SAUDI ARABIA PICKS TEAMS TO BUILD VILLAGE FOR 10,000 WORKERS ON RED SEA PROJECT

The
developer of Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Project, the ambitious plan to turn the
country’s remote west coast into a global luxury tourism destination, has
awarded the first contracts to build a village in the desert to house thousands
of construction workers needed for the scheme.

To be built mostly with prefabricated and modular
elements, developer The Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC) said the
“Construction Village” would be “the benchmark for construction worker
accommodation in the region and in the industry”.

Winning the contracts were a joint venture between Al Raeel Engineering
Construction & Development (ARCCO) and modular builder Speed House, both
based in the UAE, and Saudi company Al Majal Al Arabi Group. 

Each of the two teams will erect 5,000 units over the next 10 months to house
the initial 10,000 workers needed to build infrastructure, hotels, residential
properties, a marina, and other leisure amenities in the first phase of the
scheme, which TRSDC said is planned to open in 2022. 

Unveiled in 2017
by Crown Prince Muhammad Bin
Salman as part of his drive to diversify the Saudi economy away from oil, the
Red Sea Project will transform 28,000 km² of undeveloped land on
Saudi Arabia’s west coast.  

The plan is to put the kingdom on the global tourism map with ultra-luxury
tourism capitalising on around 90 pristine islands and lagoons, dramatic
mountain topography, and heritage sites. 

The Red Sea Development Company is a closed joint-stock company wholly owned by
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

Over time, a further 25,000 construction workers will be housed on site.

In February this year TRSDC opened its “Base Camp”, an initial operational
headquarters for 60 project and construction managers and other professionals
getting enabling works under way.

TRSDC’s chief project delivery officer, Ian Williamson, formerly of Arcadis and
Aecom, said: “The design of the Construction Village focuses on creating a
community feel, intended to enhance the welfare and quality of life of the
workers who will live there.

“By requiring that all construction workers are housed in accommodation built
and managed by TRSDC, we are making every effort to ensure that we become the
benchmark for construction worker accommodation in the region and in the
industry as whole.”

The Construction Village will be organised in
neighbourhoods around a central area equipped with recreational facilities.

Rooms will have shared bathrooms, thus avoiding communal shower and toilet
blocks, and a catering team will cater for a diverse international workforce.

According the TRSDC, also under construction are a million-square-metre nursery to populate planned gardens, marine infrastructure including causeways, a bridge and jetties to facilitate the movement of machinery, materials and workers, and a 150-room project management hotel.http://www.globalconstructionreview.com/news/saudi-arabia-picks-teams-build-village-10000-worke/