The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) adapts global Plan of Work framework for Saudi Arabia for the first time

The new RIBA Plan of Work: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Overlay gives the Kingdom’s international project teams one shared framework, as the country’s construction pipeline reaches unprecedented scale

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has launched the RIBA Plan of Work: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Overlay, taking its internationally recognised project delivery framework and adapting for a single country outside the UK for the first time.

Saudi Arabia’s mega and giga-projects bring together architects, engineers and contractors from around the world, many of whom naturally follow the processes and terminology they are used to in their home markets. As programmes scale and multiple international teams work side by side, handover points and reporting lines can become blurred. The RIBA Plan of Work: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Overlay gives every stakeholder on a Saudi project a shared structure to work to, from strategic definition through to operational use.

The original RIBA Plan of Work is one of the world’s most widely used frameworks for organising the delivery of buildings, structuring a project across eight stages, from strategic definition and briefing, through design and construction, to handover and operational use. Developed in the UK over 60 years ago, it is widely used around the world as a shared reference point for clients, architects, consultants and contractors.

The specially developed KSA Overlay retains this eight-stage structure, while addressing elements unique to the Kingdom. These include local procurement culture, terminology and information requirements, and addresses those roles specific to the Saudi market like architect of record and the design guardian. Unlike the individual-project focus of the standard framework, the KSA Overlay takes a master-planning approach, allowing infrastructure to run as a spine through the largest programmes of work in the region.

Chris Williamson, President of RIBA, said: “In order to achieve the Vision 2030 objectives, Saudi Arabia is developing projects at a significant scale, pace and ambition. The RIBA Plan of Work: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Overlay has been developed to provide a consistent foundation for that ambition, while also recognising the local context and the diversity of the professionals and organisations working to deliver these projects across the Kingdom.”

The KSA Overlay was developed by Dale Sinclair, Director and Head of Innovation at WSP and a leading figure for RIBA Plan of Work guidance in the UK and internationally, working with RIBA members and stakeholders across the Kingdom. The process saw Sinclair and his team map pre-existing frameworks, already used to manage major programmes and projects in Saudi Arabia, against the original RIBA Plan of Work, identifying where delivery in the Kingdom differs from the UK model and defining the roles, information requirements and sign-off points needed to close that gap.

Dale Sinclair, Director and Head of Innovation at WSP, said: “The fundamentals of delivering a project are the same in Saudi Arabia as they are in the UK. What sets the two apart is the international nature of the consulting firms working in the region, and how procurement and regulatory processes are navigated locally. The KSA Overlay reflects that local context within a structure the industry already trusts, giving clients and project teams a consistent framework and genuine appetite for standardisation across the region’s major programmes.”

The RIBA Plan of Work: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Overlay is designed to support Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 goals, providing consistency across projects to aid benchmarking, cost saving and speed of delivery, while supporting the Kingdom’s localisation agenda through clearer knowledge transfer to Saudi professionals. A dedicated training programme built around the Overlay will follow in October, giving project teams practical, scenario-based guidance on applying the framework.

The RIBA Plan of Work: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Overlay is available to download today at riba.org, where organisations can also register interest in the October training programme.