The Changing Face of Tigoni
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Property News Property News 30 Focus on Property November 2014 Focus on Property November 2014 31 Quickly rising as a favourite suburb among Kenyans, Tigoni is not short of any amenities. Among the tea fields lies the Brackenhurst Conference Centre that offers retreat and conference facilities while the Limuru Golf Club is the common sporting ground amongst those who prefer spending their weekends and holidays in the countryside. Lush country homes are also emerging within the green sceneries, including the Echuka Country Homes whose Phase One sold out within months of the project breaking ground and currently selling Phase Two. Notable academic and research institutions within Tigoni include the prestigious St Thomas School, St Paul’s University, Tigoni Study Centre and the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute. However, there is an upcoming project that will literally make the statement ‘adding sugar to the cake’ seem like a mere cliché! We are talking about redefining the meaning of peaceful country living, recreating a pleasant home retreat while bringing holiday privacy to an all new level – we are at the Limuru Hills Health Farm, Spa and Holiday Homes; the new face of Tigoni. Limuru Hills Health Farm, Spa and Holiday Homes In March 2010, a reputed professional architectural firm was commissioned to prepare a master plan for a new development at Tigoni Tea farm and the architectural design of proposed log homes along with a health club, spa, restaurant and a conference centre. Following numerous site visits, design workshops with the client and other consultants, the master plan and concept architecture for the log homes and the other facilities has finally been completed and work has already began on site. The vision is to create a high quality healthy residential living environment, a holiday get-away with a variety of rejuvenating amenities and a club house along with a restaurant and business conference facility. All this will be built on a 20 acre land with a stream flowing through the site which will be conserved by building a dam. Imagine waking up from your home – a log home for that matter, and looking outside your window to the site of workers picking tea – this will be a one of a kind project like never seen before in Kenya. Access and Surrounding The Tea Farm is located a mere seventeen kilometres from the Village Market, one of Nairobi’s leading shopping malls. So if you are taking your family out for shopping during the weekends and holidays, you have the convenience of about thirty minutes’ drive from the farm to the mall. For the golf lovers, good news is that the Tea Farm is just 3.7 km from the Limuru Golf Club while the Nazareth Hospital, one of the major hospitals in Kiambu County is a mere 4 km away. While driving through the therapeutic green sceneries, about 1.2 km from the farm you encounter the Waterfalls Inn where you get to experience a panoramic view of the larger Tigoni area next to a waterfall and a picnic site. For those who want to catch up with old friends over a chit chat but not within the Tea Farm, then the Kentmere Club some 6 km away will prove quite the setup you need. Simply put, we are talking good road connectivity, existing power lines, existing borewell…the Tea Farm will have it all! ‘Nature is beautiful, and you are in her bosom.’ These words by Sir Humphry Davy are brought to mind when one visits Tigoni, a picturesque countryside with rolling hills carpeted in lush greenery. Once a haven for white settlers during the colonial times, Tigoni still remains a countryside setup offering serenity from the hustle and bustle of Nairobi. Located near Limuru, Tigoni is most famous for vast tracts of land under tea plantations whose brightness, attractive colour, brisk flavours and textures of fragrant leaves coupled with the chilled atmosphere result in one peaceful feeling – being at home. THE CHANGING FACE OF Tigoni
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Transcript of The Changing Face of Tigoni
Property News Property News
30 Focus on Property November 2014 Focus on Property November 2014 31
Quickly rising as a favourite suburb among Kenyans, Tigoni is not short of any amenities. Among the tea fields lies the Brackenhurst Conference Centre that offers retreat and conference facilities while the Limuru Golf Club is the common sporting ground amongst those who prefer spending their weekends and holidays in the countryside. Lush country homes are also emerging within the green sceneries, including the Echuka Country Homes whose Phase One sold out within months of the project breaking ground and currently selling Phase Two. Notable academic and research institutions within Tigoni include the prestigious St Thomas School, St Paul’s University, Tigoni Study Centre and the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute.
However, there is an upcoming project that will literally make the statement ‘adding sugar to the cake’ seem like a mere cliché! We are talking about redefining the meaning of peaceful country living, recreating a pleasant home retreat while bringing holiday privacy to an all new level – we are at the Limuru Hills Health Farm, Spa and Holiday Homes; the new face of Tigoni.
Limuru Hills Health Farm, Spa and Holiday HomesIn March 2010, a reputed professional architectural firm was commissioned to prepare a master plan for a new development at Tigoni Tea farm and the architectural design of proposed log homes along with a health club, spa, restaurant and a conference centre. Following numerous site visits, design workshops with the client and other consultants, the master plan and concept architecture for the log homes and the other facilities has finally been completed and work has already began on site.
The vision is to create a high quality healthy residential living environment, a holiday get-away with a variety of rejuvenating amenities and a club house along with a restaurant and business conference facility. All this will be built on a 20 acre land with a stream flowing through the site which will be conserved by building a dam. Imagine waking up from your home – a log home for that matter, and looking outside your window to the site of workers picking tea – this will be a one of a kind project like never seen before in Kenya.
Access and SurroundingThe Tea Farm is located a mere seventeen kilometres from the Village Market, one of Nairobi’s leading shopping malls. So if you are taking your family out for shopping during the weekends and holidays, you have the convenience of about thirty minutes’ drive from the farm to the mall. For the golf lovers, good news is that the Tea Farm is just 3.7 km from the Limuru Golf Club while the Nazareth Hospital, one of the major hospitals in Kiambu County is a mere 4 km away. While driving through the therapeutic green sceneries, about 1.2 km from the farm you encounter the Waterfalls Inn where you get to experience a panoramic view of the larger Tigoni area next to a waterfall and a picnic site. For those who want to catch up with old friends over a chit chat but not within the Tea Farm, then the Kentmere Club some 6 km away will prove quite the setup you need. Simply put, we are talking good road connectivity, existing power lines, existing borewell…the Tea Farm will have it all!
