HOK presents the Brigade Gateway masterplan


Artist’s impression of Brigade Gateway

Thomas Curley and Kenneth Drucker of HOK Inc. (Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabum), New York, presented the master plan for Brigade Gateway at the Windsor Manor Sheraton and Towers recently.

The master plan was developed after a series of meetings and discussions in Bangalore and in New York. After the presentation, the architects from HOK stayed on in Bangalore for a few more days to take feedback, based on which final refinements to the master plan would be made.

While HOK will be designing the master plan, Venkataramanan Associates, one of Bangalore's leading architectural firms, will be doing the detailed design development of Brigade Gateway.

The finalisation of the master plan of our 36-acre integrated enclave on Whitefield Road is underway. The enclave will feature a range of apartments, state-of-the-art software facilities, a club, a shopping complex, parks and landscaped areas. We are gearing up to launch the project, which is designed by Thomas Associates, one of Bangalore's leading architectural firms.

Brigade Metropolis is designed to be a self-contained, integrated enclave that offers its residents outstanding facilities and a sense of community and security. Its 36-acre campus will include apartments, offices, a shopping complex, parks, a club and other amenities. The enclave is located on Whitefield Road, 4 km before ITPL (from the Krishnarajapuram cable stayed bridge).

The saga of 24th Main Road Formation


The story of 24th Main is a long one.

As early as 1997, at the behest of the then BDA Commissioner, four builders—Brigade Group, L&T, Dinesh Ranka and Unnati Developers—entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop the further extension of 24th Main, commencing from the 100-feet Ring Road, JP Nagar, till Puttenahalli tank bund road (T Junction) and further roads proceeding to Brigade Millennium and Bannerghatta Road via L&T South City.

As per the MoU, BDA would acquire the required land to form the road and hand it over to the consortium of developers and the developers would form the road at their cost (estimated at Rs 150 lakhs plus). Accordingly, BDA notified for acquiring the required land (after necessary resolution by the BDA Board in November '97)—about a kilometer in length and 60 feet wide.

Though BDA notified the land, acquisition process was not completed. This resulted in Unnati Developers, Dinesh Ranka and L&T withdrawing from the consortium. Brigade Group was the only developer ready to proceed with the project.

Subsequently, when Sri S.M.Krishna's Government came to power in 1999, although BATF considered 24th Main Road work as one of the first public-private sector initiatives for improving Bangalore's civic infrastructure, the project unfortunately did not receive the required support (by way of land
Acquisition) from BDA.

In spite of this, Brigade Group was committed to the 24th Main Road formation as it would benefit thousands of people in JP Nagar 7th and 8th Stages, apart from residents of Brigade Millennium. With a lot of effort, time and money, Brigade Group privately acquired 0.6 km, 60 feet wide road from the land owners, which was critical for the formation of the new road.

A 4-lane road with a median is now formed by Brigade Group (portion marked B) at a cost of approximately Rs 100 lakhs.

Presently, the stretches marked 'A' and 'C', which are in existence for the past 20 years but in very bad condition, require leveling, consolidation and black topping, involving a further cost of Rs 75 lakhs plus. At the request of officials and people's representatives, Brigade Group is willing to incur the cost and form these stretches of the road too. For this, Brigade Group is now awaiting consent and certain formalities from the jurisdictional City Municipal Council—CMC Bommanahalli.

L&T is trying to acquire portion marked 'D' in green, which will give them access to the tank bund road and on further land acquisition alongside the Puttenahalli tank, to their South City. If 'D' happens, Brigade Group will also improve the portion marked 'E'.

The story is not over yet. But there seems to be light at the end of tunnel.