On a mission to build an entertainment economy from scratch, Saudi Arabia has hired US-headquartered consultant Hill International to project manage the construction of two cinema and leisure clusters in Riyadh.
The client is the Saudi Entertainment Ventures, known as Seven, a unit of the Saudi Public Investment Fund tasked with "spreading joy and driving progress throughout the nation".
"Our roadmap is vast," Seven’s chief executive Bill Ernest told the Joy Forum industry event in Riyadh in October.Â
"We have plans for new leisure and entertainment destinations right across the Kingdom."
Ernest, who took up his post with Seven in October last year, was formerly a senior executive of The Walt Disney Company.
Located at Exit-10 near Al Nahda, the two entertainment clusters will have cinemas, restaurants, outdoor terraces, retail, sports venues, and activity zones, Hill said.Â
Each cluster is expected to have a built-up area of approximately 100,000 sq m.
Hill will manage the design workload, construction, project controls and logistics.
"We are extremely delighted and honoured to be receiving this award which further sheds the light on the importance of the strong partnership between KSA and Hill International," said Hill’s senior vice president in the kingdom, Dr. Adel Jemah.
Image: Serious about fun: A panel discussion at October’s Joy Forum 2019 in Riyadh, with Seven CEO Bill Ernest seated on far right (Saudi Entertainment Ventures via Twitter)
