Achieving our Project of the Week title this time is Four Seasons’ striking five star site taking shape in the Saudi Arabian capital’s coastal resort.

Four Seasons Jeddah Corniche will consist of 34 storeys containing 275 guestrooms, 25 serviced and 50 branded apartments, all with either Jeddah city views or waterfront vistas of the Red Sea.

Twin gateway design

On a plot area of 18, 812 sq metres, the iconic building will reach 137 metres high and resemble twin gateways on top of a podium.

With unique architecture from the UAE division of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) and interiors by the UK’s Richmond Design in partnership with Saudi’s Nirvana Interiors, the hotel will feature a variety of F&B options and public spaces.

Podium provisions

Within the property, Four Seasons is also incorporating an eight-storey podium housing retail shops, meeting rooms and a ballroom, sitting on top of a basement for parking and services.

The podium roof is designed as hanging gardens hosting an outdoor jacuzzi and swimming pool, pool lounges and cabanas, a spa, restaurants and children’s facilities.

Delayed delivery

The hotel will be located near King Abdulaziz International Airport on Corniche Road within Jeddah’s upscale district of Al Shatee that houses single-family villas, multi-storey apartment buildings and supermarket commercial developments.

First announced in 2016, the project’s construction began in 2019 with an initial delivery date of early 2022, but this has since slipped to Q3 2023.

Main investor Midad Real Estate tasked local firm Al-Hashimiah Establishment for Trading & Contracting (HATCO) with the US$62 million development, in association with Engineering Consultants Group.

Value engineering

Subsequently, engineering consultancy WME, in partnership with DSA Architects, were appointed to redesign the hotel and branded apartments. They reported that the build had faced issues with technical compliance and coordination.

The owners wanted to incorporate some substantial value engineering to the project, ensuring the project was both buildable and viable. WME’s structural designers made savings of over 18% by implementing a number of measures including reducing the foundations by over half a metre.

The consultants’ mechanical, electrical and plumbing team also reduced the cooling load and eliminated one chiller from the design, as well as optimisation of the power, gas and water loads throughout the development. The value engineering is said to have ensured the savings could be used for guest experiences which are essential in a five-star hotel.

Many TOPHOTELNEWS articles draw on exclusive information from the TOPHOTELPROJECTS construction database. This subscription-based product includes details of thousands of hotel projects around the world, along with the key decision-makers behind them. Please note, our data may differ from records held by other organisations. Generally, the database focuses on four- and five-star schemes of significant scale; tracks projects in either the vision, pre-planning, planning, under-construction, pre-opening or newly opened phase; and covers newbuilds, extensions, refurbishments and conversions.

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