BIM adoption in Saudi Arabia in 2026: the state of the market

BIM adoption in Saudi Arabia in 2026 is driven less by a single law than by who is paying for the work. Government-funded projects follow EXPRO deliverables that assume 3D models. Giga-project developers write BIM into every package. Private developers increasingly ask for it because their contractors already work that way. This guide brings together the market figures, the rules, the skills picture and the trends, and links to our detailed articles on each.

How big is the Saudi construction market in 2026?

Big enough that small gains in coordination add up to large sums. MEED reported in September 2026 that Saudi construction contract awards reached USD 20 billion in the first half of 2026, against USD 15 billion in the same period of 2025. That followed a weaker 2025, when awards fell 31% to USD 31 billion. MEED Projects puts the value of the construction pipeline at more than USD 400 billion.

Other measures point the same way. The General Authority for Statistics reported real GDP growth of 4.5% in 2025, with construction making up 8.0% of GDP at current prices. At the Future Projects Forum in September 2025, organised by the Saudi Contractors Authority, Arab News reported more than 21,000 projects on show. The authority's 2025 annual report, as cited by Amlak, counted 365,120 construction businesses and 4.41 million workers at the end of 2025.

Oxford Business Group gives a much larger figure, more than USD 1.3 trillion of construction and real estate projects planned or under way as of early 2026. It covers a wider scope than MEED's construction pipeline, so do not compare the two directly.

What do the rules require?

The clearest official requirement comes from EXPRO, the Expenditure Efficiency and Projects Authority. Its National Manual for Project Management requires design data and drawings for government facilities to be generated from 3D models, a BIM Manager on large BIM projects, a BIM execution plan, LOD matrices, and asset data in COBie format using IFC files.

Beyond that, the picture is less clear. Oxford Business Group reports a government BIM mandate overseen by the Saudi Contractors Authority. Other sources cite a January 2024 date or a 2023 national strategy, and none cites the official instrument. The ministry's published building-licence requirements list no BIM model. We found no PIF-wide BIM regulation. We set out each source in is BIM mandatory in Saudi Arabia.

The practical answerIf your client is a government entity or a giga-project developer, plan to deliver BIM, and read the contract for the exact requirements.

How do giga-projects shape BIM practice?

Giga-projects set the bar for everyone else, because their requirements flow down to hundreds of contractors and consultants. Each developer writes its own: ROSHN rolls BIM out to its contractors and links it to facility management, Red Sea Global runs digital twins at site and marine scale, and Qiddiya Investment Company is building a unified data platform with a digital twin strategy that connects BIM, GIS and IoT.

Programmes also change. Gulf News reported in July 2025 that only 2.4 km of NEOM's The Line was expected by 2030. Work shifts between sectors as plans are re-phased, with data centres growing fast. Read BIM on Saudi giga-projects and BIM for data centres in Saudi Arabia for the detail.

How far has BIM adoption come?

We could not verify a reliable national adoption percentage, and we would rather say so than repeat an unsourced number. The academic record shows the direction. In 2017, researchers described BIM adoption in the Kingdom as a "slow but gradual upward trend". A 2021 study by KFUPM researchers found a lack of policy initiatives to enforce BIM at that time. Since then, EXPRO's deliverables, giga-project requirements and a growing training ecosystem have pushed adoption forward, especially on larger projects.

Adoption is uneven. Large contractors and consultants on government and giga-project work use BIM for coordination, shop drawings and quantities. Smaller firms and private projects often still work in 2D, with models produced late or only for visualisation.

Which standards do Saudi projects use?

• ISO 19650 for information management: requirements, BIM execution plans, the common data environment. See ISO 19650 in Saudi Arabia.
• BIMForum's Level of Development Specification for what each element must show at each stage. See LOD 300 vs LOD 400 vs LOD 500.
• COBie and IFC for handing over asset data, as named in EXPRO's manual.
• openBIM. buildingSMART Saudi Arabia joined buildingSMART International as a chapter in formation on 30 July 2024, the network's 35th chapter.

Who will do the work?

Skills are the slower constraint. From 30 June 2026, MHRSD raised Saudization of engineering professions in the private sector to 30% across 46 professions, with Saudi Council of Engineers accreditation required. BIM teams count in that quota, so firms need to train Saudi engineers into BIM roles. Our article on Saudization and BIM skills covers the rules and the training routes.

What comes next for BIM in the Kingdom?

Four trends stand out:

1. From design models to operations. Owners want field-verified as-builts and asset data they can run buildings on, and then digital twins. ROSHN's link from BIM to its asset registers, reported in 2023, is an early public example.
2. Existing buildings. Restoration in Historic Jeddah and Diriyah, and refurbishment of older offices and malls, need accurate records. See scan to BIM for heritage buildings.
3. Sustainability evidence. Energy and carbon figures from the model support LEED, Mostadam and the Saudi Green Initiative. See LEED and BIM in Saudi Arabia.
4. Regional comparison. Dubai publishes BIM rules for permits and Abu Dhabi has built BIM into its permit platform, so Saudi practice is often compared with them. See BIM in the UAE and GCC compared with Saudi Arabia.

Housing remains a large driver too. Under the Housing Program, home ownership among Saudi families reached 65.4% by the end of 2024 against a 70% target for 2030, according to the ministry.

Where AIM United fits

AIM United is a BIM and engineering company headquartered in Jeddah and working across the Kingdom, with more than 250 engineers and certification to ISO 9001, 14001, 45001, 41001 and 19650. Our clients include Red Sea Global, Qiddiya, Al Bawani, Lucid, Bank AlJazira, Dr. Sulaiman Al Habib, MODON, MOMRAH and KAUST, and 80% of our projects are for returning clients.

We cover the full lifecycle: laser scanning and scan to BIM, ISO 19650 standards and BEPs, coordination and clash detection, modelling and shop drawings from LOD 100 to 500, design-build contracting, and digital twins and facility management. Our Saudi BIM case studies show three of these in practice.

Frequently asked questions

Written by the AIM United BIM team in Jeddah. AIM United delivers BIM, scan to BIM, digital twins and design-build across Saudi Arabia.