Azure waters, sandy and rocky landscapes that have stood for a millenia, and an archipelago of coral islands that have remained mostly untouched by humans. This pristine landscape will shortly be accessible to the world as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia gets ready to welcome tourists to the first phase of The Red Sea Development projects from 2023. Counted among the crown jewels of the country’s giga-projects, this initial development includes 16 hotels, residential properties, an 18-hole championship golf course and retail and leisure facilities for visitors. The first three resorts to open will be Nujuma - a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, St. Regis Red Sea Resort and Six Senses Southern Dunes, The Red Sea. These luxury hotels will be accessible by the Red Sea International Airport (RSI) which is also projected to become operational in 2023.

Among the many reasons the Red Sea Project has caught the imagination of the world is the sheer scale of development and the ambitious promise of it being a net-zero site. Spread across 28,000 sq Km, it is being touted as the world’s biggest regenerative tourism project. To understand the scope of the project, and the execution of its key objectives, CMtoday spoke to Raed AlBasseet, Chief Sustainability Officer, The Red Sea Development Project.

Q. Development, sustainability, and luxury – can they co-exist?

To us at The Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC), sustainable development and luxury go hand in hand. Sustainability does not equal limitations. Nor does luxury mean extravagance at the expense of nature.

A big part of the answer lies in the fact that there has never been a greater demand from today's modern tourists to travel with purpose. They are increasingly conscious about mitigating the effects of mass-tourism and minimizing the environmental damage that the industry has historically been linked with, all while supporting local communities.

Our vision is to open Saudi Arabia up to the world and consolidate its place as a global tourism destination, while showing how the Kingdom is driving forward some of the most innovative regenerative approaches in the world.

Q. The Red Sea is being called the ‘world’s most ambitious regenerative tourism project’ – please tell us more about it?

Our core belief is that the surrounding environment, culture, and communities should not only remain protected, but actively regenerated so they can continue to thrive for generations to come. The concept goes beyond just sustainability. It aims to enhance the cultural, environmental, economic, and aesthetic integrity of the destination at every turn. This approach has shaped our master-planning framework since the beginning, helping us further augment the natural capital, breathtaking landscapes, and thriving communities that surround our sites.

Our tangible response to this approach includes powering our destination by 100 percent renewable energy, with no connection to the national grid. We are also pursuing a 30 percent net conservation benefit by 2040. This specific commitment encompasses a variety of factors, including the development of less than one percent of the entire 28,000 square kilometre area, designating nine islands as special conservation zones; restricting visitor numbers to one million to The Red Sea, and sending zero waste to landfill. The destination will also be single-use plastic free by the time we are fully operational, while green infrastructure, construction, and retrofitting will limit heavy carbon-emitting practices.

We are also committed to offering emission-free transport across the entire destination. This includes e-bikes, golf buggies, cars, vans, trucks, buses, seaplanes, VTOL, passenger ferries, boats, maintenance vehicles, airside vehicles and even off-road leisure pursuit vehicles.

Q. What were the evaluation parameters in terms of sustainability while choosing the firms involved in the development of the Red Sea islands?

Our contractors go through a thorough prequalification process to be considered as our partners for this pioneering development. Some of the parameters that we look for depend on the nature of their work, and can include the following:

• Implementing effective reduce, reuse, and recycle practices – from the construction materials they use to their everyday practices
• Ethical and sustainable sourcing of material
• Awareness and adoption of IFC standards
• Environmental innovation in their field of expertise
• Proven ability to work on global accreditation properties, such as LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)

Q. What systems have you deployed to manage this vast project?

We recognize the complexity of environmental challenges and have taken the necessary steps to safeguard natural assets where our projects are developed. The first and foremost step is the deployment of highly experienced environmental professionals to drive and deliver the company environment and sustainability mandate. With high quality in-house resources, we have developed an Environmental Management System (EMS) to secure our ISO 14001:2015 certification. The EMS serves as a backbone for company-wide environmental performance drivers and specifies how we must all conduct our business in line with best environmental practices. For example, we go over and above the Saudi environmental regulations when conducting the Environmental and Social Impact Assessments (ESIA) for new development projects. These ESIA studies are aligned with the technical environmental requirements of International Finance Corporation (IFC). To this end, we have developed a Value Driven Approach based on Ecosystem Services that are applicable and important to the company projects. This approach provides valuable input to master planners and designers when developing the concept designs of new projects and it ensures that the ‘environment’ is deeply embedded in the design.

Subsequently, as our projects go into the construction and operational stages, the company conducts compliance supervision and audits at both the corporate and project level. These are instrumental in measuring the environmental performance of our civil works contractors and asset operators in line with construction and operational environmental management plans, which are prepared prior to starting onsite construction and operations.

Q. How do green concrete, modular prefabricated construction techniques reduce the environmental impact?

Green Concrete has the ability to greatly reduce the embodied carbon of our buildings, mainly due to its cement content and the heavy carbon footprint of that industry.

This material, which has been developed with a low carbon footprint and manufactured utilizing recycled raw materials, is helping us to achieve our ambitious sustainability targets. The final product is structural grade concrete that is designed to withstand up to 100 years of weather conditions in the region.

