A fully self-contained financial centre designed to lead enterprise in the Kingdom.
The King Abdullah Financial District is a state-of-the-art, fully self-contained centre for business, investment and enterprise in Saudi Arabia. Located north of Riyadh, the 1.6 million square metre site accommodates 3 million square metres of floor space and is now recognised as the world's largest green development.
The mixed-use scheme comprises offices, hotels, a conference centre, retail and recreational facilities, all designed with direct access to the airport. The district is positioned as the leading financial centre in the Middle East.
Fire protection systems design for two 20-storey towers as specialist sub-consultant to WSP.
Osborn Associates were appointed as a named specialist sub-consultant to WSP Group, responsible for the design of all fire protection systems associated with two tower blocks of over twenty storeys each within the financial district.
The scope covered the full design journey from concept through to detailed design, including full hydraulic calculations for the sprinkler systems. The company answered all associated technical queries throughout the design period and represented WSP's fire protection design position at project meetings.
Coordinating fire protection design within one of the world's largest mixed-use developments.
The principal challenge was the scale of the wider development and the coordination required to integrate the fire protection design into the overall project programme. With multiple design teams working across a development of this magnitude, ensuring close coordination of the fire protection systems with the architectural, structural and building services designs demanded rigorous communication and programme management.
Each aspect of the design programme needed to be completed to the client's satisfaction while maintaining alignment with the district's sustainability ambitions - a critical consideration for a development that would go on to achieve recognition as the world's largest green development.
