Gulf Construction Online - RSG in deal for carbon negative concrete

Saudi Focus

RSG and Partanna officials after signing the agreement.

RSG in deal for carbon negative concrete

01 July 2023

Red Sea Global (RSG), the multi-project developer behind the world’s most ambitious regenerative tourism destinations, The Red Sea and Amaala, said it has reached an agreement with Partanna, the pioneer of the world’s first carbon negative concrete, for a pilot project that will see the installation of 11,000 paving slabs within its mega development.

The pavers will be placed at RSG’s landscape nursery, the largest in the region at one million sq m, which is set to grow more than 30 million plants by 2030 to landscape The Red Sea and Amaala destinations.

Under the arrangement, both parties will scope out future pilot projects – including applications of Partanna’s ocean-resilient concrete as an infrastructure solution to coral reef restoration projects for Red Sea Global.

Using recycled ocean water brine in its concrete, Partanna’s innovative solution is claimed to be better suited to under-ocean conditions than traditional concrete, and has been proven to be more durable.

Partanna is as durable, versatile and scalable as traditional cement. Its use of brine as a core ingredient brings unique benefits to the Middle East, where desalination plants can harvest more fresh water per litre processed and provide Partanna with the rest.

RSG said the pilot project will see the manufacture, delivery and installation of an initial 11,000 carbon negative pavers.

The product supply agreement and first pilot scheme follow a MoU signed between the two organisations at COP27 in Egypt last year, it stated.

“We believe that sustainability is no longer enough. We need to find ways to restore and regenerate the planet. That is why we have committed to increasing the net conservation benefit at our destinations by 30 per cent through the enhancement of habitats that ensure biodiversity can flourish, and to being carbon neutral when we become fully operational,” remarked Group CEO John Pagano.

“Green technologies such as Partanna’s carbon negative concrete could play a crucial role in helping us achieve these ambitious aims and even going one step further to become carbon negative, he stated.

According to Pagano, the Red Sea Global has embraced sustainable construction techniques at every opportunity, from offsite modular construction to crushing construction waste that can’t be recycled and using it as fill material.

As a result, The Red Sea became the first development in the Middle East to secure Leed platinum certification, the US Green Building Council’s highest level of certification.