{"id":741607,"date":"2024-06-06T09:27:54","date_gmt":"2024-06-06T08:27:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/?p=741607"},"modified":"2024-06-07T09:12:42","modified_gmt":"2024-06-07T08:12:42","slug":"riba-and-heatherwick-defend-saudi-panel-appearance-after-neom-kill-order-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/riba-and-heatherwick-defend-saudi-panel-appearance-after-neom-kill-order-report","title":{"rendered":"RIBA and Heatherwick defend Saudi panel appearance after Neom \u2018kill order\u2019 report"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Proposals for the 170km-long linear city \u2013 part of the country\u2019s wider Neom project \u2013 were among several Saudi Vision 2030 schemes advertised at the Great Futures trade show.<\/p>\n<p>The show took place between 14 and 15 May in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, and featured high-profile guest speakers from various UK sectors.<\/p>\n<p>RIBA chief executive Valerie Vaughan-Dick took part in a panel discussion at the event alongside AL_A principle Amanda Levete and Heatherwick Studio\u2019s founder Thomas Heatherwick.<\/p>\n<p>According to the event programme, the panel discussed \u2018UK and KSA [Kingdom of Saudi Arabia] experience on creating built environments that are sustainable, healthy and support community wellbeing\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>But the session took place shortly after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-middle-east-68945445\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the BBC published claims<\/a> that Saudi authorities had issued a \u2018kill order\u2019 in 2020 for clearing land in al-Khuraybah to make way for The Line.<\/p>\n<p>Saudi leader Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman has described the area where Neom is being built as the perfect \u2018blank canvas\u2019. But, quoting an ex-Saudi intelligence officer now in exile in the UK, the BBC&#8217;s report said the kill order was imposed on land home to the Huwaitat tribe \u2013 an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/practice\/culture\/venices-neom-exhibition-is-an-ageing-starchitect-fantasia\">estimated<\/a> 20,000 of whom have been displaced to make way for The Line.<\/p>\n<p>The BBC previously reported that Saudi authorities had shot dead tribesman Abdul Rahim al-Huwaiti during the clearance mission in 2020. The tribesman had resisted the valuing of his property and protested about the evictions on social media.<\/p>\n<p>In May last year, the United Nations <a href=\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/backlash-after-deputy-pm-opens-london-base-for-saudi-arabias-neom\">expressed alarm<\/a> at death sentences for Huwaiti tribe members Shadli al-Huwaiti, Ibrahim al-Huwaiti and Ataullah al-Huwaiti, who it says were arrested for opposing The Line\u2019s construction.<\/p>\n<p>Responding to a request for comment on Vaughan-Dick&#8217;s appearance at Great Futures in light of those claims, the RIBA said: \u2018These are serious and concerning allegations, and we will follow the UK government\u2019s guidance and recommendations.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Great Futures is a trade mission, organised by the UK government Department for Business and Trade, which aims to promote the UK creative industries, highlighting the UK&#8217;s design, architecture, and supply chain expertise.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018RIBA exists to promote the highest standards in the built environment \u2013 to champion architecture and support the transfer of knowledge and skills worldwide. We established a chapter of members in the Gulf 15 years ago. As a key trading partner, it\u2019s an area of interest to many of our members \u2013 and we\u2019ll be exploring opportunities to share best practice as part of this trade mission.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>A Heatherwick Studio spokesperson said in a statement: \u2018We attended on the invitation of the Great campaign, as one of their long-standing ambassadors, and spoke on a panel about the power of creativity to bring about change.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>AL_A did not respond to a request for comment. Major contractor MACE, whose chief executive Mark Reynolds attended Great Futures, also declined to comment.<\/p>\n<p>A UK government spokesperson said: &#8216;\u2018The United Kingdom has vital national security and economic interests in maintaining and developing our relationship with Saudi Arabia but no aspect of our relationship prevents us from speaking frankly about human rights.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018UK ministers regularly raise human rights concerns with the Saudi authorities where necessary.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>It was also reported this week by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/global-development\/article\/2024\/jun\/05\/saudi-arabia-trade-union-forced-labour-migrants-complaint-ilo-fifa-2034-world-cup\"><em>The Guardian<\/em><\/a>, that trade union the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bwint.org\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Building and Wood Workers\u2019 International<\/a>\u00a0is calling on the UN\u2019s International Labour Organization to investigate allegations of &#8216;widespread use of forced labour&#8217; among Saudi Arabia&#8217;s vast migrant workforce.<\/p>\n<p>According to the newspaper, the union claims migrant workers in the country are &#8216;subject to a raft of labour rights violations including failing to pay wages, passport confiscation, illegal recruitment fees, debt bondage and preventing workers freely changing jobs&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>The report says the union has support from by organisations including Human Rights Watch (HRW), and Amnesty International.<\/p>\n<p>The Line declined to comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Proposals for the 170km-long linear city \u2013 part of the country\u2019s wider Neom project \u2013 were among several Saudi Vision 2030 schemes advertised at the Great Futures trade show. The show took place between 14 and 15 May in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, and featured high-profile guest speakers from various UK sectors. RIBA chief executive &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131789,"featured_media":741956,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"ep_exclude_from_search":false},"categories":[681],"tags":[1276,1367,2286,91673],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>RIBA and Heatherwick defend Saudi panel appearance after Neom \u2018kill order\u2019 report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The RIBA and Heatherwick Studio have both defended their appearance on a UK-Saudi trade panel last month following reports that Saudi forces were instructed to kill in order to clear land for The Line scheme\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/riba-and-heatherwick-defend-saudi-panel-appearance-after-neom-kill-order-report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"RIBA and Heatherwick defend Saudi panel appearance after Neom \u2018kill order\u2019 report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The RIBA and Heatherwick Studio have both defended their appearance on a UK-Saudi trade panel last month following reports that Saudi forces were instructed to kill in order to clear land for The Line scheme\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/riba-and-heatherwick-defend-saudi-panel-appearance-after-neom-kill-order-report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Architects\u2019 Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-06-06T08:27:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-06-07T08:12:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.rt.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/05\/23130157\/vdick-and-theatherwick-1024x683.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gino Spocchia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gino Spocchia\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/riba-and-heatherwick-defend-saudi-panel-appearance-after-neom-kill-order-report\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/riba-and-heatherwick-defend-saudi-panel-appearance-after-neom-kill-order-report\",\"name\":\"RIBA and Heatherwick defend Saudi panel appearance after Neom \u2018kill order\u2019 report\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-06-06T08:27:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-06-07T08:12:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/779aa0e54c8c20bf4509b8cce80c65b0\"},\"description\":\"The RIBA and Heatherwick Studio have both defended their appearance on a UK-Saudi trade panel last month following reports that Saudi forces were instructed to kill in order to clear land for The Line scheme\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/riba-and-heatherwick-defend-saudi-panel-appearance-after-neom-kill-order-report#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/riba-and-heatherwick-defend-saudi-panel-appearance-after-neom-kill-order-report\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/riba-and-heatherwick-defend-saudi-panel-appearance-after-neom-kill-order-report#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"RIBA and Heatherwick defend Saudi panel appearance after Neom \u2018kill order\u2019 report\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"The Architects\u2019 Journal\",\"description\":\"Architecture News &amp; 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