kafd | solutions to complexities Solutions to complexities: Managing the design Process for the King Abdullah Financial District Riyadh’s King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) set to house the Saudi Arabian Stock Exchange is a physical urban and financial district currently being constructed in the heart of Al Riyadh. Integrating cultural and recreational facilities for a growing workforce in the Middle East’s emerging financial sector, it is part of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s long-term strategy to generate opportunities for investors in the region. KAFD is a leading financial market defining the core character of a high profile financial center by integrating a mixed-use district for a growing local and expatriate financial workforce. The mix of buildings in different architectures facilitates the relationship between a highly stressful work environment and a livable city center designed around a natural Wadi. Mega construction projects like KAFD risk overrunning on cost, falling behind schedule or failing to deliver according to the terms of the project. The bulk of the blame for most delays and cost overruns in such projects end up to be associated with construction and operational phases while the lack of realism, and improper planning at the initial stages are not sufficiently taken into account. Design management, decision making, cooperation and cross-functional collaboration have expanded the understanding of project management and defined our industry’s new understanding of the term. KAFD involves the design and construction of 30 ultra-modern towers in addition to a number of religious, public and community facilities each covering a large area and involving large teams of specialized technical experts. Consequently, multi-disciplinary collaboration is more intense including coordination with civil engineering and infrastructure works, the contractor and the overseeing authorities. Due to the huge coordination that needed to take place and owing to the multi-layered cross interfacing, a topbottom linear management structure would have resulted in fuzziness and overwhelmed senior management. Dar Al Handasah’s task for KAFD is dictated by the highly complex nature of the project and the need for management activities, methods and skills to optimize and manage the design processes. It is a unique opportunity to achieve highly successful outcomes based on best design management practices backed up by our solid experience managing large scale projects, regional insight and international exposure. Our role as Design Managers was to advance the task of KAFD’s main contractor Saudi Bin Laden Group (SBG) by mediating and coordinating the design and documentation of the thirty lots making up KAFD and designed by fourteen of the most celebrated international Lead Design Architect firms (LDA) and ten global engineering firms (Dar was lead designer on three of the towers jointly with DarGroup’s Perkins +Will). Tasked with providing on-going coordination, master scheduling, and review and monitoring of the Master Design Schedule, we ensured on-time design submittals and on-target milestones. We also implemented a delay identification process that took care of any snags popping up along the way long before they could mushroom to delay the process or hinder work on the ground. To create collaborative efficiencies, we developed an Infrastructure Interface Matrix and Communication Protocol covering all aspects of communication to allow multiple operators to interact efficiently and make informed decisions. 45