Demolition work on Pirates Arms building to start March 1 |27 February 2016

 Demolition work on one of Seychelles’ landmarks – the Pirates Arms building – will start on Tuesday March 1, according to the Seychelles Pension Fund.

People who work in the vicinity of the building are being asked to take extra precaution to avoid any injuries.

It is expected that the demolition work will end early April and this will give way to a modern complex, on which construction work will start in August. It is expected to take three years to compete the new building.

Once completed, the US $30.8 million project will accommodate shops and restaurants on the ground floor, with offices and other businesses on the four other floors with a multi-storey car park at the back.

“The decision to redevelop the Pirates Arms building was taken several years ago on account of the age of the building and the need for continuous repair that was becoming untenable and very costly. It was thus decided that a redevelopment was the only way forward and Cabinet approved the concept in 2014,” said the Seychelles Pension Fund (SPF) in a recent communiqué.

According to the SPF, tenants of the Pirates Arms building are aware of the plans for redevelopment and have been given until Monday February 29 to vacate the premises.

They were informed of the intention to redevelop the premises in 2012 and in November 2014 all tenants were given until November 2015 to vacate the premises. This was later extended to February 29, 2016 based on requests from the tenants who noted that November was too close to the festive season.

The SPF says that priority will be given to the current tenants when tendered out upon completion of the building.