JEC appoints EC Harris/Mace to project manage iconic Kingdom Tower project in Jeddah

The partners of JEC are the Kingdom Holding Company with a stake of 33.35%, SBG with a 16.63% stake, Abraar International Holding Company represented by Mr Samaual Bakhsh, with a stake of 33.35%, and prominent Jeddah businessman Mr Abdulrahman Hassan Sharbatly with a stake of 16.67%.

The EC Harris/Mace joint venture team will provide project, commercial and design management for the $1.2bn (£780m) Kingdom Tower development.

With a total construction area of over 500,000 square meters, the soaring Kingdom Tower will be a mixed-use building featuring a five star luxury Four Seasons hotel, Four Seasons serviced apartments, first class office space, luxury condominiums and an observatory that will be higher than the world's current highest observation deck. Construction work is due to start on site later this year and is due for completion within 63 months.

Eng. Waleed Abdul Jaleel Batterjee, Chief Executive Officer of JEC, said, "The vision of constructing the tallest tower in the world in Jeddah belongs to HRH Prince Al Waleed bin Talal. His vision is also that the project itself will set the world's sights on our beloved Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and particularly on Jeddah. Furthermore, the project will help create hundreds of jobs for our Saudi countrymen."

Batterjee added, "JEC is also in the final negotiations with for the appointment of Quantity Surveyor consultancy which will also be a UK based company."

Keith Brooks, Head of Property and Social Infrastructure at EC Harris, said, "We are delighted to be on the team to deliver this iconic project. The Kingdom Tower is a landmark building that will clearly demonstrate Saudi Arabia's ambitions to the world. We have a world class team in place and I am confident that our integrated approach to project, design and construction management will help deliver a safe and successful project."

Mark Reynolds, Chief Executive of Mace, said, "Kingdom Tower is a project of international importance and immense ambition and we are delighted to be part of the Joint Venture team tasked with its delivery. As the client's project manager, I am confident we will deliver a development exemplary in innovation and approach. We look forward to the realisation of HRH Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal's vision which will secure international recognition for the Kingdom's economic and cultural status."

Kingdom Tower will be the centre piece of JEC's $20bn (£13bn) Kingdom City development which will be located to the north of Jeddah, overlooking the Red Sea. The Kingdom City will consist of over 5.3 million square meters of urban development and it will include residential, commercial, hotel, offices, retail, educational and commercial centres as well as inland water features.

An interdisciplinary team led by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture (AS+GG), based in Chicago, created the design of the Kingdom Tower. Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill were appointed architects on Kingdom Tower in 2011. This appointment has been followed by the appointment of DAR Al-Handasah as the supervision consultant, Saudi Baeur as Pilling Contractor as well as Saudi BinLaden Group (SBG) as the main contractor.

The EC Harris and Mace joint venture team combines the experience of EC Harris and ARCADIS' Chicago based tall building experts, with international consultancy and construction company Mace. Together they have extensive experience delivering over 100 tall buildings around the globe including The Shard in London and The Landmark in Abu Dhabi.

EC Harris and Mace are working together on a number of projects, including a major programme of social infrastructure building projects for Qatar's Public Works Authority Ashghal, Doha Festival City in Qatar, numerous retail and hospitality projects in the UAE and several major residential developments in Dubai.