Sustainable tourism at the Red Sea: Bauer constructs piles for major project in Saudi Arabia

Umluj, Saudi Arabia – Approximately 500 km north of the city of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, a new recreation area is currently being established by The Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC), at the Red Sea as part of the “Red Sea Islands Project” that will combine nature, culture and adventure. For this purpose, an archipelago off the coast of Saudi Arabia is being developed for sustainable tourism in this region. By 2030, a total of 28,000 m² of beach, desert, mountains and volcanic areas on 22 islands will be transformed into an environmentally-friendly tourism center in Saudi Arabia.

TRSDC appointed marine contracting specialist Archirodon to design and build the iconic bridge to the Shurayrah island, as well as two smaller bridges. Archirodon tasked Saudi BAUER Foundation Contractors Ltd., a subsidiary of BAUER Spezialtiefbau GmbH, with the construction of piles for several bridge structures. In the first phase of the project, Bauer constructed three test piles for a load test, and in the second phase a total of 37 onshore piles with a diameter of 1,300 mm for two new bridges. For the central bridge, which connects the main island of Shurayrah with the mainland, 60 piles with a diameter of 1,500 mm and 27 piles with a diameter of 1,300 mm were installed in the third project phase off the coast.

Archirodon’s purpose made floating crane barge and its crew was used to assist Bauer piling team to construct 87 offshore piles. “This is not a typical working location even for us. What’s important here above all are precision and good logistics by Archirodon,” says Project Manager Mudasser Iqbal. “Fortunately, the timing for material deliveries by barge was optimal, so we were able to keep to the schedule.”

A BAUER BG 28 drilling rig was placed and safely secured on the Barge to carry out the drilling work. The work began in September 2021 and was successfully completed in February 2022.