Modular prefabricated construction techniques are proven to have environmental and social benefits. For example, in environmentally sensitive locations they reduce the on-site labor & workmanship, plant and machinery, vehicles, and manpower. In addition, socially it helps create employment in the Kingdom with greater access to factory jobs for Saudi nationals, including women.

Q. What is the checklist – macro and micro – to reduce greenhouse gas emissions during construction?

As a project that aims to establish green buildings and reduce development carbon footprint, we have adopted a cradle-to-cradle life-cycle assessment (LCA) for our buildings. This assessment starts at the design stage and informs the construction methodology. The assessment encompasses material lifecycle – from manufacturing to demolition and recycling. For the construction stage, the assessment deals with raw material supply, manufacturing, transport, and installation. Each of these steps contribute to the overall impact reduction levels of greenhouse gasses.

On a micro scale, the company’s compliance teams conduct regular audits that identify areas for improvement – one of which is possible measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. For example, our use of solar powered temporary lighting is a direct result of this philosophy.

Q. Which carbon sequestration techniques are currently being used, or will be, to manage the carbon footprint?

We are developing a strategic framework for managing carbon, which will be followed by detailed carbon accounting programs across built form, nature, and social initiatives.

We’re already on the path to carbon neutrality. Starting from the ground-up, our world-class construction logistics included green concrete and specification of concrete mixes with low embodied carbon (OPC replacements, fly-ash, etc.). We have also opted for off-site construction to reduce waste, employ local communities, and produce less environmental damage at site – including the use of alternative water sources. On-site construction waste and recycling centres actively compost food waste to achieve high construction stage diversion from landfill, while stormwater management maximizes on-site infiltration and avoidance of discharge to sea.

Further along the site, we are designing energy efficient assets that align with high standards for passive design, and are compatible with sourcing power from 100 percent renewables. Ultimately, we encourage all our contractors to procure materials that have been recognized by Environmental Product Declarations (EPD). Environmental monitoring continues in parallel to track consumption and alert the team in any instances of excessive use.

We are also assessing clean mobility solutions across the project, powered by hybrid, electric, or hydrogen vehicles, while master planning for efficient transport and people movement such as improved pedestrian, bicycle, and buggy transport options across staff and resort areas.

Q. Technology and sustainability – Can you tell us about the adoption of technology in the evaluation of the landscape?

We see sustainability and digital technologies as two sides of the same coin; we simply cannot reap the full benefits of one without the other. Across the spectrum of our masterplans, the efficiency of our sustainable solutions our grounded on a data-driven approach. We strongly believe that it is only by leveraging emerging technologies that we can successfully achieve our target of carbon neutral operations, powered by 100 percent renewable energy.

For example, we have already embedded new technologies in sensors and data management across our assets to constantly monitor and drive substantial efficiency gains. Please refer to Question 10 for full details on this.

Q. What are the measures adopted for energy and waste management – during construction and post-handover?

At TRSDC, our aim is 100 percent renewable energy and zero waste to landfill during operation of our resorts and facilities.

The clean, green power generation system is built around photovoltaic (PV) cells, and the world’s largest battery storage facility at 1000MWh. The PV system has been built at such a scale, that it is designed to deliver the power needed across the destination during the daytime while simultaneously charging the battery storage facility. This in turn becomes the primary source of energy during the nighttime.

We have also ensured that waste is properly managed during construction by establishing a temporary waste management facility to prioritize reuse and recycling as per our waste management hierarchy.

During full operations, our project will have a permanent waste management facility to manage all waste as part of our zero-waste to landfill target. A Smart Waste Management service is also being incorporated into the operations to allow stakeholders to use IoT (Internet of Things) and monitoring sensors to optimally collect, track, dispose, or recycle the waste from the smart bins or compactors at reception points to an integrated waste management facility. To further minimize outgoing waste streams, the facility will utilize segregation and composting to recycle, and incineration to treat the residual parts of the incoming waste. Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning tools, waste collection practices, and traffic routes will be optimized thereby limiting traffic congestion, reducing fuel consumption, as well as reducing carbon footprint. 

 Q. Can you elaborate on the adoption of sensors to manage your conservation efforts?

At TRSDC, our main aim is to ensure environmental conservation and protection. As such, we have established automated systems to inform our decision-making and management of all activities within our lagoon. The automated system includes various sensors that continuously measure water quality, air quality, noise, and ecology which help us ensure all sensitive receptors within the development footprints are not impacted by any surrounding activity.

For instance, water quality sensors are installed near and around all sensitive receptors (such as corals) to monitor the water temperature, dissolved oxygen levels, and turbidity levels to ensure those receptors are not in any way impacted by the development. For ecological conservation, among other monitoring activities, we are deploying underwater noise sensors to measure the noise levels underwater around development areas for each species. This helps us understand the noise impact on marine mammals during development and ensures that we are taking the proper steps to minimize impact.

All sensors as part of these systems include automated alarms and real-time data display to allow a proactive, timely, and effective response. These sensors will all form part of an interconnected system which will have the ability to perform simulations and predictions, which will enable TRSDC to take a world-leading proactive approach toward managing conservation efforts.