New Strand Hotel by middle of 2015

The ground-breaking ceremony for the new N$340 million Strand Hotel was held at the Mole in Swakopmund yesterday. Olthaver & List (O&L), the owners of the hotel, say that they expect to open doors to the public in mid-2015. Construction of the hotel has been going on for about a month now. The hotel will be built on 250 reverse pillars sunk into the ground to support the infrastructure. This pylon engineering is used to keep infrastructure from ‘sinking’ – especially in areas near the ocean. The four-star hotel will consist of 125 rooms, six suites and one pres

idential suite. It will also have restaurants, bars, kiosks and coffee shops; a 250-seater conference centre, a spar and gym. The groundbreaking ceremony was officially done by the Minister of Environment and Tourism, Uahekua Herunga, who called the hotel a “welcome investment into Namibia’s tourism industry, and therefore into the greater economy”. “The private sector has done much to invest in the economy and this shows the important role of government to create a conducive environment for such investments for the benefit of all Namibians,” he said. O&L Group Executive Chairman Sven Thieme said the groundbreaking was a major milestone for the group because the process was preceded by many years of negotiations and debates to ensure that all parties were happy with the final product. The project received much opposition because of its bulky design, arousing concerns that it would destroy the Mole’s sense of place. After much redesigning, the current design was accepted by all parties. “We are glad that after all this time and effort we are finally able to deliver,” said Thieme. O&L Leisure managing director Bruce Hutchison said the exterior architecture was inspired by Swakopmund itself and was based on a contemporary interpretation of the historic German architecture prevalent in town. “The hotel was set to fit in perfectly with the historic beauty of the town, complementing it and blending in, to truly become part of this Namibian jewel. The building has been designed to look and feel smaller by dividing it into three sections and setting each back from the other enabling the entire sea front area, along the Mole, to become individual weather protected terraces all open to the general public were invited to enjoy their Mole. “The interior concept can be best described as completely residential in feel and structure. I describe it as wanting to create a non-hotel hotel - making you feel as if you are in a very warm and welcoming home - elegant, tasteful and unpretentious setting out to make all feel very welcome and entirely comfortable,” concluded Hutchison. -Adam Hartman