Several key construction stakeholders responsible for transforming Saudi Arabia in line with Saudi Vision 2030 have confirmed their participation at Big Project Middle East’s forthcoming Construction Intel Summit KSA. Red Sea Global (RSG), Diriyah Gate Development Authority (DGDA) and many other local and global construction players have confirmed their intent to discuss their progress, requirements and challenges at the construction event, which will take place on 23 November 2022 at the Al Faisaliah Hotel in Riyadh. The event opens at 9am.
The summit will feature high-level panel discussions, keynote speeches and detailed presentations to communicate the views of industry experts and change-leaders, and is centered around three key themes: Visionary Designs: Design Considerations and Procurement Strategies to achieve Vision 2030; Project Interfaces: Integrating Multiple Contract Packages and Sequencing Workflows on the Kingdom’s gigaprojects, and Enabling Saudisation: Providing pathways of growth and development to Saudi Arabia’s burgeoning talent pool of Saudi construction professionals.
Focusing on the construction, real estate, and infrastructure sectors, the summit will bring together experts, decision-makers and innovators from the contracting, consultancy, developer, and government segments of those industries. Registration is complementary but mandatory for construction professionals wishing to attend.
“I’m extremely happy with the response to the Construction Intel Summit KSA thus far. Significant players from the built environment including Red Sea Global, DGDA, AECOM, Compass, Faithful+Gould, KEO, JLL and many others will be joining us on the day, we have had in excess of 370 professionals express their interest in attending, and we have seen the summit covered by news outlets in the Kingdom including the Saudi Gazette,” said Gavin Davids, Head of Editorial and Content at Big Project Middle East.
Davids notes that the Kingdom is being eyed by many major international developers, consultants, contractors, finance specialists, and suppliers but notes that a robust and self-sufficient industry already exists in the country.
In Q3 2019, Linesight said that the Kingdom holds the greatest potential for the GCC construction sector and, more recently, Knight Frank said that since the launch of Saudi Arabia’s National Transformation Plan in 2016, the total value of real estate and infrastructure projects has crossed US $1.1tn.
Davids adds, “Given the incredible scale of some of the projects and the sheer number of them taking place simultaneously in the Kingdom, there is serious demand for resources and labour – the question about whether the Kingdom’s supply chain can cope with the demands being placed upon it by the many gigaprojects is one that needs to be answered.”
In line with the demand for resources and talent in the Kingdom, the country has invested significantly into strengthening its supply chain. In September 2022 alone, JO Steel Holdings said it had secured $692mn in credit to set up steel plant in Saudi Arabia and, shortly after that, Saudi authorities said the Kingdom would build iron and steel projects worth $9.31bn.
Consultants and contractors have also taken steps to boost their presence in the Kingdom with the opening of new offices and onboarding of talent. In recent months, AECOM and Alstom have opened new offices in the Kingdom, while others firms such as ALEC, CBRE, JLL and others have appointed new senior resources in the Kingdom.
Late in November, Saudi Arabia’s PIF and BlackRock signed a MoU to jointly explore Middle East infrastructure projects.
“The summit will shed a light on progress in the Kingdom, how current concerns are being addressed, and how the sector needs to adapt and challenge itself to overcome obstacles. Work is already well underway on a number of large-scale projects, and I look forward to seeing them take shape in the coming months and years,” Davids concluded.
To read about the agenda for the Construction Intel Summit KSA, click here. To attend the event, click here to register.