Saudi Arabia's Greening

Saudi Arabia’s Green Construction Potential: Insurance for a New Green Economy?

Estidama is like LEED for the Middle East.

March 28th, 2011 - Last week, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz announced a second package of economic initiatives for Saudi citizens, including $67 billion for the construction of 500,000 housing units. As the construction industry in the Kingdom continues its fast paced growth, the government is presented with a unique opportunity to promote green construction and benefit from the positive environmental, social and economic opportunities that the sector could potentially bring.

Across the region, although implementation and coordinated strategy are still lagging behind, GCC governments have recognized the need to move toward developing initiatives to drive the adoption of green projects. In Saudi Arabia, the IBM KAST pilot solar-powered desalination plant highlights the need for delinking water availability from oil while King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KACARE) has been recently launched to research alternative energy sources.

Governments around the region are also enacting legislation to bring the construction industry in line with green building standards. Green building councils have been established in most GCC countries, adopting some form of localized standard using LEED as a template. Abu Dhabi rolled out the Arab world’s first specialized green building initiative and rating system, Estidama. Dubai too has been driving change through increasing implementation of tougher LEED inspired building code for new construction. {continued}