{"id":15045,"date":"2026-08-13T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/azeidkgroup.com\/saudi-giga-projects-fire-life-safety-news-en\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T19:03:34","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T19:03:34","slug":"saudi-giga-projects-fire-life-safety-news-en","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/azeidkgroup.com\/en\/sa\/media-center\/saudi-giga-projects-fire-life-safety-news-en\/","title":{"rendered":"Giga-Project Fire Safety: Shifting Priorities Under Vision 2030"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"15045\" class=\"elementor elementor-15045 elementor-15007 elementor-bc-flex-widget\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-eb62ee7 e-con-full az-el-article e-flex e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"eb62ee7\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-399a461 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"399a461\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"az-intro\">Saudi giga-projects, such as entertainment cities, airports, high-speed rail and mixed-use developments, raise particular fire safety challenges: very large visitor numbers, wide open spaces, continuous operation and coordination between several agencies in an emergency.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-065a286 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"065a286\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2>Key challenges<\/h2>\n<p>Fire Middle East, covering projects such as Six Flags Qiddiya, New Murabba, King Salman Park, Red Sea International Airport, King Salman Gate and the Qiddiya high-speed railway, points to challenges in:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Crowd management and evacuation planning.<\/li>\n<li>Smoke control in large spaces.<\/li>\n<li>Integration of alarm systems with other building systems.<\/li>\n<li>Coordination between agencies in an emergency.<\/li>\n<li>Tunnel safety, emergency communications and real-time monitoring on rail projects.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-b85ec8f elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"b85ec8f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2>Performance-based design<\/h2>\n<p>The General Building Code (SBC 201) lets the building official accept designs that do not follow the prescriptive requirements where they give equivalent or better safety, under the guidance of the National Committee for the Saudi Building Code. According to an International Fire &amp; Safety Journal interview with a consultancy, performance-based design was available in the 2018 edition, and the 2024 edition clarifies when and how it is used, with smoke modeling and evacuation analysis used to demonstrate safety. This kind of design needs a qualified consultant and the approval of the authority having jurisdiction.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-102c927 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"102c927\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2>What it means for contractors and owners<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Bring in the fire safety consultant early, before the architectural design is fixed.<\/li>\n<li>Choose systems that integrate with building management, security and access control.<\/li>\n<li>Plan for integrated testing and commissioning, because the systems work as one, not as separate parts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-dcccc7d elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"dcccc7d\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"az-source\"><strong>Sources:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/firemiddleeastmag.com\/fme\/saudi-arabias-giga-project-momentum-is-reshaping-fire-safety-priorities-across-the-region\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Fire Middle East on Saudi giga-projects<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/internationalfireandsafetyjournal.com\/sbc-2024-compliance-aesg\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">International Fire &amp; Safety Journal interview on SBC 2024 compliance<\/a>, and a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlit.go.jp\/common\/001404290.pdf\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">study on the IBC basis of the Saudi Building Code<\/a>.<\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-09fe7d9 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"09fe7d9\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>See also our <a href=\"https:\/\/azeidkgroup.com\/en\/sa\/media-center\/smoke-control-stair-pressurization\/\">smoke control and stair pressurization guide<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/azeidkgroup.com\/en\/sa\/media-center\/bms-fire-system-integration\/\">BMS and fire system integration<\/a>.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-41412e1 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"41412e1\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"az-cta\"><strong>Working on a large, complex project?<\/strong> AZEIDK provides <a href=\"https:\/\/azeidkgroup.com\/en\/sa\/solutions\/fire-alarm-systems\/\">fire alarm<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/azeidkgroup.com\/en\/sa\/solutions\/smoke-extraction-emergency-ventilation-systems\/\">smoke extraction<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/azeidkgroup.com\/en\/sa\/solutions\/fire-fighting-systems\/\">fire fighting<\/a> systems, with <a href=\"https:\/\/azeidkgroup.com\/en\/sa\/services\/programming-systems-integration\/\">programming and systems integration<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/azeidkgroup.com\/en\/sa\/contact\/\">Contact the AZEIDK team<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From entertainment cities to airports and rail, giga-projects raise evacuation and smoke control challenges, and the code allows performance-based design.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16555,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[258],"tags":[],"azeidk_region":[223],"class_list":["post-15045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/azeidkgroup.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/azeidkgroup.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/azeidkgroup.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/azeidkgroup.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/azeidkgroup.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15045"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/azeidkgroup.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15045\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17980,"href":"https:\/\/azeidkgroup.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15045\/revisions\/17980"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/azeidkgroup.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/azeidkgroup.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/azeidkgroup.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/azeidkgroup.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15045"},{"taxonomy":"azeidk_region","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/azeidkgroup.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/azeidk_region?post=15045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}