U.S.-headquartered Parsons announced on Wednesday that the company was awarded a 5-year contract by the King Abdullah Financial District Development and Management Company (KAFD DMC) for project and construction management services in the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) in Saudi Arabia.
The contract supports the expansion of KAFD in new, undeveloped land, the engineering consultancy said in a press statement.
Located in Saudi capital Riyadh, KAFD is the world’s largest LEED-certified mixed-use financial district, with 1.6 million square metres (sqm) of office space and residences and is owned and managed by KAFD DMC.
Pierre Santoni, President, Infrastructure, EMEA at Parsons, said: ‘‘As one of the largest real estate projects globally with a ground floor area of five million sqm, KAFD is a physical manifestation of Saudi Vision 2030.”
According to the statement, Parsons said it will provide project and construction management services for developing commercial, hospitality, residential, municipal, and mixed-use buildings and the associated infrastructure to support the high-rise development.
It will work with KAFD DMC to ensure all new buildings being constructed obtain LEED certification, including the first municipal fire station in the region to receive LEED Platinum certification.
Further, Parsons is jointly engaged to manage the design and construction of water recovery and reuse facilities to supplement scarce resources for development.
‘While we are excited about the new construction and new buildings planned in KAFD, we remain steadfastly committed to reducing our carbon emissions,’ explained Gautam Sashittal, the Chief Executive Officer of KAFD DMC. ‘To date, over 40 of our buildings – ranging from office towers to residential and landmark buildings—have received Silver and Gold LEED certifications. And we look forward to this next chapter with Parsons ensuring the sustainability of our built environment and its decarbonisation.’
Parsons first began working with KAFD, a Public Investment Fund (PIF) subsidiary, in 2018 and has worked on several projects in and around the financial district since then.
Saudi Arabia has committed to reducing its emissions, pledging to reach net zero by 2060 and joining the Global Methane Pledge to cut methane emissions by 30 percent.
(Reporting by SA Kader; Editing by Anoop Menon)