Kingdom Tower will be world’s tallest building, beating Burj Khalifa in Dubai and reaching four times the height of The Shard in London.
The EC Harris/Mace joint venture team will provide project, commercial and design management for the US$1.2bn (£780m) development.
With a total construction area of over 500,000m2, the soaring Kingdom Tower will be a mixed-use building featuring a five-star luxury Four Seasons hotel, Four Seasons serviced apartments, first-class office space, luxury condominiums and an observatory that will be higher than the world’s current highest observation deck. Construction work is expected to start on site later this year and is due for completion within 63 months.
The client for the scheme is Jeddah Economic Company (JEC), whose partners are the Kingdom Holding Company with a stake of 33.35%, SBG with a 16.63% stake, Abraar International Holding Company represented by Samaual Bakhsh, with a stake of 33.35%, and prominent Jeddah businessman Abdulrahman Hassan Sharbatly with a stake of 16.67%.
JEC is also in the final negotiations for the appointment of a quantity surveyor consultancy, which will also be a UK based company.
“We are delighted to be on the team to deliver this iconic project,” said EC Harris head of property and social infrastructure Keith Brooks. “The Kingdom Tower is a landmark building that will clearly demonstrate Saudi Arabia’s ambitions to the world. We have a world class team in place and I am confident that our integrated approach to project, design and construction management will help deliver a safe and successful project.”
Mace chief executive Mark Reynolds said: “Kingdom Tower is a project of international importance and immense ambition and we are delighted to be part of the joint venture team tasked with its delivery. As the client’s project manager, I am confident we will deliver a development exemplary in innovation and approach. We look forward to the realisation of HRH Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal‘s vision which will secure international recognition for the Kingdom’s economic and cultural status.”
Kingdom Tower will be the centre piece of JEC’s US$20bn (£13bn) Kingdom City development which will be located to the north of Jeddah, overlooking the Red Sea. Kingdom City will consist of over 5.3 million square meters of urban development and it will include residential, commercial, hotel, offices, retail, educational and commercial centres as well as inland water features.
An interdisciplinary team led by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture (AS+GG), based in Chicago, created the design of the Kingdom Tower. Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill were appointed architects on Kingdom Tower in 2011. This appointment has been followed by the appointment of DAR Al-Handasah as the supervision consultant, Saudi Bauer as piling contractor as well as Saudi BinLaden Group (SBG) as the main contractor.
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