Roshen -Kaden Business Densification

KADEN Investment tasked us with the “Densification” of the ROSHN Business Front, a project aimed at increasing the capacity of the current master plan. The scope involves adapting 8 “prototype” office buildings—designs that had been created previously—and integrating them alongside 3 new parking structures and a massive 67,000 m² surface parking area. The goal was to expand the development quickly by utilizing these existing building models.

The critical issue was that the original designs for the office buildings were created before the mandatory implementation of the new Saudi Building Code (SBC). This meant the blueprints were based on outdated standards that are no longer legal for new construction. The challenge was to take these older, pre-SBC designs and make them compliant with today’s rigorous Fire and Life Safety regulations without changing the architectural look or forcing the client to start the design process from scratch.

Red Helmet Engineering conducted a comprehensive “Code Gap Analysis” to compare the old designs against the current Saudi Building Code. Instead of redesigning the buildings entirely, we pinpointed the specific areas where they fell short—such as exit widths, sprinkler specifications, and material fire ratings. We then engineered targeted modifications to “upgrade” the blueprints. This strategy allowed the client to utilize their existing assets while ensuring the final buildings were fully compliant and ready for Civil Defense approval.