Some music for you

So another trip home ends and this time with sad news whilst standing on the tarmac at Heathrow waiting to disembark. News that a work colleague has met an untimely end to his presence in Saudi Arabia.

Whilst I didn't know him all that well, I have known him for almost my entire time out here. I'll remember him most as being perpetually enthusiastic, always with a grin on his face, if anything slightly wired and as an obsessive exercise fiend. It was the latter that ultimately resulted in his death, the manner of which, if reports in this mornings' newspapers are true, are quite horrific, though entirely credible. As I sit here on the BMI flight into Riyadh, I have never wanted less to go anywhere in my life, but this post isn't about me or what I want.

Instead, I dedicate this to John, as the most fanatical Manchester United supporter I have ever met, and despite my own affiliations, I hope most fervently that his beloved Red Devils win the Carling Cup this afternoon. Wayne & Co. you owe him that much.

John, you will be missed and along with you, a small part of all of us died. Rest in Peace

As you drive around Riyadh these days, it's hard not to notice that something big is going on - big vertically, big horizontally and big volumetrically. It's everywhere seemingly. Wherever a spare corner of land is to be had (there are plenty), you'll find a gantry crane or two, sometimes a dozen, sometimes hundreds festooning the skyline for miles. Off the back of the oil price of recent years, the Saudi's have had some serious wonga to hand and they have gone on an enormous spending spree, blowing vast sums on poured concrete in all directions.

In the main though, this hasn't gone on the frivolous and fanciful - not these guys - it's going on some significant infrastructure. The main roads hereabouts are being dug up, underpasses fitted neatly below the existing, traffic diverted down streets clearly never intended for it. At rush hour (most of the day), chaos ensues and minor collisions are common place, major ones a regular event.

The roads are in a way, just small beer. The big stuff at the moment comes in the buildings that are climbing skywards at an alarming rate. If you don't pass through an area for a couple of months, the chances are that on your return, you'll not recognise it. Here though, we're not talking individual buildings but entire complexes. All of the existing universities are expanding and there's an entirely new one going up next to the airport. For scale, the latter quite takes the biscuit. This is the blurb I found on 'The Princess Nora Bint AbdulRahman University for Women'

The project calls for construction of a new university for women. The university is expected to cover 8 millions square metres and located on King Khalid International Airport Road at north of Riyadh. The total built up area is around 3 millions square metres. The university will include administration buildings, 13 faculties, a 700-bed student hospital, laboratories, research centres, and residential area that include accommodation for students and staff. The capacity of university is around 26,000 students.

Source: Construction Week Online

Now I've no idea of the experience of most, but that's a quite staggering project. By all accounts, this will be the largest women's university in the world. Amongst the expats, it's already known as the virgin mega-store! This link to Google Maps gives some idea of the scale of the development, which is around 3 miles long and over 2 wide. That image is now 6 months old and I can assure you there's rather more on the ground than when that was taken.

Alongside this though, the Imam University is growing, as is the King Saud University. There is also the King Abdullah Financial District going up not far away - the aim here being to set up the largest financial centre in the Middle East and I've seen one comment to suggest that they've taken their inspiration from Canary Wharf.

You'd think looking at all this, that this was quite a widespread activity, but it's not. Everything I've mentioned can be seen from the route AM and I travel to go to the supermarket. Now admittedly, our chosen supermarket is a half hour drive into town, but they are all on a 10 mile stretch on the North-West of the city. I have no idea what's going on anywhere else in the city, but a drive to pick up the groceries couldn't possibly be any more impressive anywhere else in the world... or could it?

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