Browsing by Author "Okai, David"
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- ItemRidge Precinct Development, Accra(1989-05-08) Okai, DavidIn 1894, the colonial government acquired the ambassador Hotel area from the Osu stool; a piece of land, bordering Victoriaborg, that became known as Ridge, stretching from the Ministries area to Kojo Thompson Road, It was part of the European Quarter, used for administrative and residential purposes and included Ridge Hospital, then known as the European Hospital. With the advent of Independence, ownership passed to the national government where it began to assume its present profile, slowly changing from a residential to a civic area. The Town and Country Planning department undertook to create a viable institutional environment partial to business promotion, high- level retail and business services. The construction of the Bank of Ghana mastif on Liberia Road lends the high upbeat image required to project values and uses. This will be enhanced by the construction of the S.S.I’ block, the SIC block sad the Valco Fund Headquarters. A cultural taint has been provided by the presence of the British Council and the U.S.I.S. developments, and the adjacent Ridge Park creates optimum working environment conditions. Other points are the proximity to the present CBD and central city functions and accessibility to a high-capacity transportation network. Full market values of land are realized when intense vertical concentration is organised with a mid variety of big and small retail and office opportunities that give vitality and more intense use of the land. Letting of office space to private and public business services also creates robustness in functions. The precinct in question is part of a larger civic-commercial proposal that stretches from Liberia Road to Sankara Circle, so the consequent planning and design must take into account continuity and feature as an initial multiplier coefficient of future trends Fundamentally, the intention will be to review specifications in a general design plan of public spaces and building bulks, where builders will fill a prescribed development envelope complimenting the use and elements of each other. Intrinsic to this will be the relationships.