This archive report was first published on 18 November 2021.
Located in Central Kenya, Nyeri is a town that has a distinct characteristic - it does not aim for the sky. Unlike other towns, Nyeri has a low-rise building landscape, with many buildings dating back to the early 20th century.
One of the oldest buildings in the town is Osman Allu, a shop run by Vindchad Rajpashann, which is believed to have been built circa 1900. The town's central business district (CBD) is not as big a sprawl as Nairobi's, but it hosts a significant number of low-rise buildings that sit smack in the middle of the town.
According to Zipporah Muthoni, who remembers going to school in the 1980s, not much has changed in the town. 'At least not as much as one would expect,' she says. The town's reluctance to ignite a race for the skies is one of the reasons many locals claim the town's growth has stunted.
Joseph Njomo, a principal physical planner, says that demand for skyscrapers in the town remains low and it may take a while before it grows. 'Various kinds of developments are demand driven and skyscrapers are not an exception,' he says. 'Development of skyscrapers is driven by the need to control urban sprawl, optimise the use of space and accommodate a variety of functions by providing a high ratio of rentable floor space and tapping into the fresh air.'
Lee Muritu, a civil engineer, says that the town suffers an excruciating dearth of businesses, which leads to low demand for houses. 'Almost everyone in the town is a sole proprietor. This leads to a reduced need for space as businesses are smaller,' he says. 'This means there is little demand for higher, more efficient buildings as everyone is practising subsistence business.'
Bernard Wanjohi, a land surveyor, concurs, noting that most of the property owners in the town are not receptive to change, holding on to their houses with an emotional attachment that is hard to overcome. 'Most of them (the owners) are rigid,' he says. 'There is a clear lack of ambition. Many of the landowners would rather invest in buying land to sell or building rentals within the outskirts of town.'
Despite the challenges, Nyeri is not short of historical structures, with The Treetops in the Aberdares, the hotel which housed Queen Elizabeth II in her final night as princess before she was crowned queen in 1952. The town is also home to the graves of Lord Baden Powell and his wife, the founders of the scout and girl-guide movements.
Experts say that the town's situation is not likely to change soon, with Nyeri's reluctance to grow tall being a major factor. 'Nyeri's situation is not likely to change soon,' says Wanjohi. 'Not in the next five years. Residential high rise buildings are built every day but in Nyeri CBD, only three buildings have come up as high-rise in a long time.'
