Nigeria’s pacesetting engineering construction company, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, has been chosen to construct the new headquarters building of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).
A press statement by the construction giant issued to newsmen, Sunday, said the iconic 10-storey building design also called The Barrel, located at the strategic Central Business District of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, is “a challenging foretaste in magnitude and technical standard”.
Speaking at the event in Abuja, the Managing Director of Julius Berger, Engr. Dr. Lars Richter, a well-recognised consummate engineering practitioner who, amongst other professional qualifications, holds a doctorate degree in civil engineering, said: “The building itself reflects an outstanding barrel design, drawing inspiration from the physical oil barrel itself. It is a modern office building, thoughtfully designed to include and balance the requirements of today’s contemporary work environments.”
The building, he further said“features a mix of open floor workspaces, individual private offices, conference rooms and an auditorium… along with additional amenities and social facilities, such as a clinic, restaurant, gym and library,” adding that “sufficient space has been allocated for parking to ensure efficiency in every detail.”
The Julius Berger boss described the building footprint as spanning 4,150sqm with the main building itself occupying a total Ground floor area of approximately 48,400sqm. The project, Richter said, also consists of a basement, ground floor, levels 1-10 and a penthouse. He added that the DPR head office building will stand approximately 60 meters tall to beautifully accentuate the growing architectural landscape and brilliant skyline of the Abuja Central Business District.
Richter promised that: “…the finishing of the building will meet the highest quality standards, and include state-of-the art technical fixtures, which further reinforce the building’s stand-out design.”
Also speaking at the ceremony, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipreye Silva said, the DPR headquarters building would be completed during the life of the present President Buhari administration.
“This project is expected to last for 24 months, which is two years and we hope that it will be inaugurated during the lifetime of this administration. We started it and we hope to finish it before we leave. Julius Berger has given us that commitment and we are standing on that commitment,” Sylva said.
