His Excellency, Minister of Trade and Investment, Chairman of SASO's board, Dr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Kassabi, stressed on the importance of the Saudi Building Code as one of the most important pillars in supporting the national economy and enhancing the safety of citizens, in addition to its pivotal role in protecting the rights of contractors.

     This was said during the opening of the first introductory workshop on the Saudi Building Code, held at SASO's headquarters in Riyadh, with the participation of a large number of members and representatives of technical teams in the Saudi Building Code National Committee, in addition to a number of specialists and interested people.

     His Excellency, Minister of Trade and Investment, urged all members of technical teams in the Saudi Building Code National Committee to complete the basic requirements in preparation for the mandatory implementation of the code, and to work in an integrated manner to ensure the efficiency of the implementation process.

     ​Dr. Majid expressed his confidence that the Code represents a qualitative addition to the Kingdom and its citizens as its details, legal and technical requirements, and implementation requirements will lead to higher safety rates in the construction sector in the Kingdom.

     Furthermore, the Minister expressed his gratitude to all representatives of government bodies participating in the workshop. He asked God to crown their work with success and guide them to complete the work of the Code with quality and precision, which will have a positive effect on the sustainability of buildings, public safety and the government of building and construction expenses for individuals and companies.

     For his part, Dr. Sa'ad bin Othman Al-Kasabi, Chairman of Saudi Building Code National Committee, noted the issuance of the Royal Decree No. (M / 43), dated 26/4/1438 AH which requires the application of the Code on all building and construction sectors. He pointed out that the implementation of the Code and the date of its mandatory application are being finalized. Dr. Al-Kasabi clarified that the Saudi Building Code is the reference code for the GCC Building Code, as agreed by all GCC member countries.

     Dr. Al-Kasabi said that the Saudi Building Code National Committee is working, diligently, in preparation for the implementation stage through integrated themes to approve the regulations. This is done through finding executive regulations for the Code system and preparing a list of irregularities' classification. In addition, preparations include training and awareness which are both achieved through coordination with stakeholders from public and private sectors to provide training and awareness in the Code field. The Committee also works on studying the structure of the Code via several workshops to follow updating and developing the Code requirements. Moreover, the National Committee works on addressing gaps in the current National Building Code to reach an integrated institutional framework that ensures effective implementation and updating of the Code through an integrated theme of governance and strategy. 

     The first workshop included a review of the tasks of the Saudi Building Code National Committee, the draft of executive regulations and irregularities' classification. It also included introducing the tasks of 11 subcommittees involved in the preparation, review and development of the Code, from more than 14 government bodies. The government bodies include the Ministry of Interior; Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs; Ministry of Transport; Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources; Ministry of Trade and Investment; Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture; King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology; Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organization; Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu; Saudi Council of Engineers; Saudi Geological Survey; Saudi Aramco; along with four specialists from Saudi universities.

     The Saudi Building Code National Committee is currently working on finalizing the Code update and preparing a second workshop, where the technical outputs of the working teams will be presented to the public and private sector specialists in various fields. The third introductory workshop will be dedicated to all interested parties over the next few months.