Tech city to be built in Fairbanks area
Cayman Enterprise City map
(CNS Business): Well over four years after promising a campus to transform Cayman into a technological centre of excellence, the current management team of Cayman Enterprise City has settled on a site in the Fairbanks area of George Town for the tech zone’s actual campus. Since government passed a special law for the proposed project allowing wide-ranging concession for technology and science related firms renting office space through CEC, the group has continued to promise a dedicated site.
In a press release this week, management said it had received zoning approval from the Central Planning Authority so it could to begin construction of this permanent campus on a 70-acre site on the outskirts of George Town between Fairbanks and South Sound.
“This property is ideal and the best suited site for our campus,” said Chief Development Officer and architect, Cindy O’Hara, who said there would be a city centre, lakeside water frontage and high-tech office space in an eco-friendly environment. The property is bordered to the north by the planned extension of Fairbanks Road which will provide access to the campus once the project is complete.
O’Hara, who developed the plan with Brian MacDonald and his team at Design Cayman, pointed to an emphasis on an environmentally-friendly development.
“We’ve completely embraced the new National Conservation Law approved by government, and we are very excited about working with the Department of Environment to create an eco-community focused on business that includes a Caymanian habitat and harmonious environment that promotes well-being. CEC will be a prototype for the regeneration vision of a new urban park in Greater George Town,” she said.
“The buildings will be set around a 10-acre lake, which will be the epicentre of a dynamic sustainable urban park. These will be living waters – an outdoor mangrove and wetland botanic park with new experiences playfully unfolding on the water’s edge, capturing water life and encouraging birds. The design of pavilions, pathways and kayak and rowing launches bring into the focus the reciprocity of landscape, public life and ecology,” she explained.
According to CEC, O’Hara has conducted several intensive years of research to create the perfect workplace environment for CEC’s zone companies, studying zones and tech hubs around the world including the new Google and Apple campuses, to get inspiration. The Mix-Use Commercial Centre will be focused on high-tech co-working business communities, serviced offices and brand cultures. The Innovation Centre/City Hub will house the CEC headquarters and business centre.
The boardwalk will ensure every building on campus has a great view, and some buildings will sit partially over the lake creating a floating effect for kayakers and paddle boarders to glide under, CEC said. With construction of the new 850,000 square foot mixed use campus, Cayman Enterprise City expects to add greatly to Cayman’s economy over the coming years.
Charlie Kirkconnell, CEO of CEC, said, “Cayman is our home and we very much have the best interest of the community and country at heart. So naturally we are fully committed to developing a project that this generation and future generations of Caymanians can be proud of.”
CEC is now in the process of preparing planning applications for the two gateway office buildings in phase one, and a groundbreaking will be scheduled as soon as the applications are approved. O’Hara said construction would be done in phases, in tandem with CEC sales and government completing the access road. According to the release, the existing 180 zone companies which are currently housed in interim zone buildings in central George Town will move into the first and second buildings of phase one.
Category: Construction, Local Business, Technology
Zzzzzzz. Soon come right?
Can anyone say flood zone and if they put in enough fill it will just back up onto others property If one were to walk in the area after a good rain you will see plenty of fish trying to survive as the water pulls back
Can anyone say flood control? If you angle all of your banks down to the central pond you won’t flood the neighbors. That and a large enough pond and green spaces (relative to built area) and your own buildings won’t flood out either.
The ‘problem’ is older developments who didn’t contain their own runoff, relied on undeveloped surrounding wetlands for flood mitigation, and now get flooded when their neighbors build. One of those problems with no good solutions.