Ian Williamson highlights TRSDC’s design-and-build strategy.
Sporting a white Nike polo shirt, and fresh from attending the Jeddah Grand Prix, Ian Williamson, Group Chief Project Delivery Officer at The Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC), connects with me in his new on-site office he moved into a month ago, and looks at ease straddling the leisure-business divide.
For the next hour, such is his impressive grasp of all construction matters with the ambitious Red Sea Project, I don’t have much to say. He is out of the blocks faster than Lewis Hamilton and clearly wants to convey as much about all the myriad development components, and industry issues, in the time available.
TRSDC was incubated within Public Investment Fund (PIF) and formally formed into a private limited company, with all stock owned by PIF, in May 2018. It’s an integral part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, which is transitioning the country from an oil-based economy. Its mandate was to build the project, which covers 28,000sq kms of land mass, including a 3,500sq km archipelago containing 92 islands and 250kms of coastline.
“We equate it to the size of Belgium,” he said. “My role is to take approved design from our development arm, and convert to detailed design, procurement and construction, and handover to our operations team.”
