The Line in Neom is 'the greatest real estate challenge that humans have faced'


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The Line megaproject in Neom, Saudi Arabia, will be the greatest real estate challenge undertaken by mankind, says one of the men turning the vision of a 170-kilometre long, 500-metre tall city into reality.

Once completed, it will be the largest megastructure in the world — a futuristic, mirrored residential and business block that rises over an expanse of desert, pristine, emerald waters, rocky inlets and white beaches of the rugged Tabuk province.

Designed to house up to 9 million people, the Neom project is the centrepiece of the most ambitious urban planning project in history.

"We are building 120 Burj Khalifas' worth of real estate in the first phase," Giles Pendleton, executive director of development at The Line in Neom, who joined the team in February, tells The National.

Giles Pendleton joined the team behind The Line team in February. Photo: Facebook
Giles Pendleton joined the team behind The Line team in February. Photo: Facebook

The structure will be the largest building in the world by a wide margin. The Pentagon, home to the US Department of Defence and the world's largest office building with nearly 30 kilometres of corridors, is tiny by comparison.

Even after 24 years of leading developments in Australia, the Middle East, Africa and Eastern Europe, Mr Pendleton has never taken on something on the scale of The Line.

He says the visionaries behind the plan, including Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, see it as nothing less than a reinvention of urban planning.

What is The Line project in Neom?

The Line will be integral to the futuristic new city of Neom, a project Prince Mohammed has identified as one of the most important aspects of the Saudi Vision 2030, which aims to diversify the country's oil-dependent economy.

"Our commitment to delivering The Line on behalf of the nation remains resolute," Prince Mohammed has said.

But since the announcement of the project, many have had questions about the feasibility, the timetable and exactly what life inside The Line will be like.

The National put these to Mr Pendleton.

"The Line should become a test bed and something the world looks at and says 'well, that is a forward-looking way at looking at our problems," he explains.

"We have immense support from our leadership and an incredible vision that we are attempting to achieve."

The Line will have a mirror facade, created by a team of world-renowned architects and engineers, which will allow even its footprint to "blend with nature".

But this doesn't come without significant challenges.

We are attempting to reprogramme humans as to how we live in megastructures and how we use to them to our advantage
Giles Pendleton,
executive director of development at The Line in Neom

Mr Pendleton says building higher than 300 metres starts to become complicated because of the scale and this will be the case with The Line.

"From a technical perspective, this is the greatest real estate challenge that has ever been faced by mankind," he says.

This is, he says, in part because The Line does not feature stand-alone skyscrapers built close together but rather it will be one continuous building.

"We are not building a series of skyscrapers where you go down a skyscraper to go across the street to go up another skyscraper. We are essentially a continuous skyscraper so we are attempting to reprogramme humans as to how we live in large or megastructures."

The Line as a Green megaproject

The project’s green and energy-efficient credentials are front and centre of the entire plan and are especially challenging in a desert where temperatures well above 40°C are not uncommon.

"The city of London and the future city Neom will have the same population of 9 million," Mr Pendleton says. But building in a single long line will make a difference, he explains.

"London has 1,600 sq km of city, so it's extremely large and spread out, he says. "We are the exact same population size [but] we'll have dedicated 99 per cent of the same land London has as pristine nature.

"The land is being returned to its original intent ― things like power lines will be removed to give an unencumbered natural landscape as part of the Crown Prince's vision. We are going to touch the land as lightly as we can and the rest we must rehabilitate and make as natural and organic as possible, which includes rewilding the environment with animals that once lived here in an indigenous state and planting more trees."

Mr Pendleton says building the metropolis from a blank slate could help eradicate many of the problems that historic cities have amassed over decades and centuries.

These include "desocialisation, where people from different races, religions, who different linguistically, are living in the same city with the same citizenship, but completely separate from each other". He says: "We talk about pollution, urban sprawl where cities are just consuming vast amounts of pristine farm landscapes."

That will not be the case in Neom, he assures.

Neom's 'zero gravity' thinking

The Line attempts to solve this problem by "vertically stacking and packing the entire city above itself — and the efficiency has significantly improved, the pollution levels are significantly removed — to a point of having 100 per cent renewable energy".

"The Line will be the first city in the world to be powered by renewable energy including wind, solar and hydrogen," Mr Pendleton says.

We will be the first city in the world to be powered by renewable energy
Giles Pendleton

Prince Mohammed has also explained the concept of zero-gravity urban living that is being applied in The Line.

“The idea of layering city functions vertically, giving people the possibility of moving seamlessly in three dimensions to access them, is a concept referred to as Zero Gravity Urbanism,” Prince Mohammed said last week, adding that he is committed to delivering a city of the future.

Mr Pendleton explains what this means in practice.

