DHAHRAN — King Salman Energy Park (SPARK) has become the first industrial city in the world to receive Silver Level accreditation for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).

The LEED program is an internationally-recognized green building certification system, which verifies that buildings are designed to improve performance across key sustainability metrics such as energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impact.

The LEED certification strengthens SPARK’s ability to support future tenants and investors on their own journey towards LEED certification of their own facilities, as part of a fully-integrated energy community. It also affirms the city’s integrated sustainability practices, which are at the heart of the community’s planning.

SPARK President & CEO Saif S. Al Qahtani said: “SPARK is distinguishing itself as a leading global energy, industrial and technology hub, cementing Saudi Arabia’s position as a progressive innovator in these fields on the international stage. The certification reaffirms our commitment to reducing the city’s carbon footprint.

“LEED communities are in high global demand, as they offer better rates of profitability, productivity and quality of workplace. Our goal is to create an ecosystem for energy-related companies to grow with minimum environmental impact, and we encourage other industrial cities to follow our lead.”

Strategically located at the heart of Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, SPARK’s vision is to be the primary gateway to the regional energy sector. Its technologically-advanced ecosystem offers investors unmatched supply-chain efficiency and has been designed to provide an ultramodern “plug and play” infrastructure.

As well as targeting large corporations, SPARK also caters to small and medium sized enterprises and provides support through its SPARK SME Hub, creating a tailored microcosm for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

This allows streamlined and cost-effective operations near major workforce providers and close to highway and railway networks. At maturity, it will be home to over 300 industrial, technology and service facilities focused on meeting demand for energy goods and services across the entire value chain.

LEED certification is a key step in ensuring that environmentally-sensitive techniques are consistently applied to the construction of SPARK across industrial, commercial and residential facilities.

It is part of SPARK’s vision to be a proving ground for green tools and technologies designed to minimize the impact of activities conducted within the city, the most successful of which will serve as a blueprint for the oil and gas industry - as well as for businesses and homes across the country. — SG