FBW Group has continued its work to deliver major commercial projects throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.
They include driving forward the development of a new four-star business hotel in Kampala, Uganda, and overseeing work on a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Umoja, Kenya.
FBW was appointed project lead on the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel in Kampala last year and has provided architecture, structural and civil engineering services.
Designs for the new hotel were completed at the end of last year and construction got underway just as the pandemic lockdown was imposed.
Construction was halted but that work got underway again in May following the easing of restrictions and completion is now expected in early 2022.
The hotel will offer more than140 hotel rooms and suites, restaurants, bars and a ballroom as well as meeting rooms, a gym and spar and the overall development also includes office space.
FBW is also working on two other hotel projects in Kenya that have been put on hold as a result of Covid-19. Concepts were completed before the pandemic and the group is hoping to resume its design work later this year.
Meanwhile, FBW’s engineering division, which focuses on structural, civil, electrical and mechanical works, is overseeing a project at the Coca Cola plant in Umoja, Kenya.
Working with South African-based design engineers Bara Consult, FBW has responsibility for delivering the extension and alteration work at the plant.
Building submissions were made just as Covid-19 began to have an impact in the region. Building approvals were obtained and contractors appointed in May and work started on site in July.
FBW has a strong track record of delivery, providing its engineering expertise for projects at Coca Cola bottling facilities in Kenya and Uganda since 2012.
It has worked on a number of extensions to bottling operations and this is the second project FBW has overseen at the Umoja facility.
Despite lockdown restrictions, FBW has also overseen the completion of the first phase of a $1m state-of-the-art research clinic in Entebbe.
And the group’s speedy transformation into working remotely in response to the pandemic has allowed uninterrupted design development for a number of other major projects, such as the Creator postgraduate medical training centre in Malawi and the expansion of the University of Global Health Equity (UGHE) in Butaro, Rwanda.
Paul Moores, FBW Group managing director, says: “Our teams have continued their work on developments across East Africa throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, meeting the challenges that these unprecedented times have thrown up.
“It has required all their expertise and ability to ensure that projects have continued to move forward despite lockdown issues.
“It is pleasing to see that construction has now restarted on the Four Points hotel site and that work is ongoing at the Umoja facility.
“We have also been able to move a number of other projects forward in the healthcare and education sectors despite lockdown, which is a testament to the way the team has adapted to remote working and all the changes that has brought.
“We’re also looking forward to starting again on some of the projects that were put on hold as a result of coronavirus, working with our clients to get them back on track.”