"So, where something traditional would be on the ground, like a sports stadium, why can't you put it up in a building or in the middle so every person can be equidistant from that activity?" he says. "We have this constant commute to work, theatre, beach or school, so how do we break them down and put them back together to solve these questions?"

While most cities are blanketed in industrial pollution or smog from traffic, this won't be the case in The Line, he says.

"The easiest way to deal with air pollution is not to create any," says Mr Pendleton. "We don't have cars, trucks or coal-fired power stations ― nothing that's generating pollution. What we do have is an abundance of wind and solar radiation, which is our primary energy supply supplemented by green hydrogen, we will be investing heavily in that."

That sunlight will bathe rooms, hallways and courtyards in bright light throughout the day, with the building designed to let in as much natural light as possible.

Inspired by "Middle Eastern and Arabic architecture over generations, over hundreds of years", the designs allow for fresh air to flow through large buildings for natural cooling.

So, how will residents get around without cars or roads?

There will be a superfast rail line running the length of the city to shuttle people over larger distances but even for shorter journeys everything from elevators to pods — mini transport vehicles on rails ― will be powered through a renewable-powered electric system.

One major challenge will be water supply, which will in large part comprise desalinated ocean water. Traditionally, this has been an energy-intensive process.

"Desalination is part of our thinking," Mr Pendleton says. "We are going to heavily invest in the treatment of water."

But the new, smart city will allow for any leaks in the water-pipe network ― traditionally the largest waste of water in a municipal system ― to be identified quickly.

"These are problems we can solve as it's in a vertical building," Mr Pendleton says. "The moment we have a leak we can see it, as opposed to it leaking in the ground when you don't really see it.

"That's what The Line is being designed to do. Do we produce more energy because we are building more buildings? Or do we make construction more efficient and do this in a way to help people live better?"

So, is it plain sailing from here, now that the team behind The Line has an understanding of the challenges? Not quite, says Mr Pendleton.

"Have we solved every problem? No. No city has solved all of its problems technically. But working with the world's greatest minds and companies involved in Neom, in a collaborative way, we are able to tap the best of what the world has to offer logistically, technically and looking towards solving challenges using an integrated approach."

Despite these numerous challenges, Mr Pendleton pushes back against those who claim the vast project is too ambitious to complete, and says it is already well under way.

"We are very much under construction ― come down to the exhibition happening in Jeddah and see the construction video," he says.

"The public is aware of the tunnelling contracts that we have awarded ― those are for the large infrastructure that runs parallel to The Line, called The Spine, which is the utility corridor which also links the airport.

"The early works are under way and as you can imagine you can't build it all at once but in stages, almost like rolling the city out module by module. The machines keep moving down as they build more of it over time."

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Ain Dubai in numbers

126: The length in metres of the legs supporting the structure

1 football pitch: The length of each permanent spoke is longer than a professional soccer pitch

16 A380 Airbuses: The equivalent weight of the wheel rim.

9,000 tonnes: The amount of steel used to construct the project.

5 tonnes: The weight of each permanent spoke that is holding the wheel rim in place

192: The amount of cable wires used to create the wheel. They measure a distance of 2,4000km in total, the equivalent of the distance between Dubai and Cairo.

Jordan cabinet changes

In

  • Raed Mozafar Abu Al Saoud, Minister of Water and Irrigation
  • Dr Bassam Samir Al Talhouni, Minister of Justice
  • Majd Mohamed Shoueikeh, State Minister of Development of Foundation Performance
  • Azmi Mahmud Mohafaza, Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research
  • Falah Abdalla Al Ammoush, Minister of Public Works and Housing
  • Basma Moussa Ishakat, Minister of Social Development
  • Dr Ghazi Monawar Al Zein, Minister of Health
  • Ibrahim Sobhi Alshahahede, Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Environment
  • Dr Mohamed Suleiman Aburamman, Minister of Culture and Minister of Youth

Out

  • Dr Adel Issa Al Tawissi, Minister of High Education and Scientific Research
  • Hala Noaman “Basiso Lattouf”, Minister of Social Development
  • Dr Mahmud Yassin Al Sheyab, Minister of Health
  • Yahya Moussa Kasbi, Minister of Public Works and Housing
  • Nayef Hamidi Al Fayez, Minister of Environment
  • Majd Mohamed Shoueika, Minister of Public Sector Development
  • Khalid Moussa Al Huneifat, Minister of Agriculture
  • Dr Awad Abu Jarad Al Mushakiba, Minister of Justice
  • Mounir Moussa Ouwais, Minister of Water and Agriculture
  • Dr Azmi Mahmud Mohafaza, Minister of Education
  • Mokarram Mustafa Al Kaysi, Minister of Youth
  • Basma Mohamed Al Nousour, Minister of Culture
Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
While you're here
Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
ABU%20DHABI'S%20KEY%20TOURISM%20GOALS%3A%20BY%20THE%20NUMBERS
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THE CARD

