< Previous40 MEP Middle East | September 2022 www.mepmiddleeast.com PROJECTS From a radical take on barefoot luxur y to its passion for sustainability, The Red Sea destination is setting the standard for ground-breaking sustainable design. Ian Williamson, the chief projects deliver y of fi cer at TRSDC, highlights the project’s contribution to Saudi Arabia’s transition to carbon neutrality and its various sustainability dynamics September 2022 | MEP Middle East 41 www.mepmiddleeast.com PROJECTS42 MEP Middle East | September 2022 www.mepmiddleeast.com PROJECTS Ian Williamson, chief projects delivery officer, TRSDC One of the world’s most fabled waters, located between Asia and A frica, is the Red Sea. From the coast to a paradisiacal archipelago with over 90 untouched islands, dormant volcanoes, sweeping desert dunes, mountain canyons, and numerous historical and cultural sites, the destination spans over 28,000 kilometres. With two large-scale developments along the Red Sea coast, the mega tourism vision of Saudi Arabia is coming alive. The project is being developed to the highest sustainability standards to not only preserve the destination’s natural beauty but also enhance it for generations to come, thus cementing Saudi Arabia’s position as a leader in sustainable regenerative tourism. The project is set to be fully using renewable energy day and night, making it the largest off-grid destination in the world. TRSDC’s chief projects delivery officer Ian Williamson ref lects on the accomplishments of the project five years since its launch by HR H Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince of the kingdom. It is surprising how much has been built already by TRSDC in these fi ve years. What has been the business model driving this progress? A fter years of planning and execution, we are excited to be welcoming the first- ever guests to our destinations early next year. In establishing two of the world’s most ambitious regenerative tourism developments at The Red Sea destination and A MA A L A, one of the key routes to achieving speed while not sacrificing quality has been our willingness to be f lexible. We’re attempting something that has never been achieved before, so there is no established road. The process has required calculated risk-taking, but on the countdown to welcoming our first guests, it’s an approach that has proven that environmentally considerate construction can happen at pace. Another huge part of achieving fast, high-quality, and eco-conscious construction has been our adoption of technology. Specifically, our use of a Delivery Management System (DMS) integrated with Building Information Modelling (BIM) ensuring everyone on the project is in step, as well as monitoring real progress against planned. Our progress is also grounded in a collaborative approach with leading industry partners, who help us explore global trends and assess what works best to collectively move the dial on our destinations.September 2022 | MEP Middle East 43 www.mepmiddleeast.com PROJECTS Our devwelopments provide diversifi ed business opportunities for local, regional, and international players, including unique opportunities to leverage Saudi Arabia’s key strategic assets. Supported by our robust procurement and partnership strategies, several partners across national ministries, local contractors, international organisations, and leading architects, designers, and scientists from around the world have joined our journey to regenerative tourism and drive the market in the right direction. We’re continuing to witness strong appetite from private and third-party investors as well, and recently signed our fi rst Joint Venture investment valued at over SAR 1.5 billion, with a subsidiary of the Al Mutlaq Group (AMG). Speaking in numbers, how much work would you say has been contracted as of today? Over 1,000 contracts have been signed to date for The Red Sea destination, worth more than SAR 25 billion (USD 6.7 billion), and currently we are contracting works at over SAR one billion per month. Could you give us an update on Phase One of the project and the timelines around it? The Red Sea destination has demonstrated significant progress on the ground, with Phase One now more than 50 per cent complete. Work is on track to welcome guests in 2023, when the first hotels will open, with the balance set to be completed by early 2024. Several key assets are already fully operational including a four-star management hotel and on-site offices. We are also nearing completion on the construction of key projects including Southern Dunes, an inland location, sitting among sweeping desert dunes; Ummahat Island, a pristine location; and Shura Island, our hub island that will be home to our first nine hotel assets. Logistics and utilities infrastructure is advancing steadily in parallel with 80 km of road already complete including the road to our new Red Sea International Airport (RSI), which will be operational in 2023. Our one million-square meter landscape nursery, the largest in the region, opened in Q1 2020 to eventually provide upwards of 25 million plants required to landscape our destinations. For a megaproject of this size, how is data managed and visibility ensured across the