Gulf Construction Online - Neom lines up top consultants for The Line

Saudi Focus

The Line is a 170-km belt of hyper-connected future communities without cars and roads.

Neom lines up top consultants for The Line

01 March 2023

Neom, the developer of a mega futuristic city in Saudi Arabia, has signed up three global consultancy majors as delivery partners for The Line, a 170-km belt of hyper-connected future communities without cars and roads.

Under the deal, Atkins, Parsons as well as US-based engineering group Jacobs and its joint venture with Saudi oil giant Aramco and sovereign wealth fund PIF – Jasara Project Management Company – will provide project management and construction management consultancy (PMCM) services for one of the kingdom’s most ambitious projects, for a five-year period.

The Line aims to provide an unprecedented urban living experience with no roads, cars or carbon emissions. Once completed, it will be 170 km long and only 200 m wide in a cognitive city run on 100 per cent clean energy.

The Line will eventually accommodate nine million residents and will be built on a land area of 34 sq km – a footprint unheard of compared to other cities of similar capacity.

Designed around nature rather than over it, The Line will be surrounded by large world-class protected areas as 95 per cent of the surrounding Neom region will be protected for conservation.

Neom said it will collaborate with other delivery partner organisations to provide PMCM services for the design, procurement, construction, testing and commissioning of the project, together with the management of the critical interfaces that the linear city shares with adjacent Neom projects and logistics.

The project has adopted a highly collaborative delivery model in response to its scale, complexity, supply chain and requirements for innovation.

“This collaborative delivery model is essential to managing the programme’s scale, complexity, supply chain, and requirements for innovation,” noted Pierre Santoni, the President for the Middle East and Africa at Parsons. “The Line is a civilisational revolution inspired by the dream of sustainable urban living in harmony with nature.”

“Closely aligned to Parsons’ own mission of delivering a safer, cleaner and more connected world, we are proud that as The Line’s delivery partner, our work will not just reshape the region, but will reimagine the future of sustainable urban living around the world,” added Santoni.

Atkins’ President Philip Hoare said: “The Line is a truly ground-breaking, world-first project and we are proud to have the opportunity to bring our global engineering, digital and net zero expertise to help create a lasting legacy for the kingdom and its people.”

“As a delivery partner organisation, we will work closely with Neom and our partners to seamlessly connect people, data and technology to drive innovation, value, efficiency and certainty on the project. Our combined intent is to radically transform the way major infrastructure projects are delivered and The Line, with its vision and complexity, provides a great opportunity to demonstrate what our industry can achieve,” explained Hoare.

Jacobs said, along with Jasara, it will provide PMCM consultancy services for the design, procurement, construction, testing and commissioning of The Line, together with the management of the critical interfaces between it and adjacent Neom projects and logistics.

“This project is intending to re-write the playbook on urban development to address some of the major environmental and quality of life challenges we often see in big cities. We are committed to helping deliver projects that aspire to completely reimagine urban living and rethink what it means to live in a more connected, sustainable world,” remarked its Executive Chair Steve Demetriou.

The Line offers a new approach to urban design. The idea of layering city functions vertically while giving people the possibility of moving seamlessly in three dimensions (up, down or across) to access them is a concept referred to as ‘Zero Gravity Urbanism.’

The development’s infrastructure will be embedded with sustainable smart technology containing essential utilities and transportation services, generating car-free communities and public realms.

Meanwhile Neom has partnered with Collective Retreats, a pioneer in outdoor experiential hospitality, to open a next generation, ultra-sustainable retreat in Trojena, the snow-capped mountain destination in the futuristic city.

Slated to open in early 2026 some 50 km from the Gulf of Aqaba, Collective Trojena will re-imagine the outdoor hospitality experience.

The retreat will feature approximately 60 open-air guest rooms and innovative meeting space concepts as well as dramatic water features, communal campfires and inspired culinary experiences.