Saudi Arabia achieved a major breakthrough when 10 of its highest quality projects were named national winners at the MEED Quality Awards for Projects, in association with Mashreq.

The winning Saudi projects, valued at over $23 billion, include The Kingdom Flag Pole of Jeddah Municipality, Saudi Aramco’s King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Centre Project, Elkhereiji Group’s Head Office Building Project as Mixed Use Project of the Year, Saudi Electric Company’s Rabigh 2 Power Project (4x700MW) Project as Power & Water Project of the Year.

The Saudi Aramco and Sinopec JV scooped the National Award for Oil & Gas Project of the Year, with the Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refining Company Ltd. Refinery Project, while the Rehabilitation, Expansion and Development of the Prince Mohammad Bin Abdulaziz International Airport Project owned by GACA, won Saudi Arabia’s Airport Project of the Year.

John Iossifidis, EVP, group head of corporate and investment banking at Mashreq, which is the headline sponsor of the awards, says: “Saudi Arabia’s construction industry is projected to exhibit sustainable growth prospects in the next few years.

This is Saudi Arabia’s best performance in the awards, with 10 projects winning the National Winner accolade compared to seven in last year’s edition.

They will now compete at the regional level against national winners from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the UAE for GCC-wide recognition in various categories.

“The projects were evaluated by an esteemed judging panel against criteria that included not only engineering and construction excellence but also sustainability and innovation,” says Richard Thompson, editorial director at MEED.

The winners of the 2016 MEED Quality Awards for Projects, in association with Mashreq, will be announced at a ceremony on May 25, which will serve as the culmination of the MEED Construction Leadership Summit, a high-level gathering of the Gulf’s construction leaders.