Nidhal Abdul-RahmanTaibah, ARCHITECT

Holds aBachelor of Sciencedegree in Architecture;from the Faculty of Environmental Design, King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and has over 20 years of experience with both the private and public sectors of the building and urban development industries in several parts of the Arab world.

Public Service involvement began inJuly of 1993 where I taught 1st year environmental design students as a teacher's assistant at my Alma-Mater for a year. I then spent 12 years in the private sector and came back to public service inMay of 2005 when I had the honor of participating on the Joint Planning Review Committee that reviewed “Jeddah’s local plan and zoning regulations in 1427H”. Then in September of 2008 I joined the King Abdul-Aziz University Urban planning Visioning Team for the expansion of the Holy Mosque in Makkah.

In Feb of 2009 I joined the municipality of Jeddah as General Manager of the Jeddah Strategic Plan Development Department, which launched the Jeddah 2030 plan for the Municipality of Jeddah. I was appointed to the Planning Committee for the East of Jeddah as a member of the team from the Municipality of Jeddah in June of 2010, and then became the General Manager of the Office of Strategic Management for the Municipality of Jeddah in July of 2010 where I was managing the departments of Performance Measurement, Projects & Initiatives Portfolio Management, The Jeddah Urban Observatory and the Regional Planning & Strategic Plan Development departments.

During this time with the Jeddah Municipality I managed the development of the 4-year implementation plan for the municipality of Jeddah which is currently in play. Ialso managed the development of the Makkah Regional Economic Development Strategy and acted as the GM of Strategic Studies for the Jeddah Development & Urban Regeneration Company JDURCfrom Oct of 2010 to Mar of 2011.

I moved to the Economic Cities Authority of Saudi Arabia in April 2011where I still serve as their director of urban planning & development.

I joined the Private Sector in Jan 1992 as Head of the Design department with the Urban Development Est. (now the Urban Development Company). Then worked for a couple of years in building materials manufacture and import with Ambah trading and contracting as their Assistant General Manager in Sep of 1994. I then returned to the Urban Development Company as assistant projects & development manager in Aug of 1996.

In Sep of 2000 I founded the firm of “Dar Taibah Design Consultants” while simultaneously managing Projects & Properties for “Al Janayen Establishment” from 2002 then managing project development & marketing for Saudi Barwa Company from Feb of 2008 until the firm of Dar Taibah was incorporated into EHAF “Engineering Consultants & Associates Company” in Feb 2009.

I’ve been an advocate for sustainable urban planning, design and development since my days in college, but gained lots of insight into the intricacies of the subject through my professional exposure and speak regularly on the subject; most recently at the Arab Future Cities Summit held in Doha in 22-24 Apr 2012 and the Smart cities world conference held in Dubai in 3-5 June 2012.

I’ve Received an honorary award from HRH Prince Majed bin Abdul-Aziz,the late governor of Makkah Region & Shk. Abdul-Aziz Kamelin recognition of my contributiontothe award winning Al-Beutat residential housing complex, and Al-Beutat business park Project in Jeddah, 1995.

Professional Affiliations:

  • Founding Member of “Saudi Green Building Society” since 2009
  • A shareholder in “the Establishment of Mutawifs for Pilgrims from Southeast Asia” since 1989
  • A member of the “Saudi Umran Society” since 1996
  • A member of ULI “Urban Land Institute” since 2004
  • A member of PMI “Project Management Institute” since 2004
  • A member of “The Saudi Council of Engineers” since 2006
  • A member of USGBC “US Green Building Council” since 2008