King Abdulaziz International Airport achieves LEED Gold, surpassing its original target

One of the Kingdom's largest and busiest airports is now one of its most sustainable.

For millions of travellers and pilgrims each year, King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA) is one of their first and most lasting impressions of Jeddah, serving as a gateway to the Two Holy Mosques and as the busiest airport in the Kingdom.

Now, the airport has added another distinction to its record, achieving Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold Certification under v2009 for New Construction and exceeding the project's original target of LEED Silver. With a total score of 64 points, the development secured the Gold certification and demonstrated a compelling performance across a range of sustainability criteria:

• Water Efficiency: 10/10 points
• Regional Priority Credits: 4/4 points
• Sustainable Sites: 22/26 points
• Indoor Environmental Quality: 11/15 points
• Innovation in Design: 4/6 points

The achievement is particularly significant in the context of Terminal 1's scale and complexity. Designed to accommodate millions of passengers annually, the development brings together large-scale terminal facilities, transport systems and supporting infrastructure within a highly complex aviation environment. Some of KAIA's defining features include:

• Roughly 720,000 m² of built-up area, shaped around a distinctive double crescent footprint
• A 136 m air traffic control tower - the tallest in the world
• A multimodal transportation centre with an integrated rail station
• Automated people movers, advanced baggage handling systems, and extensive airside and landside infrastructure

Dar has been part of KAIA's development since 2007, providing a range of consultancy services across the project. As part of its role, Dar also carried out an assessment against LEED requirements contributing to the wider project team's efforts to integrate sustainability considerations into design and delivery.

By achieving Gold rather than the originally targeted Silver certification, Terminal 1 has surpassed its initial sustainability ambition and set a higher benchmark for the project. The achievement reflects the technical expertise, commitment and collaboration of the many teams involved in the project.

Dar is proud to have contributed to this achievement and to KAIA's continued development as a world-class aviation gateway for Saudi Arabia.