Arab News, Aug 6, 2022 | Muharram 8, 1444
TRSDC’s pioneers quietly turn a master plan into a mega brand
RIYADH: When The Red Sea Project was announced on July 29, 2017, many were
skeptical about executing a giga-project spanning 28,000 sq. km. The master plan
was just half a page long. But, a few good people rose to the challenge. Today,
they are pioneers leading the world’s most ambitious regenerative tourism
project.
In 2018, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund launched The Red Sea Development
Co. to drive the development of TRSP with 50 employees based in shared offices
of a small building. Four years later, it is powered by a team of 2,000 people,
all set to launch the project’s first phase in 2023.
One of the first employees to join the project was Ehab Alkindi, senior business
administration director of TRSDC. In 2016, Alkindi was roped in from Saudi
Aramco to facilitate the initiation of PIF’s three giga-projects NEOM, Qiddiyah
and TRSDC. He played a vital role in setting up the strategic objectives,
execution methodologies and regulatory frameworks of TRSDC.
“I have been lucky enough to be the Saudi Aramco employee who the PIF assigned
to establish three magnificent projects in the Kingdom. I was the second
employee to join the project, playing various roles starting from shaping the
project’s vision, strategy, and master plans,” he said.
Another of the earliest employees is Abdulrahman Aldaris, presently the senior
HR excellence manager of TRSDC. He has been closely involved in hiring a
dedicated team of professionals committed to the Vision 2030 blueprint.
“When I started working on The Red Sea Project in 2017, there were only a
handful of passionate people believing in the Vision and working hard to set the
foundations of what is today one of the most awaited destinations for the
tourism market in the world,” said Aldaris.
Ashwaq AlBabtain, senior project manager, destination development at TRSDC,
joined the company in April 2018 as a part of 35 employees responsible for the
initial phases and the master plan.
“I remember the day the project was announced, and I felt mixed emotions,
including happiness, joy and excitement as something new was happening in the
Kingdom,” said AlBabtain.
AlBabtain started her journey in the project delivery team, setting up
environmental guidelines and delivery strategies.
“We worked at a fast pace that I never saw in any organization. For example, if
a task took you a day in another project, it would take you an hour in TRSP,”
she added.
Developing the master plan
“Design is an evolving process. As long as the vision is there, the design will
evolve, and the vision will be achieved,” said Faisal Butt, executive director
for project delivery, TRSDC.
An employee of the project since the summer of 2017, Butt describes his first
days as vibrant. He quickly absorbed the undertaking’s processes and needs,
which helped him sail through the headwinds afterward.
“When I first joined, there were maybe around two people in the Red Sea project
and a few consultants. I still remember the day when the first master plan was
only a half page,” said Butt, adding that it took the team a year and a half to
develop the master plan.
“From then to now, we are delivering the first three hotels. I have seen the
master plan evolve and come to life, and I can’t be more grateful,” he added.
The master plan was developed in partnership with the US-based architectural
firm WATG and UK-based engineering consultant Buro Happold. It features unique
design concepts from some of the world’s most prominent architecture firms.
The project will develop 22 islands; three of them will be completed by 2024.
The three islands will contain 16 hotels, including three that will be ready
next year.
“Each of these islands has its unique value and vision. There is the uniqueness
of the hospitality brands’ architecture and positioning, with each having a
different target market,” said AlBabtain.
The first phase is now halfway through. Several vital assets are fully
operational, including a four-star hotel called the Turtle Bay, on-site offices,
and a large landscape nursery.
“We want to target every market segment,” said AlBabtain.
To get a sense of what TRSDC has achieved in the past five years, one needs to
look at the strategic partnerships it forged recently. According to media
reports, the company has procured over 800 contracts worth about $5.2 billion
under the supervision of the group chief projects delivery officer of TRSDC, Ian
Williamson.
Joined in 2017, Williamson has been responsible for leading the development and
delivery of the project's planning, design and construction.
