The foundation of a project as monumental as Diriyah Gate is a vision and commitment to showcase to the world Saudi Arabia’s 300+ years of history through an inspiring set of heritage, hospitality, education, retail and dining experiences.
HRH Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, envisioned Diriyah Gate four years ago, and in these four years, the project has gone from ‘mega’ to ‘giga’ in nature, as well as experienced a severalfolds’ increase in budget and project area.
Construction Week chatted with Jonathan Timms, President of Diriyah DevCo, which is a subsidiary that Diriyah Gate Development Authority (DGDA) launched earlier this year.
Timms, who was formerly DGDA’s Chief Design & Development Officer, says: “It’s been quite a transition over time. We’ve been growing as a team as the mandate grows.
“The original team we started with was at five, we planned to get to 70, and we are now at 400 growing to just over 900.”
He further added: “As a natural transition, we chose to change our structure and brought in four new C-level leadership team members.”
Diriyah DevCo, Timms explains, is a “mechanism” to be able to realise HRH Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, the Crown Prince and the Board’s vision for Diriyah.
Awarding contracts to local players
“Almost 100% of our contracts have gone to Saudi-based contractors,” Timms says right off the bat. He continues: “There would be some minor contracts that go to foreign contractors. Localising our contracting efforts is ideal though because of the nature of our project, which is very traditional and captures the heart and history of Saudi Arabia. We have also seen over time that some contractors enter joint ventures with foreign contractors.”
In the last couple of months, the developer awarded three big infrastructure contracts to Al Rashid Trading & Contracting Co. (RTCC), Saudi Constructioneers, and a JV between El Seif and China State Construction Engineering Corporation Middle East (CSCEC ME).
He added: “We are seeing more such joint ventures where local contractors can have greater manpower and expertise on some complex projects. We have a lot of contracts in the market now and it will be interesting to see whether that holds over the next six months.”
Increasing budgets
“As the confidence in the project grew, our mandate grew,” explains Timms.
“We now have a ninefold increase in budget. We have learnt over time how to scale up. It has been business as usual for us, owing to the organisational effort making this happen.”
Is Diriyah Gate progressing on time?
Timelines are sacrosanct to projects, and especially a project such as Diriyah Gate which is so critical to Saudi Arabia’s ever- growing landscape.
Explaining the authority’s commitment to timelines, Timms says: “When I first arrived, we had an incredibly ambitious programme. My approach was, rather than having an academic discussion about whether the programme is correct or not, we decided to start and go as fast as we possibly could.”
Diriyah Gate is being developed with heritage at its core; the historic town will be transformed into a global tourism destination and created in a Najdi architectural style showcasing authentic Saudi Arabian environments, all centred around the ‘Jewel of the Kingdom’ UNESCO World Heritage Site At-Turaif.
Timms explains that timeline extensions were granted in certain occasions, keeping heritage and authenticity of the project in mind.
Citing an example, he says: “We gave our board some options about how we should construct Diriyah Gate 1. Keeping in mind the historical context and significance, we suggested an option of building the whole project in hand-made mud bricks exactly as they were done 300 years ago; a total of 180 million mud bricks to do the job, might I add!
“Our board encouraged the concept and granted us an extra six months to execute it.”
Sustainability, culture thrive together
The Kingdom recently launched the Saudi Green Initiative, which will contribute towards global targets in climate change.
Commenting on how the gigaproject adheres to the initiative, Timms says: “We inherently are environmentally- sustainable as a project, because of the nature of our buildings. And, we look for ways to support such initiatives. It is fantastic that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has such ambitious plans but is making sure these are being done the sustainable way.”
Tackling challenges
“Working within an existing urban community provides real challenges,” says Timms, explaining the safety, cleanliness, and road control measures the developer has to be mindful of.
He continues: “We are excavating 8 million cubic metres of rock and we are doing that with a community surrounding us. We put in the highest standards of environmental protection; we are currently doubling our efforts towards site beautification and communication to the local community via hoardings and dedicated briefings; and are also in the process of just finishing building alternate roads into the back of one of our main sites in Wadi Safar to divert traffic away from urban areas.”
Furthermore, Timms notes that the authority has doubled its efforts in cleaning of the roads and mitigating any impact with safety signage as well as hoardings across roads.
He excitedly concludes: “Like any growing business, when we have gone from a handful of people to 400 people in two years in a development delivery team, it is getting those groups together and understanding how we can work efficiently and quickly. It’s like building a plane when you are flying it!
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