After announcement of development plans last year by Saudi’s Crown Prince, the New Murabba Development Company also released insights on the progress of the Mukaab and the larger New Murabba. Design insights into the Mukaab have now also been revealed – alongside design updates on the downtown city. Featured today are the Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) advancing the ESG strategies and decarbonization plans for the New Murabba.
The New Murabba and the Mukaab
The New Murabba is envisioned to be Riyadh’s next mixed-use downtown city. Spanning 19 million square meters in land area at the intersection of the King Salman and King Khalid’s roads, New Murabba is expected to host at least 80 entertainment and cultural centers. Alongside this will be over 400,000 residential units in 18 residential complexes.
At the heart of the mixed-use downtown city is the Mukaab. It will stand as a giant monumental cube at the center of the downtown city. This giant cube does not fall short of distinct exclusive features.
Not only will it serve as an iconic landmark, but will also feature residential units, hotels, offices, and commercial spaces. It will provide a fully-featured digital and holographic experience to its visitors and residents. It has also been hailed as a modern depiction Najid architecture – taking its construction model after the Murabba Palace.
Upon completion of the 400 meter tall cube skyscraper with a roof spanning 16 hectares, which is reportedly able to fit 20 Empire State buildings, the Mukaab will be the largest building in the world. It will be large enough to fit up to 250,000 people inside at any given time.
Approaches behind the New Murabba and the Mukaab
Sustainability – which is inline with current global needs on the environment and ecosystems. The New Murabba will be the world’s second climate-controlled indoor city.
Influence on culture – The Mukaab and the New Murabba, at large, will feature the exposition of world cultures to visitors and peoples all around the world.
The human-centric approach will see that the project is as beneficial and inclusive to, and of all people as possible. It will ensure their fulfillment with focus on culture, education, entertainment, and exquisite infrastructural designs. The smart transport systems included for the project will also add a feather to the human-centric cap the project manager says it possess.
New Murabba MoU with King Khalid Foundation to advance sustainable development
Michael Dyke and Princess Nouf bint Muhammad bin Abdullah Al Saud, CEOs of New Murabba and the King Khalid Foundation respectively, recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to advance sustainable development.
The MoU’s focus will be on developing innovative solutions for New Murabba’s latest ESG strategies and sustainability. Focal-point-focus will be on the technologies used and the building practices implemented in the project.
The signing in Riyadh will soon see the launching of what has been termed the first “Green Building Hackathon”. This will work in “green” grants for the New Murabba project. It will also advance research and put to work programs fostering social entrepreneurship and innovation.
This deal will run through the whole of 2025, whilest merging the sustainability strategy and vision of the New Murabba, and the urban planning and sustainability expertise of the King Khalid Foundation.
Pioneering initiative with NCVC to promote the ESG strategies
Also signed last year is the MoU with the National Center for Vegetation Cover Development and Combating Desertification (NCVC). The MoU is geared towards the “Net-Zero Emissions by 2060” goal by Saudi Arabia.
Looking at three main areas: the development of vegetation cover, control of desertification, and the enhancement of biodiversity, the MoU with NCVC is set to serve as a benchmark and model for future infrastructural developments in the kingdom. Also important to note is that it is a “pioneering initiative” as framed by the PIF owned development company.
Extending over three years, the MoU with NCVC will greatly feature in the promotion of the ESG strategies announced by, and for, New Murabba.
On a global outlook, the MoUs signed for the New Murabba are set to dutifully promote UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 11 and 13 for a good cause of the planet in the fight for climate action.
The ESG strategies and decarbonization
The Public Investment Fund (PIF) company recently announced its Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) and Decarbonization strategies for the New Murabba. These, in a press statement, were termed as structures to “reinforce” their commitment to sustainability and Saudi’s Vision 2030. The PIF’s aim is to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, while the Kingdom has its sight on 2060.
The decarbonization strategies will see to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and increased use of renewable energy. Focus on energy efficiency, and a steer towards low-carbon materials and circular economy is also a priority.
The ESG strategies closely resonate with the approaches employed in the development of New Murabba and the Mukaab. The Environment strategy falls in line with the Sustainability approach for the urban city while the Social strategy gives a look into the Influence on culture that the urban city aims for. The Governance strategy plausibly encompassed the developing city’s influence on culture and the human-centric approach.
Michael Dyke termed the launch a “significant milestone” in the development of the urban city. The CEO reiterated on the future of New Murabba, calling it the template of “responsible development”. This he said with emphasis on the enhancement of “environmental performance” and “long-term value” by the project. The strategies will not only serve the development of the New Murabba but also be an “attractive prospect” and of value to stakeholders.
A look inside the Mukaab
The Smart Cities Expo World Congress 2024 in Barcelona, Spain had the New Murabba showcase their urban development plans. The CEO of New Murabba, Michael Dyke, pointed out the use of advanced technology and their implementation in urban cities’ infrastructure. Some notable tech features talked about include sensors and IoT devices to monitor almost everything in the urban city; from air quality, to traffic patterns. Alongside this was the look inside the Mukaab.
Technology is still at the center of the in-workings of the world’s largest building. The tech application in the Mukaab has been dubbed, “A Technological Symphony”. The focus is on the senses and the immersive sensations that visitors and residents will get to experience.
