Sterling Tower is the first tower in Africa to be completely solarized on its facade. The tower is an office development built by Sterling Bank Plc., one of the top known banks in Nigeria. 

It is located on Marina Road, Lagos Island, one of the oldest commercial areas in the State. The development is located in close proximity to other notable old office developments and bank headquarters such as: 

• UBA House by United Bank of Africa, 
• Elephant House, 
• Reinsurance House by African Reinsurance, 
•  47 Marina (ED Building) by Investment Holding Limited, 
• Savannah Bank, and 
• the recently renovated Afriland Tower (formerly Raymond House) by Afriland Properties.

Having a height of 217 ft with 16-floors, Sterling Tower stands as one of the tallest buildings in Nigeria. The building also has a Gross Leasable area of 11,000sqm. 

In 2022, Sterling Bank Plc. completed the full solarisation of the tower development, by wrapping the building with solar panels making it Africa’s first solar tower. This system of power generation is called: Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV), whereby solar power generating products are integrated into parts of the building components such as: roofs, walls, facades, and windows.

The installation of the system began Q4:2021 and was completed in Q4:2022, lining the tower with about 6,500sqm of crystalline silicon PV glass.This also makes the development the largest building having the BIPV system in Africa.

The BIPV system provides about 1 MegaWatt Peak of power, and therefore establishes the bank’s commitment towards a net zero emission goal. 

Several companies in Nigeria and Africa have been propagating initiatives towards sustainability and achieving net zero emissions. In a recent article we wrote, it was noted that Nigeria ranks second to Kenya at 64% on the Green Buildings Matrix in terms of the adoption potential, with significant progress being made towards green building legislation and its commitment to Net Zero by 2060. 

We love your feedback! Let us know what you think about this new solarization of the Sterling Tower by sending an email to [email protected].

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