Nigerian brand Murals.ng unveil Spaces to Bring Greater Visibility and Accountability to Commercial Interior Projects in Nigeria

  By Helen Barica

Platform combines client-facing digital dashboard with managed execution services  addressing the trust gap that costs Nigerian property owners billions annually through payment disputes, site readiness failures, and intermediary-driven quality degradation.

Murals Nigeria Limited (RC 8034511) today announced the public launch of Spaces by Murals.ng, a client-facing digital platform combined with managed execution services for complex commercial interior projects. Spaces helps hotels, developers, property owners, and other commercial clients move from an approved design or project brief to a documented, finished interior through one coordinated execution process.

“Clients should not have to choose between creative ambition and delivery visibility. Spaces gives the client a clearer view of what is being produced, who is responsible for each stage, what needs to happen before installation, and when a project is ready for approval.”

Olufemi Adeleke, Founder and CEO, Murals Nigeria Limited

The Problem: When the Process Is Opaque, the Outcome Suffers

The launch responds to a recurring problem in Nigeria’s commercial interior sector: clients often have limited visibility into how their budgets are being managed, which suppliers are producing the work, whether a site is ready for installation, and whether the finished result matches what was approved. The platform was built in response to two documented project failures that expose the structural weaknesses of the current system.

Case Study A: Art Installation in an Uncompleted Building

In a recent project, a specialist contractor was engaged to deliver an art installation valued at approximately NGN 35 million inside a commercial building. Before deploying installation teams, the contractor conducted a formal site readiness inspection and documented that the building was still under active construction  debris throughout, wet works in progress, electrical fixtures not installed, and unfinished surfaces.

The contractor documented these conditions in a formal report with photographs and notified the developer. Installing finished art in an uncompleted construction site would have caused immediate and serious damage to the work. The contractor held deployment  the responsible action.

Six days later, the developer’s most senior executive sent an email to over 15 internal recipients including legal, procurement, operations, and membership teams  accusing the contractor of "unacceptable delay, poor responsiveness, and a lack of urgency." Two days after that, the same executive sent a second email to the same distribution list stating the works had been "resolved through an alternative arrangement," implying the contractor had failed to deliver.

The developer then withheld over NGN 12 million in unpaid work  despite the contractor having completed all off-site production valued at over NGN 30 million. The matter is now proceeding to court.

The root cause: there was no shared, transparent record of site conditions. When the developer chose to rewrite the narrative, nothing existed to contradict the false claims. The contractor had done the right thing  refusing to install NGN 35 million worth of art in an uncompleted building and was publicly punished for it.

Case Study B: NGN 4.2 Million Commissioned, NGN 150,000 Delivered

In a separate case, a corporate client paid approximately NGN 4.2 million through a design intermediary for bespoke, custom-produced artwork. What the client actually received was printed, resized photographs  with visible watermarks still on the images  with an estimated market value of approximately NGN 100,000 to NGN 200,000.

The intermediary had blocked direct communication between the specialist contractor and the end client throughout the project. The contractor could not get specification clarity, could not access the client for approval rounds, and could not deliver the full bespoke service the client had paid for. When the contractor proposed a three-way meeting to resolve the creative direction, the intermediary refused to facilitate it.

The client paid NGN 4.2 million for bespoke art. They received printed photographs worth roughly NGN 150,000 a value destruction of approximately 96%. The client never knew what they were supposed to

receive because the intermediary filtered all information. By the time the substandard work was deliver money was spent and the intermediary had already positioned the contractor as the problem.

The Pattern: Information Asymmetry Drives Every Failure

These two cases represent the two dominant failure modes in the Nigerian commercial interior sector. In the first, a developer withholds payment and blames the contractor for delays caused by the developer’s own uncompleted site. In the second, an intermediary sits between the paying client and the executing contractor, blocks direct communication, and the client pays a premium for a deliverable worth a fraction of the investment.

In both cases, the person paying the money did not have visibility into the process. There was no shared record of site conditions, no transparent cost breakdown, no quality checkpoint, and no platform to verify what was being delivered against what was commissioned.

This is not a craftsmanship problem. Nigeria has world-class interior fit-out specialists and material suppliers. The failures are in procurement transparency, site readiness verification, intermediary accountability, quality verification, and payment control.

