Majid Al Futtaim Retail Mall

The client is one of the largest retail developers within the Middle East and consequently holds very high standards in the design and operations of their malls. Their core objective is to provide a quality shopping experience for their customers, whilst maintaining cost effective budgets on their projects. This mall is the client’s first venture into the Saudi real estate market, with a view to expand their brand further across the Middle Eastern market. Linesight has considerable experience in developing exceptional retail facilities, and has a deep understanding of the challenges within the Saudi construction market. For this reason, the client chose to engage the services of our team for this project.

Benchmarking and previous experience driving value engineering

We are providing full pre- and post-contract services, from initial cost advice at master-planning stage onwards, and managing all cost control during construction including change management once we go to site. Early engagement with the development team was key, in order to ascertain their expected return, and develop a program that optimizes the available budget. Rather than providing broad cost per square meter rates, we consistently strive to develop detailed estimates that are based on historic data and previous experiences from previous projects. Therefore, our experienced team was in a position to provide local and international benchmarking reports, and have driven the value engineering with the client’s investment and development teams, along with examining various procurement strategies and contract procedures.

Reducing the budget to maximize return on investment

• We have achieved a reduced budget while still maintaining the highest quality standards
• Considerable value engineering at all stages of design has allowed for maximization of return on investment

Adapting for a challenging market

• Rental prices in Saudi Arabia have dropped significantly in the last 12 months, due to the declining oil prices and reduction in customer spend, which has brought about significant challenges
• Our team have been tasked with coming up with achieving further savings by coming up with cost-saving initiatives, without sacrificing quality