for efficient operations in and outside the building, the clients and visitors will be served by six main lifts (two of which are dedicated for fire-fighting) and one for the VIP.
The ground breaking of the KCB plaza was held way back in December 2010, and though there has been some delays and is thought to be 17 months behind schedule, the works are nearing completion. ARUP was the environmental design engineers, and Wu Yi, a Chinese company was its main contractor. The construction of the plaza is estimated to have cost 2.1 billion shillings.
The new Kenya commercial Bank plaza is located along Kenya Road in Upper Hill. The Upper Hill area has become popular with many multi nationals and financial institutions seeking to expand their operations due to the availability of space and reduced challenges associated with the already congested CBD.
KCB Group has two pension schemes that are cumulatively valued at KES 12.8 billion. They are defined benefit scheme and defined contribution scheme and are thought to be the largest combined schemes in terms of value in the country. And the Group says the entire floor space the KCB Plaza will be rented to the two funds upon its completion.