How Spaces Works

Spaces structures commercial interior projects around three operating principles:

Site-Readiness Verification

Installation is scheduled only after the relevant site conditions have been reviewed and confirmed with photographic evidence. This prevents the installation of finished materials in uncompleted buildings and reduces avoidable damage, rework, delays, and disputes. All parties see the same conditions. No one can blame the contractor for a delay caused by site readiness failures.

Milestone-Based Documentation

Project stages are tied to documented outputs and client approvals. Clients receive clear information about what has been produced, what has been delivered, and what remains outstanding before the next payment or stage is released. Deliverables are reviewed and approved at each milestone. If a client commissioned bespoke art, they approve bespoke art — not printed photographs.

Direct Client Visibility

Clients use the platform to view and manage project information, including scope, execution responsibilities, supplier involvement, project progress, and delivery status. Where an architect or interior designer is involved, their role is defined separately from procurement and execution oversight. No intermediary can filter, withhold, or rewrite the narrative.

The Cost of Opacity — and the Savings from Transparency

On a typical NGN 35 million commercial project, pricing opacity costs owners an estimated NGN 2.8–4 million in inflated material charges alone. The Nigerian interior fit-out market suffers from 30–40% pricing opacity on materials. A contractor quotes a price; the owner has no way to verify whether it reflects actual market rates.

Spaces provides real-time market data on material costs, labour rates, and logistics — showing the owner what each line item actually costs, not what a contractor or intermediary chooses to quote. On a typical commercial project, this represents 8–12% in material cost savings.

In Case A, the cost of the dispute — over NGN 12 million in unpaid work, plus legal costs, plus reputational damage — was over 60 times the annual platform subscription of NGN 200,000. In Case B, the client’s entire NGN 4.2 million investment was effectively wasted — 21 times the subscription cost — because there was no platform to ensure the deliverable matched the brief.

Client Pathways

Spaces offers two pathways:

• "Design and Execution" — For clients who need creative direction and physical delivery through one coordinated partner. Spaces connects project direction with verified execution, production, and installation.

• "Execute My Design" — For clients who already have completed designs and need a documented execution partner to produce and deliver the work.

Founding Supplier Network

Spaces is developing a curated network of supplier partners across furniture, materials, lighting, fabrication, and related interior categories. Partners are assessed on quality, pricing transparency, delivery capability, and availability. The network gives qualifying commercial projects access to reliable specialists while giving clients clearer visibility into who is responsible for each part of the work. Expressions of interest from suitable suppliers are currently being accepted.

Project Scope and Access

Spaces currently accepts commercial interior projects with a minimum scope of NGN 8 million. Suitable projects include hotel interiors, serviced apartments, commercial properties, branded residences, corporate offices, hospitality spaces, and other environments requiring coordinated design execution and specialist delivery.

The platform and managed service are launching from Lagos, with plans to work across Nigeria and later support selected African markets. Project access is currently granted based on scope, readiness, and fit.

About Murals Nigeria Limited

Murals Nigeria Limited (RC 8034511) is a Lagos-based Culture-Tech company creating culturally rooted environments and coordinating specialist production and delivery. Through Murals.ng, Spaces by Murals.ng, and Warlocks, the group connects creative direction, commercial interior execution, and verified specialist capability.

Murals.ng leads the group’s art and cultural direction. Spaces by Murals.ng combines a client-facing digital platform with managed execution services for hotels, developers, property owners, and other commercial clients. Warlocks supports production and delivery through a verified network of artists, craftsmen, fabricators, and other specialists.

Together, the group helps clients move from an approved brief or design to a more distinctive, coordinated, and documented finished space.

Registered office: Banex Mall, Plot 1 Akiogun Road, Oniru, Victoria Island, Lagos. Directors: Olufemi Adeleke and Adetola Adeleke.

Media Contact

Olufemi Adeleke Founder and CEO, Murals Nigeria Limited olufemi@murals.ng | +234 702 500 8504

RC 8034511 | Banex Mall, Plot 1 Akiogun Road, Oniru, Victoria Island, Lagos murals.ng | spaces.murals.ng