ID: 1759
Presenting Author: Ian Minnaar
Session: 725 - After the Assessment – Where’s the Value and What Happened in the End?
Status: pending
Covers Red Sea Global Amaala’s actions to implement least intrusive approach to constructing a boardwalk in mangroves through design iterations, surveys, permitting and continual monitoring.
Red Sea Global (RSG) is a mega developer involved in shaping the hospitality sector along Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast as part of Kingdom’s Vision 2030 whilst leading global standards in regenerative development by utilizing a development model that integrates conservation needs within the development concept.
RSG seeks to incorporate conservation and enhancement of natural ecosystems and habitats by adopting regenerative approaches in the design, delivery and operation phases. This paper describes RSG holistic approach in constructing a boardwalk within a mangrove ecosystem.
RSG implemented multiple stage gate reviews to ensure the boardwalk design minimises impact on mangroves by changing the type of foundation and micro-siting boardwalk piles.
A vegetation survey was conducted pre-construction (post-ESIA) to obtain exact mangrove counts. Pre-defined criteria for the survey methodology was set. Changing the design of the boardwalk to be raised on stilts (piles) rather than excavated and concreted foundation resulted in reducing the potential loss of 110 mangroves to only 37; while only 27 mangrove plants ended up being removed. The area will be further enhanced with 5000 mangrove saplings.
Developing an integrated system of design principles, contractor agreements and environmental monitoring enabled RSG to increase the value of the environmental receptor.
The success of the project emphasizes the importance of continually sharing environmental requirements, discussing potential impacts and mitigation strategies while highlighting the risks to the construction team.
Ian Minnaar is an Associate Director at RSG, where he drives environmental compliance to deliver construction assets in compliance with national regulations, company and lender standards.
Coauthor 1: Samer Akl