Tatu City, SOM sponsor Nairobi University for study tour

Tatu City, the mixed-use, mixed-income satellite city development on 2,500 acres near Nairobi, is sponsoring University of Nairobi students from the Department Real Estate & Construction Management (RECM) for a two-week study tour in London.

Two students, Naomy Wangari and Nyaila Achieng, were named the overall winners of an “ideas competition” which gave the students an opportunity to contribute to the masterplan of Tatu City’s Central Business District. The competition focused on four subjects, namely Identity, Retail Concept, Transport and Public Spaces.

“It is important for us, as an international developer, to localize our projects, and the students have provided a Kenyan view on our plans,” said Nick Langford, Country Head for Rendeavour, Tatu City’s owner and developer.

The competition was held in conjunction with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), the U.S.-based architecture, engineering, and urban planning firm which has master-planned the Tatu City CBD.

U.S. Ambassador Robert Godec presented the awards to the students at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi.

The two-week, all-expenses-paid study tour will allow the winning students to work alongside globally renowned master planners and architects in the offices of SOM in London.

“The levels of talent exhibited by all the students are highly commendable,” Langford said, “and for those who will not be travelling to London we are offering select opportunities for internships at Tatu City in 2017.”