Concrete works progress at The Line megacity

Concrete construction is now well underway at The Line, Saudi Arabia’s 170 km-long desert megacity, according to new images shared by project executive Giles Pendleton.

Pendleton, chief operating officer of The Line, posted a series of aerial photos on LinkedIn last month showing extensive concrete activity across the NEOM site, which lies in the northwest of the country along the Gulf of Aqaba. The images were shared under the title “NEOM is real part 24”.

The clearest images show a trench structure with a concrete base and low retaining walls, with pipelines laid into the structure. According to Pendleton, the photos capture a cross-section of progress across NEOM infrastructure schemes, including the water pipeline network, Oxagon port and new worker camps nearing completion.

The trench is likely part of the foundational works for The Line, a linear city stretching 170 kilometres through the desert and anchored by two parallel 500-metre-high skyscrapers. This central element of the NEOM gigaproject is ultimately intended to house around 9 million people. The first phase, Hidden Marina, is expected to accommodate 200,000 residents, along with 9,000 hotel rooms and community infrastructure such as schools and fire stations.

The aerial shots also reveal a heavy presence of cranes, HGVs and supporting construction equipment, confirming that large-scale groundworks are advancing at pace. The scale of mobilisation points to significant investment in logistics and precast handling as concrete delivery ramps up on site.

Designed by a mix of international firms—reportedly including Morphosis, Delugan Meissl Associated Architects and Gensler—The Line remains one of the world’s most ambitious and controversial construction projects. While pitched as a zero-carbon urban revolution, it has faced mounting criticism from human rights groups and sustainability advocates over the social and environmental implications of the build.

Construction is also active at Oxagon, NEOM’s floating port and industrial district on the Red Sea, where groundworks are being led by Danish architecture firm BIG. A new construction camp shown in the aerial imagery highlights the growing scale of temporary infrastructure needed to support the project’s expansion.

With concrete operations now clearly visible across the site, attention is expected to shift to structural assembly and vertical progress in the coming months—particularly around The Line’s signature dual-skyscraper corridor.