The Mukaab’s “Technological Symphony”
Part of the amplified and immersive visual advances to be made include state-of-the-art lighting, blending artistry and, diverse performances and displays. The acoustics will also be “excellent”, featuring a high-end audio system for “acoustic brilliance” – giving a new feel to the entertainment experience inside the Mukaab. The facade of the Mukaab is out-of-the-world in a sense, futuristic to put it more simply. This will be exorbitantly, but frugally, amplified inside the Mukaab. Blending sight, sound and touch will be expressed in harmony.
Other updates on the Mukaab
The Mukaab will also feature interconnected retail space spanning 350,000 square meters in its basements. The architectural marvel operating 24/7 will also house the world’s largest immersive dome. It will stand 380 meters high, and span a diameter of 340 meters. It will also have a tower larger than the Eiffel Tower at its center.
These conceptions are a testament to just how much urban cities will evolve in the coming decades. The New Murabba has been termed, “futuristic”. The Mukaab – an integral part of the futuristic city – is testament to this both literally and metaphorically.
Progress on the project
In a October press release, the project manager announced that 86% of earth excavation on-site is complete. This exact area covered is reported to be 10 million cubic meters. With 900 workers on-site daily, and 250 excavators present, the pace set for the project is promising although the completion dates have not been explicitly announced – with word around being 2030, as the project is part of the Saudi Vision 2030. This project is pivotal in the Saudi Vision 2030 as it will create 334,000 jobs, and also add $48 billion (180 billion Saudi Riyals) to the kingdom’s non-oil GDP.
Along side the main project, a temporary bridge will also be constructed over the King Khalid’s road. The bridge will facilitate truck movement to and from the site, and is expected to reduce truck movement on the nearby public roads by around 800,000 counts.
Other promising features of the project will include smart transportation and sustainable infrastructure.
Insights on the New Murabba
New Murabba is set to become one of the top 10 most livable cities in the world. The urban city will have 18 diverse communities with over 27 million square meters of developed assets. The number of homes in the downtown city has been estimated to be over 10,000. The number of hotels will be around 9,000, and over half a million square meters of retail and entertainment. New Murabba will also have a 45,000-seat stadium, 4 sq. km of parkland, and 4 sq. km of dedicated infrastructure.
Insights into the city from the project manager also mentioned dedicated areas for flora and fauna. This is expected to foster it’s sustainability approach. Alongside this will be features like the bioswale drainage and integrated storm-water management.
The New Murabba’s green picture
The New Murabaa is set to be a “world” powered by the sun – literally. With a focus on green technology, the city will have half of its electricity generated from renewable sources by 2030. This is expected to see the total energy consumption from non-buildings drop by more than half by 2040.
New estimates painting the picture of the new urban downtown city in Saudi have a quarter of the whole land covered by plantation. This will see more than 300,000 trees planted in the city – trees are quite a normal occurrence; albeit this, it is quite remarkable for the new urban city. The green space area is around 4.5 sq. km – 2 ½ times larger than Central Park in New York. The new downtown city will also feature Wadi-Front living spaces, linear and public parks, and a “mobility loop”.
A 15-minute concept has also been used to describe the efficiency expected in the downtown city. This will bring access to amenities and essentials being within 15 minutes of reach. The New Murabba will also be served by two major freeways, the King Salman in the East-West, and the King Khaled in the South-North. The 15-minute downtown will feature all electric public vehicles that will cater for the less than 30% of internal transits in the city. This is set to see the reduction of CO2 emission from road transit by 35%.
The New Murabba’s circular economy
As part of its circular economy, New Murabba will recycle 95% of its wastewater. This will reduce water consumption intensity by almost half. All of the irrigation water for the urban city will also be sourced from the Saudi based electromechanical company, TSE. As part of the recycle and reuse in the New Murabba, focus will also be put on the sorting-at-source and the reduction of reliance landfill for up to 90% of the Municipal Solid Waste (MSW).
This strategically comes about when the Saudi government aims to reduce the use of landfills for the more than 15 million tons of waste it handles, by 85%, by the year 2035. The driver of this initiative in the downtown city has not been officially named, but Saudi Investment Recycling Company (SIRC) could be in line. SIRC is a subsidiary of the PIF that is involved with circular economies and waste-to-energy projects in the Kingdom.
Call for project partners
Despite the call for partnerships from industry players by the CEO in a recent interview, progress on the project is being made steadily.
The call for more partners to join the development journey of the PIF owned-and-funded development initiative is from what Michael Dyke calls, “a finite level of capital”, and the, “high expectations in terms of the return on that investment”. He made this statement in reference to the capital flow to the project from the PIF.
This will however not set the project off-track as optimistic reassurances were made by the CEO.
Partnerships calls were included in the following sectors:
- Rights and Sponsorships
- Financial Partnerships and Fund Structures
- Development Partnerships
- Public Private Partnerships
- Technology and Smart Cities Partnerships
- Green and Sustainable Development Partnerships
The projects’ second and third phases
The second and third phases of the new downtown city will feature the completion of the eastern and western sides of the city and the communities around it; while the latter of the phases will see the completion of the master-plan. Dates around the phases have however not yet been made public.
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