Would you work in Saudi Arabia?

Reaction on social media to news of Foster + Partners’ role on a proposed 2km-tall tower in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, was not, on the whole, kind.

‘Completely unsustainable and a massive vanity project,’ said one commentator. Some queried the evacuation strategy ‘for [a tower of] such a ridiculous height’. Others questioned the ethics.

But many simply asked: ‘Why?’ Why would anybody want to build a carbon-heavy skyscraper in a low-density city where available land is plentiful? And why would Foster + Partners want the job?

Foster + Partners’ vertiginous desert giant has become a focus for debate. But the practice is certainly not alone in taking on huge projects in the development hot-spot that is Saudi Arabia.

Who can resist the pull of its seemingly endless flow of petrodollars? Certainly not ageing Premier League footballers. Nor, it seems, an ever-growing number of UK architects taking part in the Saudi Crown Prince’s monumental 2030 vision development drive. But they don’t exactly shout about it.

From the controversial ‘giga-project’ NEOM and its linear city The Line, to the play resort Qiddiya, a glut of downtown developments, beach resorts and desert cities are currently being worked on by British architects.

In terms of the wider Gulf region, the figures speak for themselves. Recently published accounts revealed that Foster + Partners’ revenue from Middle East leapt from £83 million in 2021-22 to £118.2 million in the 12-month period to March 2023.

Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) also reported skyrocketing workloads in the Middle East, with revenue from the region tripling to £12 million in its latest accounts. Heatherwick Studio, which last year unveiled proposals for its first project in Saudi Arabia – the conversion of an old water desalination plant into a museum and arts centre – saw its turnover rise by £13 million across the region in the year ending March 2023.

Sources told the AJ that ‘almost every large practice in the UK’ has joined them, with many operating ‘under the radar’.

Within the Gulf region, the most controversial major market to do business with is undoubtedly Saudi Arabia, on account of its treatment of women, advocates of free speech, the LGBTQ+ community, and other minorities. Amnesty International recently warned: ‘[The] reality for people living in Saudi Arabia is one where their basic human rights are ignored, their freedoms are restricted and punishment is severe.’

One London-based architect, who had chosen not to accept Saudi commissions but wished to remain anonymous, says: ‘I find it totally unacceptable and hypocritical when [these major UK firms] preach about sustainability “this” and equality “that” in the UK [then accept work in Saudi Arabia].’

So why are so many from the UK’s liberal, often left-leaning architecture profession accepting jobs in the region? Why is the stampede to Saudi happening now? And what should architects be weighing up morally and financially when deciding whether to follow the rush?

What’s happening?

Some of the UK’s largest practices have worked in the Middle East, mainly from afar, for many years. Not all have had a presence on the ground in Saudi Arabia. But that is changing.

The growing list of firms to have set up shop in the country includes Weston Williamson + Partners’ owner, Egis. The AJ understands that the London-based transport specialist has been involved on the Spine – a planned high-speed railway planned to run underneath the Line.

NEOM’s flagship scheme also counts Peter Cook’s Cook Haffner Architecture Platform (CHAP), Arup and Aecom among the names on board. Meanwhile, ZHA has bagged work on Trojena, an unlikely-sounding ski resort in the desert with a skyscraper under the NEOM banner.

Scott Brownrigg has landed in Saudi, too, its latest accounts from January 2023 show. AtkinsRealis meanwhile has four bases there, in Riyadh, Jeddah, AlKhobar and since last year, AlUla.

To put the size of the AlUla project into perspective, the 22,300km² world heritage site is about the size of Belgium. It is proposed to become an open-air museum under an Allies and Morrison masterplan. Hopkins Architects is involved, too, drawing up the headquarters for the Royal Commission of AlUla.

Other practices involved in Saudi Arabia include Populous’s London studio, which has drawn-up an esports district for Qiddiya, a play-orientated city on the outskirts of Riyadh. The development is not far from real estate development Roshn and walkable city Diriyah, which also has British architects on board.

In the aviation sector, Pascall + Watson is working on designs for several airports in the country and Foster + Partners – which exited Architects Declare in 2020 in a row over its new airport work – continues work on at least three major air terminals in the kingdom.

Increasing visibility

In recent months, Saudi Arabia has been becoming more vocal about its architecture and development plans.

Andy Shaw, head of the RIBA’s Gulf chapter, tells the AJ: ‘More and more [projects] are being announced publicly through the formal channels for project launches [and] the projects tend to be awarded to practices that are already well-established and internationally regarded.’

But doors are also opening for others. Smaller UK practices are now being approached.

‘With the sheer amount and scale of work being developed in the kingdom this [sole selection of big players] is starting to change,’ Shaw adds.

AJ readers will already have noticed a steady trickle of Saudi projects being publicised online. This ranges from further details about NEOM to a Populous-designed sports arena proposal for the 2034 FIFA World Cup (Saudi Arabia is the sole bidder for the tournament).

