By Jude Njoku

Amidst pomp and pageantry, Nigeria’s leading real estate development and property company, Messrs UACN Property Development Company, UPDC Plc, last week, celebrated the completion of its multi-million Naira Cameron Green Estate located in the highbrow Ikoyi area of Lagos.

Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge

The ceremony which was held at Estate’s lush green playground, attracted captains of industry, real estate gurus and residents of the luxury estate located at No 1-3 Cameron Road, Ikoyi.

In his brief remarks, the Group Managing Director of UAC Plc, Mr Larry Ettah commended the buyers for having faith in the company’s ability to deliver quality products, even when the project was off-plan.

UPDC’s Managing Director, Mr Hakeem Ogunniran took exception to the popular belief that people should not invest in real estate because of the poor state of the nation’s economy.

Real estate investors

“There is a lot of conception that because of the current state of the economy, the uncertainties, the issues around politics, that people should stay action on real estate investments. But we at UPDC take a very contrary view. We believe that at a time like this, perhaps the best return on value and the best multiplier of value that you can have, is real estate investments,” he said.

An elated Ogunniran flaunted the features that distinguish Cameron Green Estate from other estates within the Ikoyi neighbourhood.

“We designed Cameron Green in a manner that the orientation has limited exposure to the sun because of its potential eco-friendliness. This is because when you have a building that has limited exposure to sunlight and sun rays, then the use of cooling by mechanical means is reduced and that is a very sound principle of sustainability. When we say that this is Cameron Green, the tendency around here is to assume that it is because we have flowers and trees. That is just part of the elements. If you take a very close look at this project, you will see that all the materials we used, for example, for the roof, we used aluminium truces instead of timber which is in accordance with green conservation. The kitchens are made of MDS which are recycled materials in line with our goal of building for sustainable values,” he said.

Continuing, Mr Ogunniran said: “In doing this project, as much as possible, we did not distort the existing ecosystem. We had to leave all the trees and in addition, we are very proud to say that we have planted 128 trees on the site. In the next four to five years, you will see the beauty of this estate”.

The UPDC boss listed the prominent facilities in the estate to include a swimming pool, lawn tennis court, fitness centre, children playground, easy drive way, ample parking lots for residents and visitors, sewage treatment plant and borehole with water treatment plant.

Describing the location as exclusive, Ogunniran said the facility management of the estate will be handled by UPDC.

“The occupancy of this estate is unbelievable and that is one of the benefits of designing not a concrete jungle as you find in all the places in Ikoyi. We have 1.1 hectares here but we have built up only 35 percent. The rest were left for amenities and things like that,”he said.

Cameron Green consists of four detached houses, each sitting on 1,000 sq metres and serviced with a boys quarters. Each house comes with its own swimming pool. There are also two blocks of 28 flats made of 10 units of four-bedroom flats, 10 units of three-bedroom flats and eight units of one-bedroom flats.

The UPDC boss also used the forum to unveil other developmental initiatives of the company in Abuja, Lagos, Port-Harcourt, Asaba and Ibadan.