THE landmark Princess Nora bint Abdulrahman University for Women (PNU) construction project is fast taking shape on a massive site area to the north of Riyadh.
In two years, the PNU campus will become Saudi Arabia’s largest women-only university and one of the largest higher education institutions for women in the world, with its 15 colleges together capable of accommodating as many as 40,000 students.
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Saudi Oger, one of the kingdom’s leading construction companies and headquartered in Riyadh, is the main contractor for Package One at PNU which was awarded in January 2009. Since construction work began, Saudi Oger has been fast-tracking the execution of Package One over a period of 24 months with completion scheduled for January 2011. This package comprises the construction of several educational colleges for medicine including dentistry, pharmacy, nursing and non-medical specialties as well as the arts, humanities, design and IT.
Saudi Oger is also responsible for the administration buildings, housing facilities, medical research centre and hospital as well as landscaping and multiple support facilities spread across the campus.
Stephane Chanteloux is Saudi Oger’s project director for PNU and a veteran of several major projects in Saudi Arabia. A French national, Chanteloux first came to Saudi Arabia in 1995 and is associated with landmark projects.
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The medical centre, School of Pharmacy and Dentistry (top) and College of Art and Design (below). |
“Once the construction contracts for PNU were awarded in early 2009, Saudi Oger started mobilisation immediately. At the beginning we used facilities at the Saudi Oger Training Institute (SOTI) close to the PNU site whilst the housing and various site offices were completed. By May 2009, construction work began in earnest as the various construction teams were in place to deal with the site from shoring and excavation works, foundations and asphalting. Today, there are about 17,000 individuals involved on the site with this number expected to peak to 25,000 by the third quarter of this year,” says Chanteloux.
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According to Chanteloux, one of the many strengths of Saudi Oger is the culture of the organisation which is multi-divisional from design, procurement, construction and facilities management. Through its Saudi Arabian and international structure, Saudi Oger can harness expertise at all levels including Oger International in Paris and other global offices.
“One of the biggest challenges at the beginning was to house the people, such is the scale of the project. One has to think in a different way when mobilising and we divided our responsibilities into six project areas under five project managers. Typically we are working seven days a week around the clock and the site is massive in area with more than 100 tower cranes in operation. Saudi Oger has the full responsibility to execute Package One and by early 2011, we expect to deliver. In fact, we will deliver on the package which covers one million sq m within a construction programme of 18 months,” he adds.
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The conference and convention centre. |
Finding skilled workers is always a challenge and Chanteloux is bullish about the success of Saudisation and the benefits of the nearby training institute. Saudi Oger already has many Saudi engineers and administrative staff and, importantly, the training institute is providing quality vocational training for new Saudi staff either joining Saudi Oger or entering the construction industry in general.
When construction is completed, PNU will accommodate up to 40,000 students on the campus which will include 15 academic faculties, several laboratories and extensive research facilities. The university will also have a 700-bed hospital, administrative buildings, conference and convention centres, library, mosques, and 400 villas for housing families and ancillary staff.
Specific areas of the campus will be allocated for state-of-the-art research in nanotechnology, biological sciences and IT in collaboration with the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology
Environmental concerns are implicit on the PNU campus which features energy-saving technologies including a district cooling plant, solar power and water recycling. Approximately 40,000 sq m of solar panels will provide 16 per cent of the power requirements and 18 per cent of the air-conditioning load utilising a solar collector system including parabolic mirrors.
The campus will also have a water recycling plant capable of producing 8,000 cu m of water a day for irrigating the landscaped areas.
Lead consultant for the project is Dar Al Handasah including design and MEP (mechanical, electrical and plumbing) with main contractors Saudi Oger, Saudi Binladin Group and El Seif Engineering and Contracting.
Other Saudi Oger projects include King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (Kaust) in Thuwal, north of Jeddah, the first phase of King Abdullah Road in Riyadh, the Jabal Omar Project in Makkah, and the construction of the twin towers in King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh. In addition, Saudi Oger is in the final stages of delivering Le Meridien Towers in Makkah and building residences at King Abdullah Economic City. Close by the PNU site is the Saudi Oger Training Institute, where initial mobilisation for the project has begun.
