Just a few weeks ago (February 2024), the Arabia News announced that “UK construction firm Mace will serve as the delivery partner for Riyadh’s King Salman International Airport“, in the capital of Saudi Arabia. Mace’s scope of work to deliver what will be, when verified as the world’s largest airport, includes ‘project and design management, cost consulting and procurement information’.
This is a further step on the already long road towards the construction of a gigantic airport project whose launch was announced on 28th November 2022 by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, then Prime Minister and Chairman of the Council for Economic Affairs and Development (CEDA) and Chairman of the Public Investment Fund (PIF), via the Saudi Press Agency. The project was justified at the time as an infrastructure that “will boost Riyadh’s position as a global logistics hub, stimulate transport, trade and tourism, and act as a bridge linking the East with the West”. A few days after the announcement of the start of the project, we learned that the British architectural firm Foster+Partners had won the competition to design its master plan.
For a moving presentation of the project, be sure to check out this VIDEO.
With an area of approximately 57 sq. km and six parallel runways, King Salman International Airport will include the existing terminals of the existing King Khalid International Airport. It will also include 12 square kilometres of airport service facilities, as well as residential buildings, recreational and entertainment areas, retail and other logistics properties. According to the Saudi News Agency’s announcement, the airport aims to handle up to 120 million passengers by 2030, and 185 million passengers and 3.5 million tonnes of cargo by 2050. The new airport aims to achieve LEED Platinum certification (the highest LEED Platinum rating), with sustainability as a priority, incorporating state-of-the-art green technologies and renewable energy sources.
Sources: Arabian News 1, Arab News 2, Saudi Press Agency.
Images: Public Investment Fund y Foster+Partners.
