Major expansion work is under way on the Eastern Province’s landmark Al Rashid Mall, which will make it the largest shopping complex in the kingdom, according to Al Rashid mall’s general manager Fouad Al Fakhri.

Work is in the finishing stages on the project that has involved the construction of a number of separate buildings: a mall extension, a hypermarket, a car-park building and a bridge. In addition, it also includes a central district cooling plant as well as a mosque.
Currently the final precast elements are being erected while finishing works such as tiling and gypsum work is in progress within the buildings.
The five-level expansion of the mall is being built adjacent to the existing four-level mall, which opened in 1995. This expansion will bring an additional 50,000 sq m of retail space to the market, while increasing the number of retail outlets within the mall to 700 from the existing 450 units.
The 20,000 sq m hypermarket complex, which has two basement levels as well as five upper storeys, will house a Carrefour outlet. It will also have 2,500 car-parking spaces within the basement, ground and mezzanine levels, two showrooms on the ground level as well as 100 apartments.
The six-storey car-park building accommodates a 6,000 sq m showroom on the ground floor as well as an additional 1,500 car-parking slots.
All these three buildings are linked together by an interesting two-level “bridge” building, which not only serves as a walkway between these complexes but also offers an additional 10,000 sq m of retail areas, boosting the total retail space offered by the expansion to 60,000 sq m.
With the 130,000 sq m of space offered by the existing mall, Al Rashid Mall becomes the largest shopping centre in Saudi Arabia with a total leasable area of 130,000 sq m, says Al Fakhri.
Construction work on the project began two years ago and is due for completion by June, with a soft opening set for September this year.
The contractor on the development is Rashid Trading and Contracting Company while the consultant is Rashid Saad Al Rashid.