Consultants from Austria, the UK and the US have been chosen to fill the roles of urban designer, planning consultant and infrastructure designer for the first phase of The Line, a 170km-long, 200m-wide city planned for northern Saudi Arabia.
DMAA will handle the concept and detailed masterplanning of phase one, which will consist of three 800m-long modules built around a marina.
Gensler will act as the planning consultant, and will help to design transport hubs and the public realm.
Mott MacDonald will be the city’s infrastructure engineer, with a focus on efficiency and sustainability.
The three will work in partnership with The Line’s design, development and project delivery teams.
Foundation work is currently taking place at the site, with 120 piles being cast into the ground each week.
When complete, The Line will be the largest single element of the kingdom’s massive Neom programme, the first elements of which recently opened on the island of Sindalah.
Denis Hickey, the project’s chief development officer, said: “We have established a unique partnership that brings world-leading city design and engineering expertise to deliver phase one. Collaboration is at the core of this, with a city-wide best practice group that will showcase how innovation can change the way we consider, design and build cities forever.”
Cathy Travers, Mott MacDonald’s group managing director, said: “The Line is a hugely complex project with an ambition to change the way we think about urban living. It requires deep technical expertise across multiple engineering disciplines, planning and design, and alongside our partners we are well placed to realise this vision.”
The planning and design of phase one is due to begin in early 2025.
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