It’s a pleasure to announce that BEE Incorporations is formalizing its presence in the Middle East, with Saudi Arabia at the center of the practice. Green building in Saudi Arabia has been part of our work for years.
We’ve delivered certifications and performance testing in the Kingdom since 2023, and across the Gulf since 2017. Today we’re giving that work a dedicated home, and a dedicated leader.
Mohammed bin Salman Nonprofit City (Misk City), Riyadh. Photo: misk.org.sa
A region we’ve been building in since 2017
Our Middle East story didn’t start this week. BEE’s first Gulf project dates to 2017, and our first project in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to 2023. Since then, we’ve delivered green building work for several of the world’s most recognized luxury masons, across their flagship boutiques in prime retail destinations in Riyadh and Jeddah. Naming both cities matter. this is national reach, not a single-city foothold.
The practice grew one engagement at a time, until it was large enough to deserve a structure of its own.
The Kingdom, in numbers
We’re now working on 12 projects in Saudi Arabia, three of them already third-party-certified. The strongest of those credentials is a LEED Volume Gold certification, 69 points, earned at the Riyadh flagship of a leading global luxury house.
It is the highest LEED level we’ve achieved in-Kingdom to date.
That work sits alongside national-development and performance-testing engagements across Riyadh and Jeddah.
Across the wider Gulf, 17 BEE projects are certified, with LEED Gold and Silver the levels we see most often. For on-going work we hold ourselves to a target. We don’t claim a level that hasn’t been awarded.
A landmark we can name: the Misk Foundation Center
Most of our Saudi work is for clients we’re privileged to serve but not to name. One we can name is the Misk Foundation Center in Riyadh, the home of the Misk Foundation in Mohammed bin Salman Nonprofit City.
For its developer, Misk City Company Ltd., BEE is carrying out WELL Performance Testing, confirming the building’s solar systems deliver the output they were designed for.
The engagement is on-going, and it’s a focused piece of performance engineering rather than a certification. It also sits at the centre of the national-development story that Vision 2030 is driving across the Kingdom.
Meet Ahmed Yousif · Regional Director, Middle East and North Africa · BEE Incorporations
On-the-ground leadership in the Middle East
Ahmed Yousif joins BEE as Regional Director, Middle East and North Africa, leading the practice from the region — closer to the clients, the certifying bodies, and the projects themselves. He brings over a decade of sustainability experience across the UK and the GCC.
A Chartered Environmentalist with an MEng in Building Services Engineering, he joins us from NEOM, where he served as Sustainability Program Lead, building and deploying ESG frameworks and digital sustainability systems across large-scale portfolios in the Kingdom.
Fluent in Arabic and English, Ahmed is well placed to serve our clients across Saudi Arabia and the wider region. His appointment formalizes momentum that already exists.
”“The region is building at a speed and scale that few markets in the world can match. What excites me is that sustainability here is not just about compliance; it is becoming central to how cities, destinations and assets are designed, operated and valued. BEE has the technical depth, digital tools and international experience to help turn that ambition into measurable performance.” - Ahmed Yousif, Regional Director, Middle East and North Africa, BEE Incorporations
Ahmed YousifRegional Director, Middle East and North Africa, BEE Incorporations
Solitaire Mall, Riyadh — a prime retail destination. Photo: VisitSaudi.com
What clients in the Kingdom can expect
Leading the work from the region means decisions get made closer to it, beside the design team, the certifying body, and the day-to-day choices that move a project from target to plaque. It also means the relationship doesn’t end at certification.
Through BEE Sense, our cloud-based monitoring platform, we track indoor air quality and energy performance in real time, so a building keeps performing long after the plaque goes up.
”“BEE is not here to simply advise; we are here to deliver.”
Ahmed YousifRegional Director, Middle East and North Africa, BEE Incorporations
Centria Mall, Riyadh. Photo via Wikimapia.org
Why now, and Vision 2030
Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 has put sustainable, high-performing buildings at the center of national development, and our mandate maps onto it: measurable performance, third-party-verified outcomes, and healthier indoor spaces.
The Kingdom is far from alone in the region; nearly 4,600 projects across the Middle East and North Africa are now pursuing LEED, according to GBCI MENA. Conscious Engineering in the Kingdom means what it means everywhere: evidence over adjectives, and buildings that perform the way the certificate says they will.
About the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is the body behind LEED, the most widely used green building rating system in the world. Certification is administered by Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI), which verifies through independent review that a project meets LEED’s criteria. BEE Incorporations is a USGBC member firm.
About Misk City
Mohammed bin Salman Nonprofit City, known as Misk City, is an 840-acre development in the Irqah district of Riyadh and the home of the Misk Foundation, the youth-focused Saudi non-profit established in 2011. It is one of the national-development initiatives associated with Saudi Vision 2030.
We’re grateful to the clients and colleagues who’ve made the last few years in the Gulf possible, and to Ahmed for taking this on. We look forward to building in the Kingdom, one project and one city at a time.
About BEE Incorporations — Founded in 2009 by Alessandro Bisagni, BEE Incorporations is a global green building consultancy headquartered in Hong Kong and Shanghai. The firm operates 15 offices across four continents, specialising in green building certifications (LEED, WELL, RESET, BEAM Plus), ESG advisory, performance testing, and the BEE Sense indoor air quality and energy monitoring platform.