The nation’s drum-banging ratcheted up a notch last year when the world’s ‘biggest’ real estate summit, City Global, upped sticks from Qatar to Saudi. The property event is set to return to Riyadh this November.

And next month (May) the UK government – which bullishly promotes British expertise to the Saudis – will roll into Riyadh for a business and trade show dubbed Great Futures, which, it says, will match UK firms with work on the ‘ultra-ambitious giga-projects’ at the heart of Saudi 2030. It will also create pathways to work for those firms not already in the country.

But look more closely at the projects being publicised and the air of secrecy hanging over them becomes apparent, including the identity of the design and engineering teams involved.

At the launch of NEOM’s UK office in London in November, around 300 architects were joined by the Saudi ambassador and deputy UK prime minister Oliver Dowden. However, the event was closed to journalists and NEOM avoids discussing details of projects such as The Line.

The 170-km long project hit the headlines this month when Bloomberg ‘revealed’ that ambitions had been scaled back, with only 2.4km of The line planned for 2030. However, NEOM had previously stated that only the first section – the 2.4km-long Hidden Marina – would be completed before 2030. The remainder of the project remains open to question.

The lack of clarity can, to some extent, be explained by the tough non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) that are usually applied to projects. For an architect employed on such a job, breaching such an NDA would risk losing not only that one, but future jobs, too.

Numerous practices approached by the AJ declined to answer questions about their involvement in Saudi Arabia, citing confidentiality. The list includes Gensler, Grimshaw, RSHP and 10Design, despite the latter publicising its involvement in NEOM’s Epicon and Norlana regions late last year.

Foster + Partners did comment, though it remained tight-lipped about its limelight-stealing Riyadh skyscraper.

Stuart Latham, managing partner and senior executive partner at Foster + Partners, tells the AJ: ‘Saudi Arabia is rapidly opening up to the rest of the world and through our work on these ambitious and innovative projects, we are at the forefront of progress, enabling society to embrace positive change.’

Human rights

NDAs are one thing but why is there such silence on Saudi work in general? Off the record, several architects mentioned the potential reputational fallout that could come with being seen to work on projects backed by the nation’s ruling royal family, given the country’s abysmal human rights record.

Amnesty International last year told the AJ that NEOM was ‘a calculated attempt by Saudi Arabia to use spectacular architecture to distract’ from that record, which includes the grisly murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, as well as the reported abuse of migrant workers and crackdowns on political protest.

In terms of individual sexuality, although the Saudi Tourism Authority claimed last year that LGBT+ visitors were welcome to visit the country, same-sex activity in the country remains illegal and, in theory, is punishable by the death penalty.

Given this, campaign group Architecture LGBT+ insists LGBT+ individuals and others must be given the choice to not work on Saudi projects by their employers.

‘While recognising the architectural and economic opportunities that such environments [like Saudi] present, we must also consider the rights and wellbeing of our LGBT+ colleagues and the broader community,’ the group said in a statement. ‘We believe it’s imperative to support the right of any employee to abstain from working on projects where they feel their personal safety, values, or rights are compromised.’

While the position of women in society has improved following reforms introduced in recent years by the Crown Prince, women continue to experience discrimination when it comes to marriage, family, and divorce, according to Amnesty and Human Rights Watch.

The climate crisis

The environmental footprint of Saudi work is perhaps equally troubling to UK architects. If fully built in its entirety, The Line will have pumped 1.8 gigatonnes of CO₂ into the atmosphere by completion, University of Westminster academics Yara Sharif and Nasser Golzari told the AJ last year.

For comparison, global emissions currently stand at 36 gigatonnes of CO₂ annually – making The Line’s construction equivalent to 5 per cent slice of humanity’s annual emissions. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), annual emissions must not breach 25-30 gigatonnes annually to stay within 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming before 2030.

Will Arnold, head of head of climate action at the Institution of Structural Engineers, condemns the environmental cost of most of Saudi Arabia’s mega projects on the grounds of their sheer size.

‘The construction of multiple “giga-projects” inevitably results in the release of giga-tonnes of greenhouse gases,’ says Arnold. ‘We cannot hide from the fact that the emissions resulting from vast construction projects can exceed the annual carbon footprint of entire continents.

‘As design professionals, we must question whether these projects bring enough benefit to humanity to outweigh the impacts of the continued breakdown of our climate and ecosystems.

‘We have the potential to transition towards a regenerative built environment that is wholly positive for all living things,’ he adds, ‘But to do so requires a realignment of our collective values.’

Then there is the question of how liveable this rapidly urbanising desert kingdom will be – particularly if the 1.5 degrees Celsius benchmark is missed, as is widely forecast.

Karim Elgendy, a climate expert and associate fellow at the international think tank Chatham House, pointed out recently on LinkedIn: ‘Temperatures have already increased approximately 2.1°C across the kingdom over the past 40 years – nearly triple the pace of global warming.