supply chain and between key stakeholders? Our digital project delivery is aligned with the ISO 19650 standards. In fact, we are the fi rst asset owners across the world to achieve the prestigious BIM Project Kitemark for excellence in information management and embedding such best 44 MEP Middle East | September 2022 www.mepmiddleeast.com PROJECTS To enable our site to be 100 per cent carbon-neutral, we are setting our sights on becoming the world’s largest destination run solely on clean, renewable energy. At the heart of this vision is a large, highly effi cient solar farm alongside the world’s largest battery storage facility, at 1000MWh, ensuring we continue meeting power demand when the sun goes down. Our energy generation package is one part of a signifi cant public-private partnership (PPP) agreement that we awarded to an ACWA Power-led consortium to design, build, and operate The Red Sea’s utilities infrastructure. The PPP agreement expects to generate up to 650,000 MWh of renewable energy, resulting in carbon savings equivalent to half a million tons of CO2 emissions each year. The size and scale of this facility undoubtedly put our iconic regenerative tourism destination at the forefront of the global transition towards carbon neutrality, while playing a signifi cant role in Saudi Arabia’s ambition towards net-zero carbon emissions by 2060. What steps is TRSDC taking towards achieving the LEED Platinum status? We are proud to have completed the fi rst stage of the LEED for Cities platinum certifi cation in the ‘Plan & Design’ criteria for The Red Sea destination, becoming the fi rst development in the Middle East to do so. Now, we are targeting Gold or above LEED accreditation for at least 75 per cent of our buildings. Tell us about the off-site manufacturing and prefabrication practices used to minimise man-made footprint on site. Innovative off-site manufacturing, such as prefabrication, is just one example of how we collaborate with industry leaders to minimise the environmental practices across the organisation. Our industry-leading information management systems, processes, and platforms have been in place since the inception of the company in 2018, enabling us to overcome complexities often associated with projects of such scale. With consultants operating across the globe, and our contractors delivering our projects locally, BIM allows us to create a highly effi cient and integrated environment where all teams continue to work cohesively at pace. For example, our design and construction database is stored in a central cloud platform. This ensures a dynamic workfl ow where roles and responsibilities are effectively identifi ed, project information is accurately distributed, and quality data- driven decisions are made in days rather than weeks. Another example is the visualisation element enabled by this platform. By creating a 3D model of each of our physical assets, we can see how buildings are being constructed in sequence and resolve any confl icts in the design phase before initiating work on site. As we know, the project is off-grid with no connection to the Saudi Water and Electricity Regulatory Authority. Tell us about the source of power.September 2022 | MEP Middle East 45 www.mepmiddleeast.com PROJECTS impact of construction while maximising efficiencies. For example at our Coastal Village, the central hub that will become home to more than 14,000 people who will eventually run the destination, we installed off-site-manufactured residential fittings. The 70 -ton prefabricated units were transported to our site by our partners Saudi Amana and DuBox, where each unit came pre-equipped with floor, wall, ceiling finishes, kitchens and bathrooms. We are also exploring volumetric and “flat-pack” off-site manufacturing with laminated structural timber frames manufactured in Europe, and entire overwater villa modules assembled in the UAE and shipped to the site. Indeed, such off-site construction methods enable us to minimise construction and water wastage, while significantly reducing noise and transportation pollution. With the pandemic placing pressures on the supply chain and schedules, how were the challenges overcome to keep the project on track? It is no secret that many industries were heavily impacted by challenges stemming from the pandemic, including construction. Global supply chains were hit hard with widespread delays and disruptions that continue today. Of course, our priority fi rst and foremost during that time was our people, ensuring they were safe and well. We put in place clear policies and transparent communication to ensure this was achieved. As a result, we were able to maintain more than 7,000 employees and contract workers on site to continue development and despite the diffi cult circumstances, were able to make signifi cant progress. We now have more than 20,000 people on site and I’m proud to say we are on track to welcome our fi rst guests next year, demonstrating the impressive resilience of our teams during that challenging time. Another challenge faced by the construction industry is the resulting high levels of waste. Is there a waste management plant built to avoid environmental pollution? Our dedicated solid waste management center