Gulf Construction Online - $20bn Kingdom City set to move ahead

Regional News

An artist’s impression of the tower.

$20bn Kingdom City set to move ahead

01 March 2013

A number of key appointments were made last month on the Kingdom City and its centrepiece Kingdom Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) has appointed Calthrope Associates as the lead masterplanner for the estimated SR75 billion ($20 billion) Kingdom City. In addition, it has also named Godwin Austen Johnson (GAJ) as urban architects for the project.

Meanwhile, a joint venture team of EC Harris and Mace has been selected to project manage the SR4.6-billion ($1.25 billion) Kingdom Tower, which is designed to be the world’s tallest building, standing at over 1,000 in height, overshadowing the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, UAE.

Kingdom City is a 5.3-million-sq-m urban development in the north of Jeddah overlooking the Red Sea and Obhur Creek. It is being developed by the Jeddah Economic Company (JEC), which is owned by KHC (33.35 per cent stake), Saudi Binladin Group (SBG) – which recently bought 16.63 per cent stake for SR1.5 billion ($408 million) – Abraar International Holding Company represented by Samaual Bakhsh (33.35 per cent), and leading Jeddah businessman Abdulrahman Hassan Sharbatly (16.67 per cent).

The iconic Kingdom Tower will form the first construction phase of Kingdom City Jeddah. Prince Alwaleed said the tower “is on a solid strategic execution path”.

In line with this, a piling contract worth SR152 million ($40.5 million) has been awarded to Saudi Bauer under the supervision of SBG, the main contractor.

With a total construction area of more than 500,000 sq m, the soaring tower will be a mixed-use building featuring a Four Seasons hotel, Four Seasons serviced apartments, first class office space, luxury condominiums and an observatory that will be higher than the world’s current highest observation deck.

Construction work is due to start on site later this year for completion by 2018-end.

Talal Al Maiman, executive director, development and domestic investments, chairman and CEO of Kingdom Real Estate Development Company (KRED), a board member of KHC and JEC said: “The careful strategic planning has paid off and the execution of the greatest tallest building project in the world for the next years to come has started.”
Yahya Binladin of SGB said: “SBG will provide all necessary technical and logistic support to Saudi Bauer to successfully complete the piling phase.”

An interdisciplinary team led by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture (AS+GG), based in Chicago, created the design of the Kingdom Tower. The team also included Thornton Tomasetti, engineer of three of the world’s top 10 tallest buildings.

Keith Brooks, head of property and social infrastructure at EC Harris, said: “We are delighted to be on the team to deliver this iconic project. The tower is a landmark building that will clearly demonstrate Saudi Arabia’s ambitions to the world. We have a world-class team in place and I am confident that our integrated approach to project, design and construction management will help deliver a safe and a successful project.”