The ISE Tower is a high-rise building located at 55, Jinnah Avenue of the Blue Area business district of Islamabad.[1] The building was originally designed to serve as a stock exchange building. However, following the merger of the Islamabad Stock Exchange in 2016, the tower has been repurposed as an office building.[2]
History
Constructed at a cost of Rs 2.5 billion, the ISE management independently generated the necessary capital for the project, which was completed in under four years.[3] It was inaugurated in 2009 by then-Prime Minister of Pakistan, Yusuf Raza Gilani.[4]
Building
The building features three basements, each spanning 50,000 square feet, designated for employee parking.[3] Despite the expectation of hundreds of daily visitors upon full occupancy, the planners did not allocate sufficient space for visitor parking.[3] The main features of the 22-storey building include a bronze bull statue and the largest electronic screen in Pakistan, measuring 15 feet high and 10 feet wide.[3]
Unlike other stock markets, the ISE Tower does not include a trading hall, as stock market trading is no longer centralized.[3] To meet the high demand for telephone lines and internet connections, the PTCL has established a hub of 5,000 lines.[3] The entire building is connected via optic fiber, with no copper wire internet connections, resulting in an additional cost of Rs 250 million.[3] The state-of-the-art firefighting system installed in the building cost up to Rs300 million.[3]