is founded on the principles of zeroes: zero waste to landfill, even during construction; zero solid waste to sea; and zero single-use plastics. We leverage the waste hierarchy by prioritising waste prevention, followed by re-use, recycling and other recovery options, such as energy-from-waste technology before disposal. Where waste can’t be recycled, we incinerate it and eventually find a use for the resulting ash. Other recyclables are used on-site as fill materials, while organic and food waste is converted to compost for landscaped areas and our nursery. Overall, the facility is capable of processing 10 tons/hour of municipal solid waste and 40 tons/hour of construction and demolition waste and composting 10 tons of waste per day. Ultimately, our strategies ensure the reduction of waste at every stage of the development and adhere to compliance with world-class standards and regulations. 46 MEP Middle East | September 2022 www.mepmiddleeast.com COMMENT A discussion about the megacity’s construction and how it will contribute to the rapidly transforming job market of Saudi Arabia with Giles Pendleton, executive director – THE LINE Proponent (Acting) IN LINE WITH THE LINESeptember 2022 | MEP Middle East 47 www.mepmiddleeast.com COMMENT Since its inception, NEOM was envisioned by its founder, His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as an agent of progress and change. It was therefore expected that the “future” would be intertwined with NEOM’s basic identity, its name, its values and its vision, and this is how NEOM is, from the future and to the future. With NEOM, the Crown Prince is soon going to turn into reality what he set out to do – build a new wonder for the world, THE LINE. The megacity, THE LINE, is a civilisational revolution that puts humans fi rst, providing an unprecedented urban living experience while preserving the surrounding nature. It redefi nes the concept of urban development and what cities of the future should look like. In the words of His Royal Highness Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Chairman of the NEOM Company Board of Directors: “THE LINE will tackle the challenges facing humanity in urban life today and will shine a light on alternative ways to live.” Bringing a wealth of experience in large- scale sustainable projects from around the world, Giles Pendleton is leading the development of THE LINE, NEOM’s prestigious 170 km linear and net-zero master-planned vertical city. Pendleton will drive NEOM’s multidisciplinary development efforts aimed at ensuring that THE LINE becomes a global byword for modern cities that seamlessly blend cognition, sustainability and harmonious co-existence with nature. Here, the executive director discusses what will go into building the megacity and what that means for the Saudi job market. Sustainability and green energy One of NEOM’s most ambitious plans is to become the world’s leader in sustainability and green energy. Giles Pendleton says: “One of the greatest challenges in adopting renewable energy at-scale is legacy infrastructure and cost of production. This is what sets NEOM apart. We are building the region from the ground up, with sustainability at its core. Our competitive advantage lies in our legacy-free infrastructure and access to plentiful solar and wind resources. NEOM will be home to the world’s fi rst 100% clean energy system, providing abundant, low-cost energy to residents and industries.” To scale the production of green hydrogen, NEOM has entered strategic partnerships with leading energy companies such as Aramco and SABIC. With these partnerships, NEOM can accelerate its green hydrogen strategy and build out revenue streams from the export of green hydrogen. In the last one year, NEOM Green Hydrogen Company, with ACWA Power and Air Products, broke ground on its production plant. The plant will be powered by around 4 gigawatts of solar and wind power, making it the world’s largest green hydrogen and ammonia production plant. “This partnership was one of our fi rst with leading international entities in the renewable energy fi eld and is a cornerstone in our strategy to become a major player in the global hydrogen market,” adds Pendleton.48 MEP Middle East | September 2022 www.mepmiddleeast.com COMMENT Concept THE LINE was conceptualised to meet the challenges of unchecked urban development, climate change, and environmental degradation. These challenges require out-of-the-box, innovative thinking, and solutions. While introducing the project, Pendleton says: “THE LINE is a civilisational revolution that, we hope, will redefi ne our thinking of urban spaces and cities. It is a radical departure from the business-as-usual approach that has led to many of the issues the world faces today. “THE LINE will be the world’s fi rst truly cognitive city, and the fi rst to build upwards, instead of outwards. It is based on a new concept of Zero Gravity Urbanism, which is the idea of layering city functions vertically while enabling inhabitants to move seamlessly in the city in three directions (up, down and across). This is achieved by building on a very small footprint and at a height. “This enables access to a quantum of social and commercial services that are otherwise