The Bank of Ghana(BoG) in a statement announced and explained that a structural integrity assessment conducted on its current headquarters in the Central Business District(CBD) of Accra showed that the office, which was built in 1960 is no longer fit for purpose.
The central bank added that the building can no longer stand any major earth tremors.
The statement said the bank went through the required processes to acquire a parcel of land at West Ridge, which was previously owned by the State Insurance Company (SIC).
The land was compulsorily acquired by the Government of Ghana by Executive Instrument, 2020 E.I 304 for the New Bank of Ghana Headquarters, a building of national interest.
The compulsory acquisition process started in 2019 and the Executive Instrument was published and gazetted in 2020.
Here are some of the things BoG considered before the project commenced.
The Project is expected to be completed in September 2024.
- A Restricted Tendering Procurement Method was used which was evaluated and approved by the Public Procurement Authority. The need to procure a highly complex Central Bank accommodation meeting national security considerations, as well as the Bank’s highly classified information security needs, informed the selection of the firms. The Bank wrote to the PPA on 14th January 2020, for approval to use the Restricted Tender Method. This procurement method was based on national security considerations.
2. The bank also said that the Board and Management considered a new Head Office building as the most important priority project to support the operational efficiency of the bank, and also put the Bank of Ghana in a very good position to be the host of the Regional Central Bank as it currently hosts the West African Monetary Institute (WAMI) of the Sub-region.
3. Design and Cost Reviews
- The initial design proposals projected a gross floor area of 73,000 sq.m with the following details:
25-storey Tower Block - 4-storey car parking facility,
- 2-level basements
- Auditorium.
The need to reconfigure the spatial requirements to meet all relevant statutory requirements and functionality of the building resulted in the modification of the initial design concept to the current gross floor area of over 100,000sq.m.
The project consists of three main blocks namely the Tower, Urban, and Amenities Blocks including basements, podium, and ancillary facilities.
- Tower Block – 20-Storey Tower Block
- Urban Block – 8-Storey Urban Block
- Amenities Block – 6-Storey Amenities Block
- Podium – Upper Ground
- Podium –Lower Ground
- Basements – Three (3) level basement car parking areas
- Ancillary facilities
- Energy Farm
- Treatment plants
- Security Gate Houses
4. Key Design Considerations
- In addition to meeting the requirements of all relevant building codes, the building has incorporated Sustainable Design Concepts, such as energy conservation, water conservation, material selection, recycling and reuse of waste (liquid and solid), humane adaptation, etc.
- The design satisfies the EDGE (Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies) green standard. The minimum certification shall be EDGE
5. Tendering and approvals
- Invitation letters to the Tenderers with the Request for Proposal (RFP) documents were issued to shortlisted firms on 21st February 2020.
- A Pre-Bid Conference for Tenderers was held on 19th March 2020.
- The ETC further directed for concurrent approval to be sought from the Central Tender Review Committee (CTRC) of the Ministry of Finance.
- The PPA in response to the Bank’s letter dated 31st August 2020 reviewed the initial PPA approved estimated amount from USD81,882,640.00 to USD121,078,517.94.
- The CTRC on 4th September 2020 granted concurrent approval to the Bank to engage the recommended Tenderer, Messrs. Goldkey Properties Limited at a contract price of USD121,078,517.94 under Turnkey (Design and Build) contract arrangements, which was the least evaluated bid.
6. Commencement of Project
- The project site was formally handed over to the Contractor in March 2021 for the commencement of preliminary site works and designs.
- The Bank’s search on all iconic projects at the time such as the KIA Terminal 3, SU Towers, Ecobank Head Office, Standard Chartered Head Office, Cal Bank Building, MTN Head Office, 335 Place, and other emerging projects such as the ABSA Bank Building pointed in the direction of several firms, some of which were not based in Ghana, others which had local representatives and some local experts.
- The following were invited to express interest in leading the Bank’s project in the area of project management commensurate with the level of complexity of the Bank’s building:
- Profica
- GHC Africa
- Diagonal
- DAR
- AECOM
- MULTICAD
Following scrutiny of their profiles, the Bank settled on MULTICAD, a Ghanaian consultancy firm that had partnered with other consultants in all the identified projects.
7. Current Project Progress Update
Currently, physical progress on the site stands at 41% and is summarized as follows:
▪ Tower Block
Up to 13th Floor slab casting completed.
▪ Urban Block
Upper Roof Slab casting completed.
▪ Amenities (Auditorium) Block
Upper Ground slab Casting completed.
▪ Other works
Internal blockwork is ongoing at various levels in both Tower and
Urban blocks.
Mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) first fixes are ongoing at
various levels