Project Description

King Abdullah Economic City

Industrial Park Master Plan – Saudi Arabia

King Abdullah Economic City is a new megaproject  currently under development on a site located along the Red Sea, about 100 km north of Jeddah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. With a total development area of 168 km², plans call for a new 30 million TEU port and a 63 million s.f. industrial park to generate a variety of new job opportunities for Saudi Arabia’s young and growing population. In addition to the multimodal transport facilities and industrial activities, a new business center – Financial Island – is to be created along with a large residential community and several hotel/resort complexes.

Parsons was engaged by Dubai-based Emaar, one of the most active developers in the Middle East, to act as Project Managers for the preparation of the Master Plan. In addition to responsibility for oversight of the team of international consultants including RSP architects (Singapore), SOM, WATG, Cansult and OPM, Parsons also provided Master Planning services for the industrial park elements of the project. The Industrial District will cover 63 million m². The 4,400 hectares of land will be dedicated to industrial and light manufacturing facilities – identified as key growth drivers for the Saudi economy – and can now host 2,700 industrial tenants. The Industrial District will have specific initiatives to encourage local entrepreneurs through incubator-like modules. International experts have been consulted to ensure that the Industrial Zone development is in line with best environmental practices.The jobs created will be in industrial and light industries (330,000); research and development (150,000); business and office (200,000); services (115,000); hospitality (60,000) and education and community services (145,000).

Services provided included:

  • Development of prototypical industrial profile for the city.
  • Preparation of programming, plot sizing, plot development guidelines for: regional distribution centers, incubators, medium and small industrial developments.
  • Programming and preliminary concept planning for staff housing, community facilities, etc.
  • Concept Master Planning for all industrial areas.
  • Coordination with other team members on overall Master Plan preparation (WATG, SOM, RSP, Cansult).
  • Preparation of sketchup models of industrial and housing structures for use by rendering specialists.

Principal Planner – Industrial Component