unachievable in conventional cities and ensures fi ve-minute walkable communities on THE LINE. It also allows for the creation of a microclimatic space by tempering the natural elements such as heat and wind that may be prevalent outside THE LINE.” THE LINE, which will be only 200 m wide, 170 km long and 500 m above sea level, will accommodate 9 mn residents and will be built on a footprint of 34 sq km, which is unheard of when compared to other cities of similar capacity. This in turn will reduce the infrastructure footprint and create never- before-seen effi ciencies in city functions. It will run on 100% renewable energy and prioritise people’s health and well-being over transportation and infrastructure as in traditional cities. The project will contribute to the preservation of 95% of NEOM’s land and will put nature ahead of development. Preparatory construction is well underway on THE LINE and other regions within NEOM, including OXAGON, TROJENA and some regional projects. When asked about the expected timeline of THE LINE, Pendleton explains: “We are attempting something that has never been done before and do recognise that this is not something to rush. Challenges to our timeline are likely to emerge; however, we are building for the future.” He further points out that a project of this magnitude requires thinking in decades and not years, and adapting to new challenges as they arise. Technology and digitalisation Over the years, industries and organisations have become more and more digitised, and technology adoption has gone from being a competitive advantage to a critical need. It is how NEOM has adopted technology that sets it apart from the rest. They have gone beyond the automation and digitalisation of daily processes and have designed the project around a digital backbone, where technology is integrated into every facet of how people live, work and play. Pendleton notes: “Technology and digitisation will truly be at the heart of everything NEOM does. A good example of this can be seen in the design of THE PROJECTS 48 MEP Middle East | September 2022 www.mepmiddleeast.comSeptember 2022 | MEP Middle East 49 www.mepmiddleeast.com COMMENT LINE. We have designed the world’s fi rst truly cognitive city, which will be predictive in nature and based on an intelligent connected system.” THE LINE will be completely digitised, from the planning and design phases to when the city’s fi rst residents are welcomed. The construction of the city will be fuelled by advanced construction technologies and manufacturing processes, such as digital twinning and modular construction. It is expected that using these methods, engineers and architects will be able to computerise the design process and, therefore, reduce waste. What’s more, all logistics and daily services will be automated using artifi cial intelligence, predictive technology and new digital advancements. These tools will pre-empt human demands for key services and ensure optimal delivery across all city functions. “Our goal with THE LINE is to create the most sustainable city in the world, without impacting the environment or compromising on livability,” Pendleton points out. A project of this size, scale and complexity requires the best and the greatest talents. Talking about the commitment of global names in being involved at this stage in the construction of THE LINE project, Pendleton is quick to mention: “To make our vision a reality, we have brought on some of the world’s leading experts and pioneers, from architects and engineers to futurists and anthropologists.” Creating job opportunities As he continues to speak about the project’s impact on Saudi Arabia, the subject of jobs is brought into the discussion. In terms of job prospects, Saudi Arabia is experiencing an all-time high. Pendleton says: “As one of the most important projects of Saudi Vision 2030, NEOM intends to create jobs of the future for some of the brightest minds and best talents from both Saudi Arabia and the world. “As construction of NEOM progresses, and activity in sectors and regions such as OXAGON ramps up, we will continue to attract new talents to NEOM. We even expect some advanced manufacturing to fi nd its way onto THE LINE. It will house retail, entertainment, sports and dining destinations, in addition to grocery stores and pharmacies, unlocking enormous value for the job market and the economy.” Projects With its high ambitions and complexity, NEOM offers a lot of potential. Over the last year, NEOM has shared plans to develop two other projects that will be fully powered by 100% renewable energy: OXAGON, an advanced manufacturing hub and port, and TROJENA, a year-round mountain tourism destination offering the GCC’s fi rst-of-its- kind outdoor skiing. The NEOM Bay Airport, which opened in 2019, is expanding to be able to cater to leisure and business visitors. “It is also worth noting that we have broken ground on wind and solar farms, which is a critical step in developing the region, as it will allow us to power our day-to- day needs with 100% renewable energy,” he answers while discussing NEOM’s progress towards becoming the green energy leader of the world. PROJECTS September 2022 | MEP Middle East 49 www.mepmiddleeast.comNext >