Middle East Business
Saudi construction conference puts project governance ahead of technology
By Staff Writer | 2 September 2026
Two leadership panels in Riyadh turned on procurement, project controls and the execution plan rather than on plant, with tender stage named as the moment the delivery strategy is set.
Big 5 Construct Saudi opened at Riyadh Front Exhibition and Conference Center on 30 August 2026 and runs until 2 September. It was inaugurated by Eng Fawaz bin Badr Al Shora, Deputy Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources for Industrial Services and Compliance, and is held under the patronage of the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources. Four co-located events sit inside it: HVACR Saudi Arabia, FM and Clean Saudi Arabia, Heavy Saudi Arabia and Totally Concrete Saudi Arabia.
What is worth the attention of anyone working on Saudi projects is not the exhibition floor but what the opening panels chose to argue about. Both sessions on the first day took governance, procurement and planning as the subject, and treated technology as a consequence rather than a cause.
Planning brought forward, not tightened later
The opening leadership panel examined how stronger governance, collaboration and transparency support the delivery of complex projects. It was moderated by Darko Macura, chief executive of Al Kholi Group, with Christopher Seymour, managing director for the Middle East and Africa at Mace Arabia; Khalid Dugaither, director of corporate procurement and contracts at ROSHN; and Yousuf Bin Zayed, general manager of Al-Futtaim Facilities Management. The panel's position was that procurement, logistics and resourcing have to be dealt with early in the project lifecycle rather than absorbed later.
Project controls have really improved over the past five years and teams are under more scrutiny and need to be more resilient. One area we can create even greater resilience in is bringing that planning as far forward as we can. Change is happening; it's now about how we create project environments to adapt to that change.
Christopher Seymour, managing director for the Middle East and Africa at Mace Arabia
Yousuf Bin Zayed made the supply chain point in commercial terms, saying that there were cases where his business had stood beside developers in the Kingdom, showing belief in their projects and in their plans to secure a positive outcome.
The execution plan belongs in the tender
A second panel took planning, coordination and supervision standards on construction sites, and dealt with day to day execution. It brought together Kevin Beaver, delivery director for Expo Riyadh 2030 at Bechtel; Joel Thompson, senior manager for projects at Qiddiya Investment Company; Mohamed Yamani, FMC director at Dussman Ajlan and Bros; and Omran Mahmood Alam, senior project manager at House of Consulting Office, moderated by Rachael Jones, head of specialist services at JLL.
Thompson put the execution plan before the award rather than after it.
Your execution plan should come during the tendering. Design, procurement, logistics, health and safety.
Joel Thompson, senior manager for projects at Qiddiya Investment Company
He added that the project programme is an output of that strategy, and that proactive supervision is needed alongside it. Beaver's contribution was about visible leadership on site, setting standards, engaging with teams and holding to them.
An execution plan written at tender stage is a document with a date on it. An execution plan written after award is a reconstruction, and it is worth what a reconstruction is worth when the programme is later in dispute.
On the exhibition floor, Al-Futtaim Contracting announced the launch of its facilities management and fire and life safety operations in Saudi Arabia at the event. Al Yamamah Steel, Baz Steel and Zamil Steel Holding are presenting steel and related products for building and infrastructure work, Grundfos Saudi Arabia and Wilo Saudi Arabia are presenting pumping and water management equipment, and MedGulf is presenting insurance and reinsurance for the construction sector.
What has not been said
No figures were published for attendance, exhibitor numbers or the value of business transacted, and none is assumed here. The panels were reported as a precis rather than as a transcript, so the wording quoted above is what was published and nothing further is attributed to any speaker.
For a contractor or a consultant, the useful reading is narrow and practical. Two separate panels of client, contractor and consultant people put the same weight on the same things: get the procurement and logistics thinking done before the programme is fixed, write the execution plan while the tender is still open, and supervise against it. Those are also the three records that decide an extension of time claim two years later.