Diriyah Company‘s sustainability strategy is being treated not as an environmental compliance exercise but as a commercial system designed to build long-term value, reduce operating costs and attract investment into one of the world’s largest urban development projects. Talal Kensara, CSMO and Chair of Diriyah Company’s Sustainability Committee, set out how that approach works in practice across the $63 billion-plus mixed-use masterplan.
Traditional design meets modern infrastructure
Central to the Diriyah sustainability strategy is the integration of traditional Najdi architecture with contemporary engineering. Kensara pointed to thick walls, compact urban layouts, shaded courtyards and wind towers as passive cooling mechanisms that reduced the need for energy-intensive systems centuries before modern sustainability frameworks existed. Those principles have been carried forward directly.
Mud bricks are one concrete example. Kensara said their embodied carbon footprint can be around 90% lower than conventional concrete masonry units. At the 134-room Bab Samhan hotel alone, the use of mud bricks resulted in over 4,000 tonnes of CO₂ avoidance compared with conventional alternatives. That is not a marginal gain: it demonstrates that a heritage material, applied at scale, can deliver measurable environmental and cost outcomes.
The masterplan also integrates shared infrastructure across the city rather than assessing each building in isolation. Cooling, transport and water reuse systems are designed to work collectively, which changes both the economics and the environmental performance of the whole.
Diriyah sustainability strategy earns first Platinum LEED for Cities in the Middle East
Phase one of the masterplan has been awarded Platinum Level LEED for Cities certification by the U.S. Green Building Council, according to Commercial Interior Design. It is the first such certification at Platinum level in the Middle East, placing Diriyah in a small group of city-scale developments to have achieved that standard anywhere in the world. Diriyah Company has accumulated more than ten sustainability certifications in total and is targeting 22% energy savings and 50% water savings across the development.
Beyond certifications, Kensara said the focus is on measuring long-term performance: emissions, energy and water consumption, resource efficiency, waste diversion and building performance across their full lifecycle. Outcomes such as cleaner air, shaded walkable streets and reduced vehicle traffic are also part of what the company tracks, on the basis that they affect the quality of the experience for residents, workers and visitors.
Scale, capacity and the commercial case
Diriyah is planned to accommodate approximately 100,000 residents, 180,000 jobs and 50 million annual visits upon completion. Absorbing that volume without degrading either the environment or the visitor experience has shaped infrastructure decisions from the outset. The masterplan integrates homes, offices, hospitality, retail, culture and mobility in one connected plan across 14 square kilometres, designed as a low-rise, human-centric city rather than a high-rise dense development.
The public realm investment is substantial. Diriyah will have at least eight public parks, more than 17km of trails, 6.5 million indigenous trees and plants, and over 160 electric vehicle charging points. Kensara argued that this kind of investment raises the commercial value of nearby assets, because world-class hotel operators, retailers and global partners assess the strength of a destination, not individual buildings in isolation.
On the question of whether buyers and investors now pay for sustainability rather than simply expect it as standard, Kensara was direct. Sustainability has moved from differentiator to expectation, he said, with growing demand from individual homebuyers through to hotel operators. That shift has accelerated investor interest and is shaping procurement decisions across the project.
What phase one has shown
With the first phase of Diriyah now operating, the sustainability approach is being tested against real conditions rather than projections. Kensara pointed to the restaurants and cafes at Bujairi Terrace, offices and retail at Zallal, the Bab Samhan hotel and the museums within the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Al Turaif as early evidence that the model is working.
Kensara described sustainability at Diriyah not as a milestone to be reached but as a continuous process of measurement, learning and adjustment. The lessons drawn from phase one, he said, are being used to refine the approach to subsequent phases, with the objective of raising performance standards across the full development as it matures.
