Set in STONE

The Jabal Omar Development Company is one of the leading real estate developers in the region.

Can you walk us through the company’s current portfolio?

SARED manages all the properties owned by the holding group and is structured into two divisions: development and O&M. Through the development arm, we built Saudia City and are on hold for a new renovation masterplan that will be backed by feasibility studies by Colliers and JLL. Once these studies are finalized, we will present the plan to the board and engage in this new era, split into four phases to be developed in eight years. This represents our key strategic priority, although we remain active on other fronts too. Aside from Saudia City, we are currently working on a huge flight operation terminal development in Medina and the development and renovation of several buildings in Tabuk and Al Baha. Outside the Kingdom, we are working now on real estate in London where we have a headquarters and a warehouse at Heathrow Airport.

How can the investor community regain trust in the Saudi real estate market?

The current market conditions, especially on the residential side, offer an excellent opportunity for both developers and investors alike, as prices were reaching all-time highs both in terms of land and property. In 2020, we will witness the final correction. Some actors will exit the market, others will re-enter, and many will be willing to take advantage of the new reality. The real estate market cycle likely hit the lowest point in 2018, with many foreigners leaving the country, and is now starting to pick up. This means that this is the right time to buy because in four years we will witness another peak. These cycles are healthy for the market, and savvy investors should know how to position themselves accordingly. Saudi Arabia also provides them with the competitive advantage of a proper structure until 2030 and 2050 through the vision. ✖

The megaprojects, King Khalid University (KKU) Medical City and Jabal Omar Development Project, are continuing. We have four contracts at KKU worth over SAR3.5 billion, and we expect to complete them by 2019 or early 2020. The Jabal Omar project, which features luxury hotel towers and a shopping center, should be completed in 2020. We have also completed a few projects recently, including the Tabuk project for the Air Force. Saudi Baytur is proud to be the 2019 recipient of the Occupational Excellence Achievement Award and the Perfect Record Award from the USA National Safety Council for the Tabuk project. In 2018, we completed Ithra in Dhahran for Aramco, where we came in at the end to make it operational. We have a project at the Rabigh Refinery that has been ongoing since 2012 and doubled in value with additional contracts. That is at the closing stage, with all the construction and execution practically concluded. We also completed Aramco’s Dammam Housing Project. We have another major project at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) that will continue until 2025. We were also awarded a new contract for NEOM airport in March, and that is in progress. That is a fast-track contract that has to be completed within 2019. The scope is to upgrade the airport to the level where it can be certified for commercial aircrafts to take off and land. At the moment, it is only authorized for use by private, charter, and military aircraft. That is an exciting project. Saudi Arabian Baytur Construction is also bidding for various other projects.

You work on infrastructure, logistics, residential housing, and even industrial design projects. Does the company seek to position itself as a diversified solutions provider?

We want to continue to be better at what we are doing rather than changing our base. Plus, we want to supplement certain activities, for example by bringing in facilities management services in addition to construction because that seems to be a service in demand right now. We are in housing, but not in the mass housing market because we cannot compete with the prices. We go for value-added projects. Our Aramco housing project was a special case where the high-end development could not be finished for years, and we made an offer that the client found reasonable; however, generally the prices being quoted by contractors in the mass housing market are not for us.

What is the split between your public and private contracts?

We do more public projects; if we take into account Aramco, SABIC, and other semi-public companies, the split is around 70% public and 30% private. We do not want to have too many private projects in our portfolio; we want to concentrate on hospitality, healthcare, education, and landmark public buildings. However, as the market is becoming difficult, we are being more aggressive in our pricing and bidding down the price of subcontractors and suppliers.

The Red Sea Coast projects are our focal point, because we have been in Tabuk for almost three years now for the Air

Force project, so we know the market there. Then, on behalf of our affiliate, we managed construction in Sharma for the first initial Royal Hotel projects. We know the region, and that is where we want to concentrate. The projects there fit our expertise of high-end buildings and town centers. Sharma is the town on the Saudi Red Sea Coast that is closest to the NEOM Project. It is about a two-hour drive from Tabuk. We are also looking at the Qiddiya entertainment projects, though most of those are new to us, and we have never worked in the Riyadh region before. ✖

C&P was founded with the sole mission of delivering high-end results that are both high in quality and competitive in time delivery. We spent the first few years working mainly on residential projects; a corporate opportunity later presented itself, and we grabbed it. Since then, our focus has shifted toward fit-out in the private domain, and we began diversifying our portfolio in the healthcare, hospitality, real estate, and entertainment sectors. In terms of construction, our focus is on base-builds, fit-outs of all types, and landscaping. Because we are confident in our ability to deliver top-quality projects and because of the vast experience we have gained over the years, we began venturing into the public sector in Saudi, and it has been met with pleasing results. We are currently entering into a joint venture with large multinational design firms and will focus more on real estate development due to the rising demand for mid-end/low-cost residential projects.

FAISAL T. BOUZO

For 17 years we have been an architecture consultancy, seeing from a close perspective the direction of residential developments, working with developers to help them to build more effective housing for their clients. SAHEM was founded as a result of a thorough assessment of the Saudi housing market and the incorporation of the major trends in the sharing economy and technology. The goal is to help bring different sectors or different business players to participate in building housing options for the end user through one source. The end user interacts with the land developers, master planners, banks for the mortgage, architecture consultants, and construction companies all through one player. Traditionally, many of the available options in the market are already built. That means the customer does not have the chance to do the customizations. Moreover, many of the current offerings today have inefficiencies that are inadequate for today’s market.

MOHAMED ALBAKRI

The new Apple headquarters in Riyadh and other international firms like Deutsche Bank, Strategy&, and Deloitte are several of our significant projects in the design and fit-out domains. We recently delivered the new headquarters for the Ministry of Communication & Technology (MCIT), in which we changed its traditional offices that were built in 1980 to a space that resonates with modernity and innovation, helping it achieve its desire to move in line with its new visual identity as per Vision 2030. Just like we do with any project in the kick-off phase, we first gain a deep understanding of the work environment the client is looking for. Based on that, we begin the design process that demonstrates the area from every angle and highlights all the components down to the smallest detail. The ministry sought to be one of the top places to work and to be ahead of others in terms of workspace efficiency and functionality.

TAREK F. AL AJLANI

SAHEM can provide turnkey solutions and work alongside the customer through every step of the process. This model will be successful all over the country, and not only Jeddah. We started here because all the big vendors and players are here. If a company can make it in Jeddah, they can make it anywhere, because it is highly competitive. Land prices are high, and the client always seeks something different. In the future, our intention is to actually enter the Saudi market and perhaps the GCC. Every time we move to a new city, we plan to work with local architecture consultancies and contractors who meet our standards. However, to get there, one needs to work on certain things themselves. If we want to hedge for a heavy penetration in the market, we need to adopt a light business model where we can bring in partners. For these partners, we do a great deal of prequalification, knowing that our model works in cities that have cheaper land prices. ✖

MA