Toyota Kenya in a US$ 3.5m Showroom and Service Centre
Toyota Kenya Limited is the exclusive distributor of the prestigious global brand Toyota. The company offers a wide range of personal and commercial vehicles as well as parts. In addition, Toyota has some of the most comprehensive service centres for its clients. The company leverages on modern and spacious facilities and leading-edge technology to provide a complete range of before- and after-sales services to meet all customer needs.
Eldoret is one of the busiest towns in Kenya serving large swathes of Rift Valley and Western regions of the country. With a growing population and expanding industries, the town has attracted major companies over the years. Toyota has been operating in the town for many years from leased premises and their new facility was conceived against this backdrop.
According to Charles Akayi, an architect at Symbion Kenya, who are the lead consultants, the new facility is a 3S (Sales, Service, Spares) centre sitting on approximately four acres of land along Uganda Road.
“The client envisioned an aesthetically appealing facility with reference to the Toyota Model Plan which has both indoor display of Toyota cars and outdoor display of Hino trucks and Case tractors”, he says. As Eldoret is located in a major agricultural region, CASE tractors will be one of the main products to be showcased at the facility. Toyota is also the distributor of Yamaha motorcycles and therefore these will also be showcased here.
The total built-up area is 2,550 square metres consisting of Showroom, Parts Centre, Service Workshop, Wash Bays, Offices on the first floor as well as support facilities.
The architects have created an extensive seamless glass showroom façade facing the highway to provide an excellent view of the displayed vehicles from the highway. There’s a balance between glass and aluminum louvres which allow air circulation and natural lighting into the facility, making the premises a quality work environment. The design showcases Toyota’s advanced technology, vehicle sales and spare part sales.
Other features include an underground water tank of capacity 100,000 litres with half of this amount expected to be harvested from rainwater.
The project commenced in April 2019 with a planned completion date of Mid-March 2020. However, according to Architect Akayi, there may be a slight delay occasioned by a few challenges experienced by the team. Unusually heavy rains in November and December 2019 slowed down works at the site. There were also some delays in getting the requisite approvals from Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA). A few alterations also caused delays. The team is however optimistic that despite these hurdles, the completion date will probably be stretched by no more than two weeks.
As the project nears completion, Toyota Kenya customers can look forward to the wide range of services they have come to expect from their favourite motor vehicle dealer, provided from spacious and easily accessible premises in Eldoret.
PROJECT TEAM
Client: Toyota Kenya Limited
Architects: Symbion Kenya Ltd
Project Manager: Symbion Kenya Ltd
Structural/Civil engineers: Ngasi Consulting Engineers
Mechanical /Electrical engineers: Syldon and Partners Consulting Engineers
Quantity Surveyors: MaceYMR
Main contractor: Vishva Builders Ltd
Plumbing & drainage sub-contractor: Homeland Plumbing Works
Electrical sub-contractor: Polyphase Electrical Merchant Ltd
ICT sub-contractor: Synthesis Systems Ltd
