Technopark - India's Greenest and Biggest IT Park

[Ajaypp]

Hi all,
This thread is devoted to pictures and information about Technopark, Trivandrum. Started in the early '90s, this IT park has now grown to be the biggest in India and employs around 10,000 people with tenants like Infosys, TCS, Ernst & Young, Mackinsey, Allianz, Tata Elxsi, US Technologies and many more - about 80 in all. Stay tuned!


Visit the Official Technopark Website

[Ajaypp]

Technopark is located in the suburbs of Trivandrum, the capital of the South Indian state of Kerala - often referred to as God's Own Country. With good reason, as we will see in the scenic pictures which will follow. Trivandrum is a large city with a million-plus people in the urban area. It is located just 60-70 Kms from the Southern tip of the Indian sub-continent, on the shore of the Arabian Sea.

Technopark is located on a strategic National Highway (NH) Bypass between the city and the Arabian Sea. Here is a satellite map outlining the location of the Park.



The NH Bypass is clearly visible in the image. The area outlined in Yellow is the Phase I campus of Technopark, covering 185 acres of lush, green land. It currently has over 1.5 million sft of built-up space. Another 1 million sft is under construction.

The area outlined in Green is the 86 acre Phase II campus of Technopark. Construction activities are progressing here for the 50 acre campus of Infosys Technologies - one of India's top IT firms. Infosys plans to have upto 10,000 developers here in the course of the next 3-4 years, with 5,000 in the first phase. Another 36 acres have been earmarked for local giant, US Technologies - a subsidiary of Comcraft, of the US.

In between, is an area marked in Blue which is the Phase III campus, of 100 acres extent which is currently being accquired. Leading IT firms, top Indian construction firm - Larsen & Toubro and leading business school - Asian School of Business - are all awaiting land here.

The area is Red is the site for a proposed International Convention Centre Complex (ICCC) on the banks of the beautiful Aakulam lake, which is visible in the image.

[Ajaypp]

Technopark is one of the top three IT parks in India, along with ITPL - Bangalore and HiTech City - Hyderabad. All of them have built-up space in the 1.5-1.9 million sft range. Technopark has expansion projects ongoing which are adding 660,000 sft in the next year, which will take it to 2.2 million sft and cement its position as the Biggest IT park in India, as of date. By 2007, Technopark will have over 4 million sft of ready-to-occupy and client-built space, with even more on the cards.

It is also, by far, the greenest IT park in India with its entire campus covered by lush green vegetation, characteristic of Kerala. Here is a satellite close-up of the current (Phase I) campus. I regret the poor resolution but Google has not imaged the area at better than 15 m res. Hope to have better res. images soon.

[Ajaypp]

Let's take a brief look at the main buildings in Technopark. Interestingly, till date buildings in Technopark have been named after prominent rivers in Kerala. The reigning champion is Bhavani. With about 500,000 sft of built-up space, this imposing structure has 6 floors. Its tenants include leading firms like Infosys, Allianz, US Technologies etc.

[Ajaypp]

This angled frame shows Bhavani with its smaller and older sibling, Pampa. Pampa is a 60,000 sft building, which along with its twin, Periyar, were the first buildings to be built in Technopark. One can get an idea of the sheer scale of Bhavani from this image. Bhavani was built in record time by M/S Larsen & Toubro.

[Ajaypp]

This is an interior shot of Bhavani. The space is cavernous as you can see in the next shot. The interior is beautifully landscaped with gardens and pools. There is a central stairwell and lift spine with 6 high-speed lifts. Bhavani has been the location for many a film shoot!

[Ajaypp]

[sudheeshnairs]

[sudheeshnairs]

The 5 lakh sft Bhavani dwarfs the smaller 'Pampa' & 'Periyar'

[Ajaypp]

A view of Pampa and Periyar from the rooftop of Bhavani. Bhavani's rooftop has a coffee shop, two restaurants and a lawn, allowing the techies to unwind a bit without needing to go elsewhere!

In the background we can see other buildings - Gayathri MTF (in the centre), the u/c Padmanabham and the M-Square building to the right. Behind the latter is the construction site of the Taj Group's IndiOne Business hotel - the second in India, coming up within the Technopark campus.

[Ajaypp]

Bhavani might be the big kid on the block right now, but its bigger brother is well on its way. Work on the giant, 600,000 sft Thejaswini started on Aug 15th and is due to be completed in Sept 2006. Thejaswini is the biggest single office structure in Kerala and one of the biggest IT buildings in the country. It has 11 floors, including 3 for parking, as well as rooftop restaurants and lifestyle facilities. You can see the perspective of the building below. Being built on a slope (as you will see from the pictures that follow), only 8 floors are visible in the image, the other 3 are effectively below this level. What's more, every bit of space on this mammoth building was booked even before construction really began!

[Ajaypp]

This is an image of the Thejaswini construction site taken from on top of the neighbouring Bhavani. Note the massive extent of the site. The civil work has been awarded to M/S RDS Constructions for about Rs 60 crores. Although this image was taken only a week or so after the award of contract, RDS has mobilised a large fleet of heavy equipment!

Also, note the greenery in the background. Some of the nearby areas belong to the campus of Kerala University. But in the background is the city itself. Unlike most other urban areas which are almost devoid of vegetation, Trivandrum is cloaked in a canopy, broken only by the dozens of high-rises in the city itself.

[Ajaypp]

In this pic taken two weeks ago, we can see that work on Thejaswini has progressed significantly. The construction crew has already started pouring the massive foundations! 15 columns have already been erected, looks like another 6-9 are being added. The sheer scale of the structure is evident from the diminutive size of the workers in the image. RDS has deployed a batching plant, concrete pumps and mobile tower cranes for this project. Stay tuned for updates.

[sudheeshnairs]

NILA was the heavy weight of Technopark till Bhavani came up.

NILA has 3 Restaurants in the ground floor and has a magnificient landscaped atrium. There are two more restaurants in this 7 floor atrium.

The red tiled building to the immediate right of NILA is the 'RANGOLI' Guest House & Restaurant.

Further right, the First floor lawns of the 'Park Centre' is seen. Evening parties are hosted in this lawn.

[sudheeshnairs]

Technopark's motto is 'harmony at work'.

Here the IT workspaces are in perfect harmony with nature.

The important thing to note is the design of the buildings..

It enables the occupants to be close with nature, with wide balconies running around.

Normally we see buildings fully glazed to escape from heat and noise.

[Ajaypp]

@ Sudheesh - Awesome pics mate! Here is a recent version of your first firm. Note the additional green cover, as well as the M-Square building which has recently been finished.

[sudheeshnairs]

This building was inaugurated in 2002 by the then Karnataka Chief Minister S. M. Krishna

You can see that interior landscaping was not done that time.

[e_arunsid]

"Gud work buddy ...Technopark is big enuf to get a separate thread"

[e_arunsid]

Plz let me know how to post pics

[sudheeshnairs]