ROSHN Group, Saudi Arabia’s leading national real estate developer and PIF-funded giga-project, has received the British Standards Institution Kitemark for Smart Cities. ROSHN is the first company in the India, Middle East, Turkiye, and Africa region, among the first in the private sector globally, and one of the top 20 organizations around the world to achieve this prestigious international certification.

“At ROSHN, we are committed to setting new standards and raising the bar for the real estate sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the wider region, in line with our commitment to enabling Saudi Vision 2030’s goals. Our achievement of the BSI Kitemark for Smart Cities is a significant achievement and testament to ROSHN’s leadership in this regard. This was a collective effort by the entire ROSHN team through their participation in multiple assessments, reflecting our company-wide commitment to ensuring our customers and their communities benefit from sustainable planning and development, new technologies, and an improved quality of life,” said David Grover, CEO of ROSHN Group.

“Building for the future while prioritizing sustainability, empowered by technology and innovation, is a priority at ROSHN, making smart city planning one of the most important enablers of sustainability. With this quality mark from BSI we demonstrate not just our success in integrating sustainability and smart community principals but also ensuring our corporate excellence as we drive change in the industry by setting new standards for sustainability in mainstream development,” said Waleed Alghamdi, director of sustainability at ROSHN Group.

The BSI Kitemark for Smart Cities incorporates two ISO standards, ISO 37101:2016 — Sustainable Development in Communities: Management System for Sustainable Development, and ISO 37106:2021 — Sustainable Cities and Communities: Guidance on Establishing Smart City Operating Models for Sustainable Communities. ROSHN has achieved the “Collaborative” mark by the BSI’s Smart City Maturity Model, reflecting its successful development of processes for delivering sustainable communities within a smart city operating model. Smart city technology is key to ROSHN’s development of its integrated communities and is used to foster a sustainable lifestyle across a range of domestic and community functions, including home security, irrigation, and intelligent transport solutions.

Samuel Thwaites, general manager Middle East and Africa at BSI, said: “The achievement of BSI’s Kitemark certification for smart cities and communities validates the maturity of ROSHN’s sustainable and smart strategy, designed to deliver benefits such as resilience, sustainability, comfort and responsible use of resources. Through a rigorous assessment, ROSHN has successfully demonstrated how collaborative methods are being used across functions and how data and integrated technologies are deployed to improve the services and the quality of life of its citizens.”

Andy Butterfield, global managing director, Built Environment at BSI, added: “On behalf of BSI, I would like to congratulate ROSHN on becoming the first organization within the India, Middle East and Africa region to achieve the Kitemark for smart and sustainable cities and communities. It is a testament to ROSHN’s commitment to driving progress on sustainability within the global built environment, which can help society to achieve a digitally enabled, safer and sustainable future for all of us. Achieving the first Kitemark in the region symbolizes the pioneering and industry-leading culture of ROSHN and the positive impact they are having, and sets the standard for others in the region to follow.”