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Dear ENERGY USE AND CONSERVATION IN BUILDINGS

By  Asadul Hakim, Architect Character of buildings of the world is determined and governed by climate, society, economy, availability of labor force, transportation, climate, skilled manpower of the country in question. Buildings in North or South Pole do not represent the same character as in equator or on Capricorn or cancer. In addition to the [...]

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Dear ENERGY USE AND CONSERVATION IN BUILDINGS

By  Asadul Hakim, Architect Character of buildings of the world is determined and governed by climate, society, economy, availability of labor force, transportation, climate, skilled manpower of the country in question. Buildings in North or South Pole do not represent the same character as in equator or on Capricorn or cancer. In addition to the [...]

We thank you for supporting us, as we take our baby steps!

We took a bold and some may say risky decision early this year to enter the world of print media in order to bring our readers and the built environment another real platforms for interaction, sharing, critiquing, debates and celebration of our growing and also lucrative Botswana Construction Industry. The media industry has proved to [...]

Stadium saga, the public is the big loser

What started as an ambitious project to reinvigorate and remake the National Stadium ended up being reduced to a squalid and feeble exercise of adding a few new seats, pink paint, grass and still some two years since this project started, the stadium is still shut for national events. Meanwhile the two parties, government and [...]

RIBA Gold Medal winner says architects are ‘no longer as important as we once were’

The recipient of this year’s RIBA Gold Medal has used his win to bemoan the status of architects and complain that the role is not as respected as it was 30 or 40 years ago. Herman Hertzberger, who turns 80 next July, has become the first Dutch architect to win the prize since Rem Koolhaas [...]

Boidus Focus December Issue Out-Get Your Copy

Boidus Focus is now available in shops this week (5th December).  Get your Boidus Focus copy at the following stores: In this issue: 2011 in Review: Construction Industry in Botswana Touschroad Penunsula Project feature Africa Emerging Property Markets ARB Coming to Reality in the Coming Year –G. Manowe Future ain’ what It used to be-Jan [...]

Botswana’s Construction Needs to establish a Green Agenda

World leaders are this week converging on South Africa’s city of Durban at the U.N. Climate Conference 2011 to deal with carbon reductions. This is a timely follow up to the 1997 landmark United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Kyoto Protocol treaty which many Western democracies (191) have ratified while others like USA, [...]

BOIDUS QUICK LINKS

• Over P88 mil spent on stadium projects overruns: ...The figures were revealed by the Minister of Infrastructure, Science and Technology Honourable Johnny Swartz yesterday at the ongoing Parliament session while answering a question posed by the Member of Parliament for Shoshong Honourable Philip Makgalemele. A sum of P33, 901,481.28 was paid for the design and consultancy supervision stages while P54, 420, 104.52 was paid as cost overrun for construction...read full story here #
• Turnstar eyes P480m Tanzanian property: ....The deal will make Turnstar the first company to acquire a property of such value outside Botswana. Motlhabane indicated that once completed the deal would enable them to reach P1 billion market capitalisation at BSE. Currently the company has a market capitalisation of P574 million....via Botswana Guardian #
• Industrial Court building shows signs of structural defects: The Industrial Court building, barely one and a half years old, has structural defects which may render it inhabitable. When the Sunday Standard visited the building, it found that the twin pillars at the entrance to the court had developed gaping cracks at their bases and discovered that someone has been trying to hide what was probably taken for hairline cracks with paint but the cracks are widening. In what may be a costly sub-standard construction work of a building, which cost the government P54 million, employees at the court say the roofing of the building leaks. read full story here: #
• Gaborone – Growing from hard learned lessons: Locals like to think of Gaborone as a small town posing as a big city – Certainly, this metropolis is dwarfed in comparison to many other cities in the region, the likes of Pretoria and Johannesburg. However, it may come as a surprise to many of the residents that this seemingly undersized town has exceeded all initial expectations of its growth potential. In 1964, when the first development plan for the city was drafted, the assumption was that its population would never exceed 15, 000 people. Within six years, the population had mushroomed to 75, ooo and today, it stands at around 300, 000. This seems to be the source of many of Gaborone’s development problems – The city’s potential for growth was underestimated from the outset and subsequent development plans failed to readjust this point of view. Kibo Ngowi #
• The city: Gaborone * Alexander McCall Smith doffs his hat to a 'profoundly comfortable' place. ...The city is a new one. While many southern African cities have a good 100 years under their belt, Gaborone, as a city, really only dates back to the mid-60s. Prior to independence, the country was administered as a protectorate, initially from Mafeking (now Mafikeng), which lies over the border in South Africa. In Botswana itself, there were in those days only a handful of towns, and Gaborone was very tiny... read full essay here   #
• Corruption mars BDC multi-million pula project. An independent audit into the operations of a glass manufacturing plant by Botswana Development Corporation in Palapye has unearthed systemic abuse of money by executives at the Government’s investment arm. read full essay. #
• Consultant, govt in messy tussle over National Stadium. The controversy-ridden refurbishment of the National Stadium has hit a new low after a major disagreement between the government and lead consultant, Tectura International. read full essay here #
• P65m defective structure to be occupied by Govt Depts: Government is counting its losses after it paid over P65 million for a Kgale Mews office block later discovered to have serious structural defects that the developer refused to attend to. full story  here #
• BTV complex defects threaten structure: Only 10 years since the Mass Media Complex that houses Btv, RB1, RB2, Daily News and Kutlwano offices was built, the mass media complex is showing serious signs of structural defects and poor workmanship, amid fears of a possible collapse of the whole structure. full story here. #
• Turnstar parts ways with Khumo: Property titan, Turnstar Holdings has parted ways with its asset management consultant, Khumo Property, after nearly six years, as it moves towards in-house management of its P684 million property portfolio. full story here. #