City Update: Riyadh

Jones Lang La Salle expects that 1.1 million m2 of office space will be delivered by 2014.

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With a low supply of homes and offices Riyadh is working to meet high demands, Construction Week discovers.

As the population of Riyadh continues to grow, due to family growth, inward migration and immigration of expatriate workers, so too does the demand for houses and commercial units. But is this demand being met?

Fortunately, the Saudi Arabian capital was relatively unscathed by the downturn and construction projects across the city are pushing on. The latest figures from global real estate services company Jones Lang La Salle show that there were around 904,000 residential units in Riyadh in the second quarter of 2009.

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However, several of new projects have since been announced, which could add thousands more homes to the city. One such project is the US $1.6 billion (SR6 billion) Nasamat Al Riyadh development, which will consist of 4200 housing units once complete. The homes will be split into buildings ranging in height from three to nine floors.

Fayez Zuhair Architectural and Engineering was awarded the supervision consultancy contract in November last year, while Hill International was awarded the project management consultancy contract. The main contractor is due to be revealed within the next few months and the entire project is scheduled for a 2015 delivery.

Meanwhile, phase one of the huge mixed use Al Wasl development, which will cover 14 million m2 once completed, is currently under construction. The urban community is being developed by Limitless and will provide 60,000 homes, eight shopping complexes and several five star hotels. The project is expected to be completed by 2016.

In terms of business units, Jones Lang La Salle expects that 1.1 million m2 of office space will be delivered during the years to 2014.

“Most of this space will, however, not be delivered until the completion of the major King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) in 2012 and beyond,” the firm’s Riyadh City Profile said. 

In October 2009, the Saudi BinLaden Group was awarded the SR 3.73 billion contract to design and build 30 parcels within KAFD, 27 of which must be delivered by March 2012, according to the client, Rayadah Investment Company.

“It’s an enormous challenge and Binladin might be the only contractor in Saudi Arabia capable of producing 30 parcels in 38 months,” Rayadah’s KAFD project manager Waleed Alesia told Construction Week.

“We didn’t want to hire more than one contractor for the job because we wanted to reduce the complexity of the logistics and basically Binladin is the most qualified.”

The contract includes the construction of the two tallest towers in KAFD – the 303m World Trade Centre and the 240m GCC Bank Tower. 

Overall it’s expected that by mid-2012 around 70% of KAFD will be built out, with the remaining land developed over time according to demand.

A separate commercial development – Olaya Towers is also under construction and is expected to be completed by Q1 of 2012. The two office blocks will consist of 34 and 26 floors and will cover an area of 27,000 m2. In May last year, Nesma Construction Company was awarded the main contract and construction began soon after.

As the population of Riyadh soars to new heights, infrastructure is another vital element that needs to be updated. ith this in mind, work on the Riyadh Metro began in November 2009.

Phase one of the project will see the construction of a 25km route from the northern side of the ring road to the southern side, while the 14km phase 2 will stretch from east to west.

Thirty districts are expected to be covered by the project.

Work has begun on both routes, according to an official at the Arriyadh Development Authority. The rail system is expected to serve 1500 passengers per hour per track initially and then up to 8,000 passengers per hour. Riyadh’s population has grown to over 6.5 million.

New ring roads, utility supplies, schools and hospitals are also being added to the city.