Britam Tower: the KSh7bn bet behind Nairobi’s tallest building
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Nine years after completion, Britam Tower still tops Nairobi’s skyline at 200.1 metres — a KSh7 billion Upper Hill development that has become a benchmark for commercial office design and green building in Kenya.
Britam Tower rises 200.1 metres above Upper Hill, one of Nairobi’s main commercial districts, and is listed by the Council on Vertical Urbanism’s Skyscraper Center as the tallest completed building in Nairobi and in Kenya. Construction began in 2013 and the building was completed in 2017.
The tower serves as the headquarters of Britam Holdings PLC, a financial services group offering insurance, asset management, investment and pension services, and also provides office space for other businesses along with retail facilities and parking. It was developed for British American Insurance Company, part of the Britam Group, with Britam Properties Limited as project manager.
GAPP Architects and Urban Designers worked with Triad Architects on the design, Laxmanbhai Construction was the main contractor and Howard Humphreys (East Africa) handled structural and civil engineering. According to GAPP Architects, the design drew inspiration from Mount Kenya, and its prism-shaped form narrows and changes shape as it rises. The building has a six-storey entrance atrium, a separate parking structure and a glass facade with shading elements intended to manage sunlight while admitting natural light.
The project reportedly cost about KSh7 billion. Skyscraper Center records the building as having 31 floors above ground, three basement levels, approximately 1,002 parking spaces and eight elevators.
Britam says the tower received EDGE certification from the International Finance Corporation, which recognises buildings meeting specified standards for resource efficiency in energy and water use and materials. The building incorporates water-management systems, efficient lighting and a facade designed to limit heat entering the offices.
In October 2025 Britam announced a rooftop solar installation to supply part of the building’s electricity, with an initial 250 kilowatt-peak system and a further 50 kWp planned. The company projected the system would generate about 420,000 kilowatt-hours a year and meet half of the tower’s energy needs, and estimated that existing efficiency measures already avoided nearly 1,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually, with the solar plant preventing a further 198 tonnes.
Britam Holdings PLC is listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange. According to its 2025 Integrated Report, its largest shareholders at 31 December 2025 included AfricInvest III-SPV-1 with 17.55 per cent and Standard Chartered Kenya Nominees Ltd A/C KE003819 with 15.79 per cent.