Saudi Arabia is planning on transforming a historic city into a tourism and business hotspot as part of a $63 billion project.
The city of Diriyah, located on the northwestern outskirts of the country’s capital Riyadh, is the setting of Saudi Arabia’s new project, which aims to turn the UNESCO World Heritage site into one of the world’s most-visited destinations for both tourism and business.
Covering a space of approximately 14 square kilometers, it is planned for the site to have 18,000 residential units, more than 28 hotels and 566,000 square feet of retail spaces as well as many museums, academies and art galleries.
The project will also aim to bring more than 1,000 retail, food and beverage outlets to the space, and around 1.6 million square feet of commercial offices.
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The city is also going to be connected to the country’s metro network, with four metro stations at the site to allow people to get to and from the area to other parts of the country.
It is planned for most of the development to take place in 2025 and 2026.
Companies outside of Saudi Arabia will also be working on the project in Diriyah, according to Construction Briefing, including Mace and China State Construction Company.
Mace is the company behind London’s now iconic skyscraper, The Shard, the redevelopment of Battersea Power Station, and is also involved in the development of a major project in Dubai.
Newsweek has contacted China State Construction Company via email for comment.
Commenting on Mace’s work on the project, Christopher Seymour, Managing Director of Middle East and Africa at Mace Consult responded to Newsweek with the following statement: “We are delighted to be supporting Diriyah Company with the development of the historic city of Diriyah. This unique project provides us with a fantastic opportunity to help deliver one of the world’s premier cultural destinations that will bring major benefits to businesses, communities, tourists, and residents in Saudi Arabia.
“Our consultancy experience developing some of the world’s most famous cultural and entertainment destinations, coupled with our construction expertise, mean we are perfectly placed to advise, integrate and enable the successful delivery of this iconic destination.”
Discussing the project with Construction Briefing, Mohamed Saad, President of the Diriyah Development Company said that due to the sheer number of workers and construction equipment involved in the project, the site is often congested.
This means that construction technology will play an important part in the development of the city, and Saad reportedly told the construction news outlet they were “investing heavily in digital tools to help us coordinate and manage such a large-scale project.”
“Using it can reduce errors, minimize rework and potentially save up to 20 percent of our delivery timelines, which are already tight, so we really need to work with smart ways of helping us to navigate through these issues,” he reportedly said.
He told the news outlet, “It is very exciting, very dynamic times and everyone is working really hard.”
Diriyah was previously home to the royal family of Saudi Arabia, and was the capital of the Emirate of Diriyah under the first Saudi dynasty between 1727 to 1818.
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