JEDDAH — The Coastal Village, a key element of The Red Sea Project of The Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC), witnessed the delivery and installation of the first prefabricated units that’ll provide homes and amenities for employees when the first phase of the destination opens.

The prefab units were manufactured off site by Saudi Amana Contracting and their subsidiary DuBox from a new factory established in Rabigh using local suppliers and manpower. Saudi Amana CEO and senior management team were on site when the Off-Site Manufacturing (OSM) units were delivered and installed.

The units coming from Rabigh were the first such units to be delivered and installed in the project using this OSM methodology, which is an important part of the company’s drive to minimize the amount of work carried out on site, in line with the firm’s environmental and sustainability policy to minimize the carbon footprint of less efficient on-site methods, thus minimizing labor accommodation and waste generation on site, in the process.

All Coastal Village buildings are being developed with a low carbon footprint and are designed to be as self-sustaining as possible. This approach generates opportunities for the local community while minimizing the impact on site from construction.

By reducing materials being handled, fabricated, and consequently wasted on site, and by reducing the number of people required on site, the OSM method reduces environmental impact of the project overall.

The 70-ton units were transported by road to the site where they were installed by a very large, 600T, crawler crane and connected together to form a series of individual apartments and subsequently entire buildings.

These units are almost entirely finished with floor, wall and ceiling finishes and all major MEP installations in the bespoke factory established by Saudi Amana and their in-house sister company, DuBox, in Rabigh.

The bathrooms in each apartment were also manufactured as complete, finished units (with tiles, mirrors, sanitary ware etc.) and installed into the concrete boxes prior to finishing and subsequent transportation to site.

The first units were lifted into position at 08:00 a.m. on Thursday morning. This is step 1 in TRSDC’s plan to have 150 apartments (the first 5 buildings) complete by the end of the year and the balance complete by the end of March 2021. — SG