India''s First All- Steel Residential Building

Kolkata hogged the limelight in 2016, with the construction of an all- steel building. Built by Bengal Shrachi Housing Development and designed by Piercy Conher Architects of UK, Restello is the first all-steel building in  India. According to Ravi Todi, MD, Shrachi Group, this unique building, costing Rs 40 crore, has 12 flats comprising of six 3 BHK  duplex and six 4 BHK duplex flats.

The all- steel building not only gives swanky look, but was also completed in a record time and its cost was less due to savings on labour cost and interest cost. According to Todi steel is much more useful material as construction time is much less, compared to standard brick and mortar building. 

Mega Luxury Home Project

Despite the slowdown in the luxury residential market, a mega luxury home project — ‘Piramal Ananya’, involving US-based Make Architects and UK based Hirsch Bednor interior designers, was launched in Byculla, Mumbai in 2016. Piramal Realty, the developers of the project, also roped in Buro Happold for structure and MEP Design & EDSA as landscape architects.

Spread over 7 acres, the 70-storey project, spanning 3.7msf, will come up at a big investment of Rs 4300 crore. The promoters of Piramal Group- Goldman Sachs and Warburg Pincus have invested $434 million in the company at entity level. The signature project expected to be completed in 4-5 years, is likely to generate a revenue of about Rs 8000 crore.

Greenest Mall of India

Viviana Mall, a leading retail mall in Mumbai Metropolitan Region, achieved the rare distinction of becoming India’s greenest mall in the year. It is the first shopping mall to have the largest solar plant installed at a single site. With 900kva Rooftop Solar Power Plant, Viviana Mall can generate 91000 watt electricity in a month through solar energy.  The plant will be able to generate 11 lakh units electricity in a year with a saving of about 30 per cent on energy consumption. This is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision to achieve the target of 175 gigawatts of solar energy by 2022 , up from the current capacity of 45 gigawatts.

A part of Sheth Corporation, this destination mall, spread over 1 million square feet, has many firsts to its credit, as a green mall, with an aim to connect with leisure conscious customers who are looking for environmental friendly services and products.The trend- setting mall has its own organic waste management plant for treating organic waste into manure. All the food waste generated in the mall, is converted into organic manure on a daily basis, with average monthly generation of 5500 kg of manure, which is used for maintaining greenery around the mall and also distributed free to customers. The mall is also unique in the sense that it is India's first visually impaired mall.

India’s Largest Affordable Housing Project

Pune- based real estate developer, Vastushodh Projects, made the headlines in 2016 by launching  what’s touted as the country’s largest affordable housing project. Christened as ‘Anandgram’, the 7-storey project, spread over 22 acre at Bhandgaon on Pune- Solapur highway, will comprise 2,000 units, spread across 31 buildings. Anandgram, will have 1-2 bhk units besides studio apartments, in the sizes of 249 s ft, 857 s ft, priced in the range of Rs 6.20 lakh to Rs 22 lakh. According to Sachin Kulkarni, managing director, Vastushodh Projects, the construction of the project had already started in September 2016, and private equity fund, Avenue Venture Partners had made investment in the project.