‘Nature is beautiful, and you are in her bosom.’ These words by Sir Humphry Davy are brought to mind when one visits Tigoni, a picturesque countryside with rolling hills carpeted in lush greenery. Once a haven for white settlers during the colonial times, Tigoni still remains a countryside setup offering serenity from the hustle and bustle of Nairobi. Located near Limuru, Tigoni is most famous for vast tracts of land under tea plantations whose brightness, attractive colour, brisk flavours and textures of fragrant leaves coupled with the chilled atmosphere result in one peaceful feeling – being at home.
THE CHANGING FACE OF Tigoni
Property News Property News
32 Focus on Property November 2014 Focus on Property November 2014 33
The Log Homes So I guess most of us are used to hotels and accommodation at some inns when going for holidays – but not at Limuru Hills. Enough of seeing log cabins in some Scandinavian movies; Limuru Hills will constitute log homes instead of the standard stone buildings. These will be made of finely crafted logs imported from Finland and assembled on site. These will be well maintained so you need not worry about pest attacks or rotting while at the same time proven to be more fire resistant than the standard stones used in building. There will be eight units of studio log/farm homes (635 square feet each), thirteen units of one bedroom homes (Type A will be 45 square metres each and Type B will be 65 square metres each), fourteen units of two bedrooms (90 sq. m each), thirteen units of three bedrooms (125 sq. m each), eight units of four bedrooms (280 sq. m each) and four units of five bedrooms (435 sq. m each). In addition, all bedrooms will be en-suite, rooms will be fully furnished while finishings and fittings will be imported. For the convenience of potential buyers, sample log homes have been built in Lower Kabete in line with the Tigoni project. These include one bedroom, two bedrooms and a three bedrooms show houses. So for those who might be contemplating buying a log holiday home here, the time is now.
The EnvironmentOne of the key fundamental ideas in making Limuru Hills a success is ensuring the environment remains as natural as possible. This is why the homes will be made from logs and surrounded by tea plantations and there will be minimal installation of concrete surfaces. In addition, each farm/log house will come with a dedicated organic farm. The only vehicular movement allowed throughout the site will be battery operated buggies/carts to minimise on air and noise pollution, therefore car parking has been provided at the entrance. There is a dedicated combined parking lot for about one hundred and twenty one units of both vehicles and battery operated golf carts.
No doubt Limuru Hills Health Farm, Spa and Holiday Homes is designed to be a beacon of excellence not only for Kenya but also for Africa. Other than South Africa, Kenya becomes the only other African nation to infuse the logs technology into a project of this magnitude that represents a new way of life. Bound also to become a magnet for top investors around the world as they aim at exporting the idea to their home countries, this development will bring to Tigoni a totally new face visible to the world. Imagine waking up to the warmth of the sun as its rays penetrate through the windows of your log home, the site of tea pickers ushering you to the awaiting golf cart, a brief business meeting in the ultra-modern conference centre, have lunch with a group of friends in the airy restaurant, enjoy your afternoon getting a traditional Chinese massage at the spa and watching the sun set with your family as you walk along the jogging trails before retreating to have dinner made from vegetables grown in your own backyard – surely, is there a better way to spend your weekends, holidays or even every day? It’s all found in Tigoni; and Limuru Hills Health Farm, Spa and Holiday Homes is the place!
Article and Images Courtesy:Martin Dias, Chief Executive OfficerFinancial and Property Consultants Ltd.Email: [email protected]: www.fapcl.com
Other FacilitiesThese include a health club that will have state of the art facilities and a sauna. There will also be a traditional Indian and Chinese medicine massage spa that will offer a complete escape for a whole day with a choice of fourteen healing treatment rooms to help de-stress or overcome trauma. Also in the master plan is an ultra-modern conference centre fully fitted with modern technology’s conferencing kits, a restaurant offering diverse delicacies from around the world, walking and jogging trails and other modern recreation facilities to blend into the rustic environment.
Benefits of Limuru Hills to the Locals
The project developer has a widely laid out plan to make Limuru Hills a development not only for the residents but also for the local community. The tea farm will create new avenues for social and economic growth in Tigoni by:
• Creatingopportunitiesforlocalemployment–Thedeveloperhasmadeitapolicythatexceptforsomeprofessionaljobsintheteafarmwhichmighthavetobeoutsourced,allotheremploymentopportunitieswillbereservedfortheresidentsofTigoniandthelargerLimuruarea.
• Enhancingsecurity–Obviouslythreatstosecuritycannotberuledoutandthereforethesecurityprovidedintheteafarmwillnotonlyservicethedevelopmentbutwilloutflowtotheneighbouringregion.
• Providingagoodplatformforlocalmarkettrade–Theteafarmwillprovidealocalizedmarketformostofthefoodcropsgrownwithinthearea.Fromvegetablesandfruitstothenearbyteaplantations,theteafarmwillservetoboostthepeople’seconomicwell-being.
• Localhospitalityindustrytraining–Sincetheideaistosourceforlocalhumanresource,thiswillcallforasystemtotraintheworkerswheretheyfallshortofskillsandknowledgedependingontheirjobdescription.Aninformalteaprocessingplantwillalsobeonsitewhichwillnecessitateworkerswiththisskill.
