Qiddiya, the first-of-its-kind entertainment resort in Saudi Arabia, has been launched in record time using semi-permanent building technology
The Saudi Arabian pre-eminent entertainment, sports and cultural destination is one of the three ?Giga projects? at the heart of the ambitious Saudi Vision 2030 national transformation strategy that aims to expand and diversify the kingdom?s economy.
Eventually covering 334 sq km, the Qiddiya entertainment district is located 40km from Riyadh and is planned to be two and a half times of Walt Disney World including holiday homes, water parks, cultural venues, motorsports and a six flags theme park.
European temporary building expert Losberger De Boer has deployed a range of next generation, semi-permanent buildings, administrative offices, visitor centres and entertainment and exhibition halls, which were constructed within a 60-day completion deadline.
Commenting on the semi-permanent building solution that is deployed in Qiddiya, Waleed Khaled, sales director of Losberger De Boer Middle East, said, ?Qiddiya is part of the Saudi Vision 2030 national transformation plans to increase household spending on cultural and entertainment activities inside Saudi from the current level of 2.9 to six per cent. In total, our crew worked 9,360 hours over 36 days plus internal fit-out time. This allowed turnkey delivery of this project to be achieved within only 60 days, compared to one to two years for traditional permanent builds.?
Sustainability was also a major concern for the developer and the company delivered ISO 14001 environmentally certified building solution for this project, added Khaled.
Sustainability is crucial for the semi-permanent building solution, as the buildings can be dismantled and reused in a new location as and when business conditions change. Given most models are already factory manufactured, temporary structure use is a zero-carbon choice compared to a new permanent building. Furthermore, the latest insulation technology deployed produces a 40 per cent decrease in the use of power for HVAC compared to more traditional temporary structures, driving substantial economic and environmental benefits for customers.
Losberger?s range of temporary building solutions across the GCC countries includes more than 400,000 sq m of temporary structure stock materials across 70 systemised building products, with build times ranging from five days to four weeks on most projects.
