The Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC), has achieved the ‘ISO22301:2019 Security and resilience – Business continuity management systems’ certification, in recognition of its guidance at its glagship development.
The certification was awarded by the prestigious British Standards Institution (BSI), which recognised the achievements of TRSDC, despite significant challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic, and reflected the company’s commitment to meeting and exceeding existing international standards.
It also demonstrated TRSDC’s ambition to set new responsible business benchmarks across its developments, with the certification achieved with zero non-conformities and zero comments from the BSI.
John Pagano, CEO of TRSDC, said: “Our top priority at TRSDC is our people. This means we must always endeavour to make our organization not only one of the most sustainable tourism developers in the world but the most resilient, which is able to protect our community from any risk or economic shock.”
He added: “Despite impacted supply chains for construction materials and significant disruption of public health and global tourism systems, we did everything in our power to protect the health and wellbeing of our employees while maintaining progress on site. We are honoured to see this work recognized by the British Standards Institution.”
TRSDC built a full Business Continuity Management System and developed this existing framework to address the challenges posed by the pandemic.
This included creating temporary accommodation for social-distancing employees, along with temperature checks and screening programs for site-based personnel.
A program of over 45,000 online meetings and 15 live webinars was delivered to ensure employees were fully updated on all testing, quarantine, and border requirements, helping workers to travel from the project site and maintain contact with their friends and family.
Abdullah Alabdulwahid, General Manager of the BSI Group in Saudi Arabia said: “On behalf of BSI, I offer my congratulations to TRSDC on demonstrating that it continues working according to recognized best practices.
“Business Continuity Management (BCM) has become a vital discipline, bringing benefits that go far beyond helping organizations recover from unexpected disruptions. A robust BCM process offers advantages such as process improvements to business expansion and brand enhancement.”
TRSDC’s holistic approach
As a result of TRSDC’s approach, over 8,000 employees and contractors were able to continue making significant progress in developing its flagship project during the pandemic.
This includes the signing of more than 800 contracts for The Red Sea Project alone, worth in excess of $5.3bn to date.
The approach also ensured the long-term wellbeing of employees in the face of coronavirus, with herd immunity enabled for between 95% and 98% of the TRSDC community.
The Business Resilience Gold Management Committee, which is comprised of TRSDC’s senior executive management team, helped spearhead the developer’s changes and oversaw compliance to international standards for business resilience.
TRSDC will retain this command and control structure to effectively deal with future crisis responses.
The Red Sea Project has already passed significant milestones and work is on track to welcome the first guests by the end of 2022. Phase one, which includes 16 hotels in total, will be completed in 2023.
Upon completion in 2030, The Red Sea Project will comprise 50 resorts, offering up to 8,000 hotel rooms and more than 1,000 residential properties across 22 islands and six inland sites.
The destination will also include an international airport, luxury marinas, golf courses, entertainment, and leisure facilities.
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