Posted: 6/10/2013
Two Saudi Arabian engineers are visiting Parkland to learn more
about managing large scale projects.
Eid Saud Alharthi and Sultan Nasser Almoharid are here at
the request of the Saudi Arabian government to learn about Parkland’s
management of the jail health program and construction of the new
Parkland hospital.
“We are particularly interested in how to enhance the methodology
of overall project management, quality, safety and structural
engineering technologies,” Alharthi said.
Alharthi and Almoharid are observing how inmates with mental
health problems are treated in Parkland’s jail health program. The
mental health resources they are creating in Saudi Arabia will require
similar forethought and care that went into establishing Parkland and
Dallas County as an international example for jail health.
This knowledge will be incorporated into the construction of a
massive 1,350-bed medical complex in Saudi Arabia, with similar design
elements found in the new Parkland, such as the hospital’s cantilever
design which extends over the emergency department.
King Faisal Medical City is a part of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia’s
vision to create world-class health care centers throughout the country.
The project consists of a general hospital and five specialty hospitals –
cardiology, neurology, oncology, rehabilitation and ophthalmology – as
well as retail outlets, a hotel, a mosque and housing.
HDR Inc., one of the architects of new Parkland that is also
designing the medical complex in Saudi Arabia, has worked with
the Dallas office of Hill International to help train Eid, Sultan and
more than 20 other Saudi Arabians in project engineering and
management here in Dallas.
“Our agreement is to help train them so they can eventually do
the work themselves,” said John Sousa, senior project manager of
Hill International. “I take them to all my meetings so they can see
how we operate and how the entire team works together.”
One critical concept HDR has been training the Saudi Arabian
guests on is building as a team, with each person dependent on
another for success.
It’s been a constant staple in the success of new Parkland
construction; now it is a message being spread abroad.