Gulf Construction Online - RSG achieves record Leed building score

Saudi Focus

Shebara resort is home to the iconic stainless steel orbs.

RSG achieves record Leed building score

01 December 2023

Red Sea Global (RSG), the multi-project developer behind the world’s most ambitious regenerative tourism destinations The Red Sea and Amaala, has achieved the highest score recorded to date in the prestigious Platinum Leed (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) v4.1 Cities: Plan and Design accreditation from the US Green Building Council (USGBC), which serves as a testament to RSG’s steadfast dedication to sustainability and marks a major milestone in the development of regenerative tourism destinations.

With an outstanding score of 96 out of 110 points for The Red Sea destination’s Phase One masterplan, RSG has solidified its position as a global frontrunner in developing healthy and highly efficient green buildings.

“From the outset, our goal was to create a sustainable tourism destination that would redefine industry standards. We are proud to have achieved the highest ever score in this accreditation, setting the bar for ourselves and others to follow,” said John Pagano, the Group CEO at Red Sea Global.

This accomplishment follows another recent accolade for Red Sea Global, as USBGC named it the ‘Outstanding Developer’ of the year at the LEED Homes Awards 2023.

Among other developments, RSG has unveiled its own luxury hotel brand at The Red Sea destination, named Shebara.

Announcing the launch at the World Travel Market in London, Red Sea Global said its new Shebara brand will open in summer 2024 with the first resort to be owned and operated by RSG at The Red Sea destination.

Located on Sheybarah Island in the thriving Al Wajh Lagoon, the resort is home to the iconic stainless steel orbs. The resort contains 73 keys, including overwater and beach villas and guests arrive either by a 45-minute boat ride from the mainland or 20 minutes by seaplane.

The southern approach reveals the first stainless steel villas on the horizon, representing a string of pearls, with a stunning reception building at the center, forming the ‘pendant’.

Developed by Killa Design, the entire design of the resort centres around reflections of nature. Each space has been designed to flow with its environment, with the stainless steel villas reflecting the colours and surface patterns of the ocean and the intense colors of the sky as they change throughout the day.

Development of Shebara is happening at pace, with all 38 stainless steel overwater villas now in place. While the first overwater villa took nine hours to install, the developer perfected this process so that the last villa was in place in under two hours.

So far, 25 of the beach villas have been installed, and substantial progress has been made on the other front and back of house structures and infrastructure.

“As with the whole of The Red Sea, Shebara will be powered by sunlight, day and night with its own dedicated solar farm, which includes more than 11,000 PV panels. In total, RSG has constructed five solar farms to power the first phase of the destination, with more than 760,000 PV panels installed,” noted Pagano.