Construction and Infrastructure

Mega-projects—from Saudi giga-cities to UAE smart-districts—are compressing schedules while piling pressure on budgets. With steel, cement, and MEP packages representing up to 70 % of project cost, best-in-class procurement—cleansheet costing, dual-source strategies, and category playbooks—has become the chief lever for protecting margins and freeing cash for sustainability upgrades and digital-twin investments. Builders that master commodity economics today will bank the head-room to weather tomorrow’s price swings. 

 

Local-content mandates are intensifying. Saudi Arabia’s project-approval gates now require explicit In-Kingdom sourcing and workforce roadmaps, while UAE federal projects allocate evaluation weight to National ICV scores. Embedding localisation criteria in BOQ packages, partnering with domestic prefab manufacturers, and running supplier-development clinics can unlock preferential land, fast-track permits, and tax offsets—turning compliance into competitive advantage rather than added cost. 

 

Supply-chain resilience is a board-level KPI after pandemic port disruptions and global rebar shortages. Market leaders are dual-sourcing structural steel, holding critical MEP components in bonded hubs, and integrating real-time shipment tracking into project control towers. By overlaying these tactics with a clear operating-model—digitised approvals, transparent RACIs, and live KPI dashboards—contractors ensure on-time, on-budget delivery instead of costly site stoppages.