2pm: Maiden Dh 60,000 (Dirt) 1,400m

2.30pm: Handicap Dh 76,000 (D) 1,400m

3pm: Handicap Dh 64,000 (D) 1,200m

3.30pm: Shadwell Farm Conditions Dh 100,000 (D) 1,000m

4pm: Maiden Dh 60,000 (D) 1,000m

4.30pm: Handicap 64,000 (D) 1,950m

THE SIXTH SENSE

Starring: Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Hayley Joel Osment

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Rating: 5/5

Emergency

Director: Kangana Ranaut

Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry 

Rating: 2/5

If you go

The flights
Etihad (etihad.com) flies from Abu Dhabi to Luang Prabang via Bangkok, with a return flight from Chiang Rai via Bangkok for about Dh3,000, including taxes. Emirates and Thai Airways cover the same route, also via Bangkok in both directions, from about Dh2,700.
The cruise
The Gypsy by Mekong Kingdoms has two cruising options: a three-night, four-day trip upstream cruise or a two-night, three-day downstream journey, from US$5,940 (Dh21,814), including meals, selected drinks, excursions and transfers.
The hotels
Accommodation is available in Luang Prabang at the Avani, from $290 (Dh1,065) per night, and at Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp and Resort from $1,080 (Dh3,967) per night, including meals, an activity and transfers.

PROFILE OF HALAN

Started: November 2017

Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga

Based: Cairo, Egypt

Sector: transport and logistics

Size: 150 employees

Investment: approximately $8 million

Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar

About Karol Nawrocki

• Supports military aid for Ukraine, unlike other eurosceptic leaders, but he will oppose its membership in western alliances.

• A nationalist, his campaign slogan was Poland First. "Let's help others, but let's take care of our own citizens first," he said on social media in April.

• Cultivates tough-guy image, posting videos of himself at shooting ranges and in boxing rings.

• Met Donald Trump at the White House and received his backing.

Huroob Ezterari

Director: Ahmed Moussa

Starring: Ahmed El Sakka, Amir Karara, Ghada Adel and Moustafa Mohammed

Three stars

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20IPHONE%2014%20PRO%20MAX
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FIXTURES

December 28
Stan Wawrinka v Pablo Carreno Busta, 5pm
Milos Raonic v Dominic Thiem, no earlier then 7pm

December 29 - semi-finals
Rafael Nadal v Stan Wawrinka / Pablo Carreno Busta, 5pm
Novak Djokovic v Milos Raonic / Dominic Thiem, no earlier then 7pm

December 30
3rd/4th place play-off, 5pm
Final, 7pm

War and the virus
Company%20profile
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Dhadak

Director: Shashank Khaitan

Starring: Janhvi Kapoor, Ishaan Khattar, Ashutosh Rana

Stars: 3

ENGLAND SQUAD

Goalkeepers Pickford (Everton), Pope (Burnley), Henderson (Manchester United)

Defenders Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Chilwell (Chelsea), Coady (Wolves), Dier (Tottenham), Gomez (Liverpool), James (Chelsea), Keane (Everton), Maguire (Manchester United), Maitland-Niles (Arsenal), Mings (Aston Villa), Saka (Arsenal), Trippier (Atletico Madrid), Walker (Manchester City)

Midfielders: Foden (Manchester City), Henderson (Liverpool), Grealish (Aston Villa), Mount (Chelsea), Rice (West Ham), Ward-Prowse (Southampton), Winks (Tottenham)

Forwards: Abraham (Chelsea), Calvert-Lewin (Everton), Kane (Tottenham), Rashford (Manchester United), Sancho (Borussia Dortmund), Sterling (Manchester City)

MATCH INFO

Inter Milan 2 (Vecino 65', Barella 83')

Verona 1 (Verre 19' pen)

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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Volvo ES90 Specs

Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)

Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp

Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm

On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region

Price: Exact regional pricing TBA

Dirham Stretcher tips for having a baby in the UAE

Selma Abdelhamid, the group's moderator, offers her guide to guide the cost of having a young family:

• Buy second hand stuff

 They grow so fast. Don't get a second hand car seat though, unless you 100 per cent know it's not expired and hasn't been in an accident.

• Get a health card and vaccinate your child for free at government health centres

 Ms Ma says she discovered this after spending thousands on vaccinations at private clinics.

• Join mum and baby coffee mornings provided by clinics, babysitting companies or nurseries.

Before joining baby classes ask for a free trial session. This way you will know if it's for you or not. You'll be surprised how great some classes are and how bad others are.

• Once baby is ready for solids, cook at home

Take the food with you in reusable pouches or jars. You'll save a fortune and you'll know exactly what you're feeding your child.

'O'
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Updated: August 18, 2022, 3:27 AM`