Property - Updates
Prince Dr. Mansour bin Mutaib bin Abdulaziz, Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs, issued a circular to all municipal authorities and municipalities throughout the Kingdom, emphasizing the need to mandatorily implement thermal insulation in all buildings in major cities—whether residential, commercial, or any other facilities—following the example of government facilities in major cities across the Kingdom, including six cities in the Eastern Province: Dhahran, Al-Khobar, Dammam, Al-Qatif, Al-Ahsa, and Hafar Al-Batin.

Written Undertaking from the Owner
The circular emphasized that a certificate of completion will not be issued to the owner until a certificate from the Saudi Electricity Company confirming the installation of thermal insulation in the building has been provided, in addition to obtaining a written undertaking from the owner using the electronic undertaking form published on the Ministry’s website (www.momra.gov.sa), with the requirement that all fields of the aforementioned undertaking form be filled out—including the owner’s mobile phone number and site coordinates— and providing the Saudi Electricity Company with a copy of the undertaking and a daily electronic file of building permits issued in the 23 cities designated across the Kingdom for the implementation of the thermal insulation system. These cities include: (Riyadh, Al-Kharj, Mecca, Jeddah, Taif, Medina, Yanbu, Buraidah, Unaizah, Hail, Sakaka, Arar, Tabuk, Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan, and Al-Baha), in addition to six cities in the Eastern Province.
The regulations governing the implementation of the thermal insulation project included several points, most notably that the consulting engineering firm must prepare the building’s engineering drawings, specifying the thermal insulation specifications in the construction plans according to the type of insulation used, and in accordance with the type of construction, to meet the thermal transmittance values stipulated in the Saudi Building Code, as well as preparing detailed building drawings at an appropriate scale illustrating the installation details of the thermal insulation used in the building. The issuance of this circular comes as part of the Ministry’s commitment to rationalizing electricity consumption, with the aim of maintaining an appropriate temperature in buildings for extended periods without the need to operate air conditioning units, thereby reducing energy consumption costs and the costs of the equipment used, Insulation also protects buildings from weather changes and climatic fluctuations that cause thermal stress, which can cause the exterior surface layer of buildings to lose its natural and mechanical properties, leading to cracks in the facades.
Building Safety
Insulation protects buildings from weather changes and atmospheric fluctuations that cause thermal stress, which causes the exterior surface layer of buildings to lose its natural and mechanical properties; causing cracks to form in the facades
It is worth noting that Engineer Fahad Al-Jubeir, Secretary of the Eastern Province, confirmed at a recent workshop held in collaboration with the Saudi Electricity Company to discuss mechanisms for applying thermal insulation to buildings and structures that the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs has identified six cities in the region, where the thermal insulation system is to be implemented, starting last Safar.
Al-Jubeir said that the Secretariat will hold a meeting with the company to try to include Jubail, Abqaiq, and Ras Tanura on the list, given the large size of these cities in terms of area and population.
He emphasized that no building permit will be granted until it has been confirmed that the owner has committed to installing thermal insulation, and that the municipality has provided facilities for engineering firms and streamlined the process for obtaining the necessary permits for residential construction. He noted that field teams have been deployed to monitor implementation, in cooperation with the Saudi Electricity Company.
Energy Conservation
Al-Jubeir said: “The Municipality is currently developing plans and strategies for energy conservation and will begin implementing them in the coming period, starting with street lighting, to reduce consumption by 75 percent, in coordination with the relevant authorities.”
Meanwhile, Engineer Abdul Hamid Al-Naim, head of the Eastern Sector at the Saudi Electricity Company, confirmed that the list of cities designated for thermal insulation implementation was determined by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and requires its application to ”Category A“ municipalities and local authorities.
He added that discussions will be held with the municipal authority regarding the implementation of the decision across the region’s districts and provinces, as the company intends to mandate thermal insulation in Jubail, Abqaiq, and Ras Tanura in succession.
He noted that the decision was first implemented in Riyadh, then expanded to the Eastern Province last December, adding: ”Saudi Electricity Company” is currently targeting between 70,000 and 75,000 subscribers annually, including residential and commercial apartments, noting that the company seeks to reduce electricity consumption by up to 40 percent of the monthly bill through the implementation of thermal insulation, 70 percent through improved air conditioning efficiency, and another 70 percent through reduced facility consumption.