UNON Expansion Positions Nairobi as a Global UN Hub » Capital News

Aug 18 – The United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON) is undertaking a major expansion of its Gigiri headquarters, a move aimed at accommodating the growing number of UN Agencies, Funds, and Programmes relocating regional and global operations to Kenya.

Speaking in Nairobi, a UNON spokesperson said the office expansion and upgrade—backed by the UN General Assembly at a cost of nearly USD 340 million—marks the single largest infrastructure investment the UN Secretariat has made in Africa outside of peacekeeping. “This expansion underscores Nairobi’s increasingly vital role in the UN’s global architecture. With more than 6,000 UN staff in Kenya, including over 5,000 based within the Gigiri complex, we are responding to the demand for modern, sustainable workspaces that can serve both regional and global mandates,” the spokesperson said.

The project involves replacing 10 prefabricated office blocks from the 1970s with six new climate-resilient buildings, and refurbishing older facilities to improve accessibility, energy efficiency, and space utilisation. The spokesperson noted that the upgrades reflect the UN’s commitment to sustainability, adding: “UNON is the first and only UN headquarters to achieve ISO 14001:2015 environmental certification. Our new buildings are designed to further reduce our footprint while creating inclusive spaces that meet international standards.”

Beyond offices, the UN is also set to enhance Nairobi’s capacity to host global summits through the USD 265.6 million Conference Facility Project. Construction is expected to begin in 2026, with completion slated for 2030. The facility will increase meeting capacity from 2,000 to 9,000 participants and include a state-of-the-art Assembly Hall with 1,600 seats—making Nairobi one of only three UN locations worldwide with such a hall.

“This project reaffirms the UN’s long-term commitment to Nairobi, Kenya, and the African continent,” the spokesperson emphasised. “As the only UN Secretariat headquarters in the Global South, UNON provides geographic balance in multilateralism while bringing the organisation closer to the people it serves.”