The Wings: Combining functionality, detail, comfort for business

The office space market in Nigeria has, in the past five to six years, witnessed what could be termed a revolution with many towers, too many for mention, scrambling for the skyline of the country’s major cities including Lagos which has, within this period, received over 2,000 square metres office space.

Close watchers of this market say there has been an oversupply, leading to delivery efficiency and product differentiation in veiled competition for tenants and stronger, more compelling visibility in a crowded market.

The Lagos market has seen quite a good number of quality A-grade office buildings, especially on Kingsway Road, Ikoyi and Ozumba Mbadiwe Street in Victoria Island which are considered today the most sought-after destinations in the commercial city.

One of those buildings is The Wings—a 14-floor twin tower office building strategically located by the Five Cowrie Creek  on Ozumba Mbadiwe Street, Victoria Island.  It is an elegantly designed office building with innovative usage of space to give optimal day-to-day functionality. The building is a seamless business environment that combines functionality, detail, services and comfort for business.

“Businesses would consider The Wings above other office buildings in town because of its prime location in the heart of Lagos’ central business district with dual accessibility”, says Gbenga Olaniyan, CEO, Estatelinks—the building’s leasing consultants.

Olaniyan explained that The Wings will be providing ferry services to tenants with excellent connectivity between Island and mainland with ease of access to clients and other business partners, pointing out that its notable features including dedicated jetty; restaurant and banking hall make it different from other Grade A office buildings in the same class.

The building parades such features as porte cochere,  concierge, Wi-Fi connection, cell phone reception boosters, LED lighting, motion sensors to all public areas, high surveillance CCTV systems, and disabled toilets in each tower. It also offers rental concessions which include tenant improvement allowances and rent-free periods.

 Apart from these features and facilities, The Wings differs from its peers in its core design, shape and orientation which are configured to provide the  grade A commercial space with multi-tenant flexibility.

Lyall Dukes, Associate Executive at Stauch Vorster Architects, says the building features high-quality finishes which have been completed and finished on site to a high standard, adding that the small office plates of 1000 square metres feature 360-degree views to virtually all workstations in any particular tenant layout.

“The façade gives an alluring feature view of the city, offering comfort plus the quality of work that is comparable to international standards. This façade system allows for energy efficiency and adaptability to climatic heat conditions”, Dukes whose company is the architectural consultants in the building, said.

Offices in this building are climatically controlled to facilitate maximum comfort with lighting and visual stimulus aimed at enhancing tenant enjoyment and appreciation of the working environment. Duke added that the building also offers a high level of security and comfort to businesses with a high priority on secure operating facilities and peace of mind.

According to him, this building has capacity to improve tenant’s operational efficiency and boost employee productivity.  “A work environment that is a pleasure to use and interact with on a daily basis will result in better productivity and positive attitude. The building is iconic and easily recognizable, creating an association tenants can market and use to their advantage.”

WSP Structures, the structural engineers on the building say its quality is not matched in Nigeria and that the façade system and comfort levels plus quality of work were done to international standards.

CKR Consulting Engineers, the building’s Electrical Engineers and MEP Consultants, informs that oil-less transformers equipped with AVRs (Automatic Voltage Regulators) have been installed in the building to provide superior performance compared to the conventional transformer. “Not only will the incoming supply be stabilized by the AVRs, the oil-less feature also prevents potential fire hazards”, it says.

The Wings has intelligent building management systems which, the company explains, is a system that optimizes the centralized control of heating, ventilation, air conditioning and lighting, thus promoting the building’s functionality. The IBMS is also designed to detect potential thieves as warning signals will be triggered if there are any irregularities from particular areas of the building and these features make it an IBMS-compliant building.