‘Projections show by 2050, Saudi Arabia could face 106 days per year above 40°C under business-as-usual emissions.’

Meanwhile, the Euro-Mediterranean Centre for Climate Change says in its G20 Climate Risk Atlas, that ‘increasing urbanisation may create problems unless new development integrates climate adaptation standards.

‘For example, large parts of Jeddah may suffer from the impacts of sea level rise, including erosion and saltwater intrusion.’

Given the myriad concerns, perhaps it is no wonder that many firms such as JTP and Metropolitan Workshop, neither work nor pursue opportunities in the kingdom.

Neil Deely, co-founder of Metropolitan Workshop, says he believes his practice’s talents are better honed to the pressing environmental and societal issues at home. He is also concerned about the Saudi’s leadership’s human rights position and environmental stance.

‘[The UK and Ireland is] where we want to focus our efforts and we feel it’s where our knowledge is best deployed,’ says Deely. ‘Saudi Arabia’s leadership seems to us to be a reluctant participant in the global discourse on climate change and their track record with civil liberties – and particularly women’s rights – is also of huge concern.

He adds: ‘We can, of course, see why practices are attracted to the grand projects happening in Saudi Arabia which apparently offer unusual and create exciting possibilities […] and it’s easy to understand that keeping the practice afloat and people employed is important, but it’s not a direction that Metropolitan Workshop would take.’

Other practices have decided against a blanket boycott with some consulting their staff on whether to accept Saudi projects, often on a case-by-case basis.

Studio DS founder Diba Salam says: ‘We always evaluate each project against our values addressing social and environmental issues … being a net zero company and subscribing to UN Sustainability Goals … The questions of moral issues need to be addressed more diplomatically and sensitively.’

Salam says that, despite Saudi Arabia’s historically strong ties with the UK, it has had a ‘very turbulent reputation, in part due to institutional Islamophobia in our media and political classes, but also due to ignorance and hypocrisy.’

She says: ‘For example, the Saudi-led coalition against Houthis in Yemen was rightly condemned due to the impact on innocent Yemeni civilians. However, [in January] the UK [with the USA] bombed Yemen without going to Parliament. It’s important to be consistent with condemnation, regardless of who the parties are.’

Richard Coutts, director at Baca Architects, which has won masterplanning roles in Saudi, admits some of his colleagues had been cautious about the practice’s work in the kingdom. But he adds that, when these projects have got under way, the reactions have ‘been positive’.

He says: ‘It means we are now on the radar of the likes of Deloitte, who employ our master-planning and design skills on giga-projects [and] our low-impact hospitality and leisure work means we are attracting resort projects from Africa to the Maldives.’

Coutts, whose practice is developing ‘sustainable cooling’ and anti-flooding prototypes, also believes the technological solutions being worked on in Saudi will benefit the climate in the long run.

He says: ‘The UK government policy is behind the curve and without this [government support], only a handful of clients nationally exist who are prepared to experiment or test new technologies.’

What’s next?

With many British practices increasingly reliant on international work and UK project starts down 31 per cent in the last quarter of 2023, according to industry tracker Glenigan, the lure of Saudi Arabia certainly isn’t going away.

Neither are the opportunities in Saudi. The country’s population has grown by about 34 per cent since 2010, according to census data last year, and two thirds of Saudis are under the age of 30, meaning there is a pressing need for new housing. The kingdom is also actively promoting its culture and leisure offerings with an Asian Games – and very likely a FIFA World Cup – on the cards. Once again, the same UK architects (Populous, ZHA and Foster + Partners) will likely have a role to play.

Architects in a dilemma about whether to work there will probably wonder what the position of the RIBA is. While the institute does not have any specific policy about working in Saudi with regards to human rights or the environment, it does have strong ties to UK government efforts to foster UK-Saudi trade.

That went up a gear in March when the RIBA announced a new partnership with Eye of Riyadh, a ‘business partnering and marketing communications organisation’ in Saudi Arabia, which, it says, will allow Portland Place ‘to deliver on our commitments’.

The RIBA code of conduct simply asks members to ‘consider the environmental impact’ of their work as well as to promote ‘stronger communities and improve equality, diversity and inclusion in the built environment’.

President Muyiwa Oki adds: ‘Ultimately, any decision to take on work remains at the practice’s discretion, but as a signatory of the UN Global Compact, we encourage all chartered practices to promote its universal principles on human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption within all contexts, including their project structures and through their supply chains.’

Given the disquiet over human rights and the climate crisis, financial gain stands out as the main reason for heading to the oil-rich Gulf state. Architects will have to judge for themselves whether to take on Saudi work and there are certainly a lot of questions to address.

As Deely says: ‘There should be a debate around these issues in considering working in any country or continent, not just when considering the Middle East.

‘Questions surrounding ethics should be at the forefront of an architect’s mind when working anywhere in the world, including at home in the UK.’

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