Saudi Arabia’s historic town Diriyah is set to host 16 new hotels as its master developer Diriyah Gate Development Authority has signed deals with additional global hospitality brands to bring its total of hotel management agreements to 32.

These new hotels will be situated across two of DGDA’s masterplan areas – Diriyah and Wadi Safar.

Amongst the luxury hotels to open are Anantara, part of Minor Hotels; Corinthia Hotels; Marriott International’s EDITION Hotels; Taj Hotels; The Langham and the Waldorf Astoria Diriyah.

The birthplace of the Kingdom will also offer several upscale hotel options: 1 Hotels; Pendry Hotels & Resorts; and Treehouse Hotel.

Additionally, Diriyah’s hospitality masterplan will unveil several upscale lifestyle hotel choices including Hyatt Place; Marriott International’s Moxy Hotels and Radisson Hotel Group’s Radisson RED brand.

Agreements for hotels in Wadi Safar have been signed including Faena Group via a global venture with hospitality group Accor; Montage Hotels & Resorts; and The Chedi, by GHM Hotels.

The infrastructure of Diriyah’s first phase of hotel construction will feature local landscape and traditional Najdi design themes.

DGDA’s group CEO Jerry Inzerillo, said: “We are excited to further Diriyah’s position as Saudi Arabia’s historical and cultural epicenter by bringing international hoteliers to operate within Diriyah. Each and every hotel brand offers a special, distinctive experience for visitors, all united by a shared promise to provide a unique set of high-quality services measured to global standards for all of Diriyah’s guests.” 

He said the opening of these hotels signifies their ongoing promise to transform Diriyah into one of the greatest gathering places in the world, welcoming visitors from around the world into the Kingdom, in line with Vision 2030’s aims and objectives.

Previously announced hotel management agreements included Address Hotels + Resorts, Armani Hotels & Resorts. Baccarat Hotels & Resorts, Campbell Gray Hotels, Capella Hotels and Resorts, Fauchon L’Hotel, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, LXR Hotels & Resorts, Orient Express Hotels, Oberoi Hotels & Resorts, Park Hyatt Hotels, Raffles Hotels & Resorts, Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas, The Luxury Collection Hotels & Resorts, The Ritz-Carlton Hotels and Resorts.

Diriyah recently announced the opening of two of its most significant locations: At-Turaif, the UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Bujairi Terrace, a premium dining destination overlooking At-Turaif.

A solar panel park capable of producing enough electricity to power a small town is being proposed.

The 40-year scheme near Minety, Swindon, would produce enough electricity for 2,700 homes, according to developers Ecotricity Generation Limited.

The company said it would also help towards the government’s 2050 net zero carbon emissions goal.

Wiltshire Planning Committee will make a decision on the plans on 23 December.

The solar park is to be built on land northwest of Crossing Lane, Lower Moor, Minety and construction would take between three to six months, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The planning application is for a temporary period of 40 years.

The solar park is to be built on land northwest of Crossing Lane on Lower Moor

The plans include solar panels fixed to steel and aluminium structures that will be up to three metres tall.

There will also be perimeter fencing installed along with CCTV monitoring and cables will need to run underground to a power station to the south of Crossing Lane.

Ecotricity Generation Limited said hitting the 2050 target “will depend on the provision of a range of sources of renewable energy across the UK, including solar power”.

Baturiya Bird Sanctuary is Located in the Kiri Kassma area of Jigawa State, northern Nigeria, Baturiya Bird Sanctuary is a bird watcher’s dream.

This wetland area attracts birds from across the globe – and now, as the United Nations recognizes the sanctuary as a tourist location of international significance, it’s not only the birds that are flocking to Baturiya.

The sanctuary covers an area of 320 square km and is surrounded by a buffer zone of a half kilometer.

The natural wetland habitat is home to around 378 migratory bird species from as far away as Europe and Australia.

Baturiya has been visited by members of the Wildlife Conservation Foundation including Prince Philip and Prince Charles of the British Royal Family.

Baturiya Forest Reserve and Bird Sanctuary is one of the most important wildlife conservation sites not just in the local area, but in Nigeria as a whole.

It is a place where wildlife blossoms and can come and go as it pleases without fear of capture. And it is a place to which increasing numbers of visitors are also returning again and again.

Osprey Pandion halietus was caught on 25/10/2018 at Malam Madori, Jigawa. The bird came from University of Helsinki, Finland.

Available records from the University revealed that the bird was ringed 106 days prior to its caught in Jigawa, and covered 5808 kilometers during it’s migration to winter in Africa, in particular, Nigeria.

The bird were celebrated and successfully released at the Baturiya Wetland Reserve in Jigawa.

Heydar Aliyev Center is a building complex that can offer many cultural events and space for conferences, located in the capital city of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Baku.

The unique shape of the complex is very interesting due to its distinctive architecture and flowing, curved style that eschews sharp angles.

Confounding context, scale and materiality, to a growing repertoire of prodigious object buildings in the ambitious, oil-rich capital.

The building complex was named after the Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev, who was head of the country from 1993 until 2003.

When Azerbaijan got its independence from the Soviet Union, it began investing heavily in modernizing and developing the infrastructure and architecture of Baku, departing from its legacy of normative Soviet Modernism.

One of the main structures in the city, which has an important role for the redevelopment, is actually this complex.

It consists of conference hall (auditorium), a gallery hall and a museum. The construction began in 2007, and due to its new-looking style of architecture was finished in 2012.

The architect who designed it is the Iraqi-British Zaha Hadid from the Zaha Hadid Architects company. Even though it is not in the city center, it is close to it.

The 74 metres (243 feet) tall building represents a fluid form which emerges by the folding of the landscape’s topography and by the wrapping of individual functions of the center.

Even though the fluid-like shape of the center connects the three spaces, it also provides each element of the center with its own identity and in the same time privacy.

As the “fluidity” is not a new design to the region, in the historical Islamic architecture rows, grids, or sequences of columns flow to infinity like trees in a forest, establishing non-hierarchical space.

Continuous calligraphic and ornamental patterns flow from carpets to walls, walls to ceilings, ceilings to domes, establishing seamless relationships and blurring distinctions between architectural elements and the ground they inhabit.

As the center folds inside, the skin erodes away to become an element of the interior landscape of the center.

Becoming the real new landmark of the city of Baku, as well as Azerbaijan, it is an innovative and cutting-edge design building complex, slowly starts being shown to the world as a masterpiece of the Caspian area.