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Boidus Focus November Edition- Five Reasons Why CBD will Fail
Boidus Focus November Edition explores the following: Five key reasons that will see Gaborone CDB fail Botswana Property Index Lauched (IPD) report and performance results for year 2011 Exclusive feature: Luc Vandecasteele’s extraordinary experience from: Congo-Belgium-Suriname-SA-To-Molapo Crossing. Boidus Focus is available from the following stores: Square Mart, Exclusive Books, University of Botswana staff canteen, Thapong [...]
Local Construction Industry Firms Need To Look At Wider Africa for Opportunities
On Friday 08 July 2011, the world welcomed a new independent country to the map; Republic of South Sudan. South Sudan, which broke free from what used to be Sudan governed from Khartoum, will now have its own government with its own capital in the city of Juba. As a new country comes into being, [...]
Botswana Should Develop Solar Farms for Its Energy Needs
That Botswana suffers from chronic power shortages is a fact. Also it should be noted that Botswana Government though the Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources (MMEWR) are currently engaged in various power coal plant initiatives, notably Mmamabula Energy Project (MEP), the P20 billion project. This is said will be able to supply Botswana [...]
Greening Our Energy Guzzling Buildings for the 21st Century
Ministry of Education Headquarters (One of the so called twin -towers) The drive to maintenance and refurbishment of government should begin with the ‘twin towers’. The two white buildings in the government enclave (Block 8, Block10) are undoubtedly one of the most visible structures in Gaborone’s skyline. These buildings designed in the early 90’s strike a white [...]
The plight of Gaborone North residents
A few weeks ago I read a story in the Mmegi newspaper of 13 April 2011with the headline “GCC spends millions servicing private land”. My fascination with the article was not about the accusation contained therein, but about the continuing confusion regarding government policy towards provision of infrastructure services to Gaborone north residential neighbourhood, which [...]
BUILDING DESIGN AS AN INVESTMENT: PART 3
Green common spaces: image Except The smart-choice of your building site and ‘good-design’ of your building adds value to your investment, but building amenities can also help to maximize the potential appeal of your development. Building amenities can give your development uniqueness enabling it to stand out from the rest. In office or hotel developments, [...]
BUILDING DESIGN AS AN INVESTMENT: PART 1
This essay is the first installment of a 3-part feature on investing in your building project through design. Most people in Botswana and indeed around the world develop their property as an investment and therefore expect returns on the investment of their product. In global markets, an investor would careful put their money in an asset which [...]
Designing Sowa Town from scratch; Reflections By Jan Wareus
Place making and zonal mappings [images:http://janwareussowatown.blogspot.com/] We continue our feature of Sowa Town on its 20th anniversary highlighting today its design beginnings, as narrated by one of its founding designers, Jan Wareus. He takes us through its history and principles of concept making that the township layout was based on. Sowa Town is new town [...]
Building a Central Business District (CBD) During a Recession
Since the first appearance of a typical Central Business District (CBD) in London at the Exchange (near St Paul’s Cathedral) in the early 1600’s, the CBD has always been associated in some way with good economic climate and prosperity in business. A resurgence of CBDs even recently has been manifested in times of success and [...]
Gaborone, a City without a Public Square
This week has been an incredible week in the sport fabric of Botswana. The Zebras have finally done us proud by qualifying for our first ever Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON). This is a historic achievement and throughout the week, the city of Gaborone and indeed the country, has been awash with excitement, with even [...]
Boidus Focus August Edition
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