“As one of the first employees of The Red Sea Project, it gives me immense pride
to have been there at the beginning with a tiny group of colleagues figuring out
the first steps to take on this amazing journey,” said Williamson.
Sustainable mobility
Another pioneer who joined in the early stages was Andreas Flourou, the
operations executive director in the mobility department.
He joined in 2017 as the tenth employee and played a role in the recruitment of
the administration team.
Three years later, he joined the mobility department, which manages
transportation inside the resort, including land, sea and air mobility.
“The challenge is around providing sustainable transportation and introducing
hydrogen and other environmentally friendly mobility,” he said.
The company signed several deals with electric vehicle manufacturers to supply
them with cars, buses, buggies and vessels.
He added that the project would have hundreds of EVs in the first phase, 40
vessels and several aircraft to move people across the islands, all to be set
for operational from the first day of the launch.
Flourou has further stated that no visitors will be allowed to drive their cars
inside the resorts, as the developers will provide all on-site transportation.
The company has signed a memorandum of understanding with ZeroAvia, a
British-American hydrogen-electric aviation firm, to test and develop
zero-emission travel across its new luxury tourism destination focusing on
environmental sustainability and regeneration.
“The delivery will start immediately; we are in the advanced stages of
discussion,” said Flourou.
Personal and environmental security
TRSDC has also adopted an innovative model of medical care by creating a
facility to treat its employees rather than leaving the responsibility to
individual contractors, ensuring that all workers have equal access to senior
medical personnel and high standards of care.
According to Ahmad Darwish, group chief administrative officer of TRSDC, the
crucial security targets included maintaining safe construction practices and
ensuring zero lost time incidents while constructing marine jetties, coastal
villages and base camps.
The company is also determined to develop its tourist resorts without harming
the environment.
According to Butt, there will be some environmental disturbance whenever there
is human intervention, but that does not hold for TRSP.
“What we have done is showing that development can happen in a way that is not
only protecting the environment but regenerating it as well,” Butt said.
The company is leading by example in its destination’s marine project. The
challenge was preserving flora and fauna on the ground, with hundreds of people
working in the vicinity. So, it maximized the off-site construction and
minimized the on-site work as much as possible.
“A lot of the structure of the villas were fabricated somewhere else then
brought and placed on site; in some cases, we reduced physical construction by
40 percent,” he added.
The
aftermath of the pandemic
“The pandemic represented an unprecedented challenge for all of us in TRSDC.
However, we worked together as a team throughout 2020 to surpass the challenges
encountered and continue to do so today,” said Darwish.
In the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, the group was keen to manage its tasks
in one way or another.
Working from home became the new normal, but the harmony and passion the
pandemic left on the team were remarkable, pointed out Amjaad Alangari, senior
marketing manager, TRSDC.
In some cases, the project saw months of delays. For instance, the first phase
was scheduled for completion in 2022 before pushing the date back to the middle
of 2023.
“We tried to lower the delays by accelerating some of the projects and
increasing some shift times,” said Butt.
To Butt, the challenge was not limited to the 12-18 months of lockdown; it also
had substantial cost implications.
“The pandemic directly impacted the global supply chain, which in turn affected
a large giga-project like us that depends on supplies from around the world,”
said Butt adding the prices of a forty-foot container soared by 500 percent.
Building the brand identity
For Alangari, one of the first five employees of TRSDC, the journey at the
company has been as eventful as her role as the company’s marketing whiz.
She was instrumental in conceiving the brand identity, including developing its
logo that symbolically represents the destination’s islands, natural attributes,
flora and fauna.
Alangari and her team are also devising a slogan that best describes the
unforgettable experience the destination has to offer for its visitors.
The slogan will be unveiled during the launch of the project’s first phase.
“Working in TRSDC has opened many opportunities for me as a young Saudi woman.
Today, not only am I helping to develop a brand new tourism industry for the
Kingdom, but I am learning and developing as the project develops,” said
Alangari.