Building Green: Sustainable Design and Low-Carbon Construction in the Gulf, and Oman's Path to a Resilient Built Environment
Construction is one of the world's most carbon-intensive industries, and the built environment accounts for close to 40 percent of global energy-related emissions once both operational energy use and the embodied carbon locked into materials are counted. Across the Gulf Cooperation Council, that reality collides with a region defined by rapid urban growth, extreme heat, and some of the world's highest per-capita cooling loads. The result is a construction sector under pressure to change quickly, and a wave of national strategies, building codes and material innovations designed to do exactly that.
Two forces are driving the shift. National transition plans, the UAE's Net Zero 2050 strategy and Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 among them, are placing buildings at the centre of climate commitments. At the same time, giga-project procurement is turning sustainability from a marketing credential into a contractual requirement: developers now routinely ask suppliers for Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), verified life-cycle carbon data that follows international standards such as EN 15804 and ISO 14025. A widely cited case from a 2024 Abu Dhabi tower tender illustrates the point, three shortlisted material suppliers lacked EPDs, two were dropped from the bid, and the one with verified data stayed on the project.
The GCC has largely built its own sustainability infrastructure rather than importing it wholesale. Abu Dhabi's Pearl Rating System (Estidama), introduced in 2010, was the first mandatory framework in the region, requiring at least a one-Pearl rating for all new developments and tailoring credits to the emirate's hot, arid climate. Qatar's GSAS has become the dominant standard for public projects and is gaining traction beyond Qatar's borders, including in Oman and Kuwait, thanks to a strong emphasis on cultural preservation credits alongside environmental performance. Saudi Arabia's Mostadam, developed by the Ministry of Housing, ties directly into Vision 2030 and the Saudi Green Building Code, and now covers everything from single dwellings to mixed-use communities.
Embodied carbon reporting is the fastest-moving part of this landscape. Estidama, GSAS, Mostadam and LEED v4.1 all now require or reward EPD data, yet an Emirates Green Building Council survey found that embodied carbon modelling still is not common practice for the large majority of UAE respondents, a gap most of the region shares. No GCC country has yet legislated a hard carbon limit on construction materials, but with the World Green Building Council calling for 40 percent less embodied carbon in new buildings by 2030, and the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism beginning to affect regional steel, cement and aluminium exporters, mandatory regulation is widely expected within the next two to three years.
Oman has moved from voluntary guidance toward a structured national framework over the past year. The Oman Building Code (OBC), developed by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning with the International Code Council and based on the 2021 International Building Code, was finalised in 2025 as the country's first unified construction standard, harmonising requirements across all governorates for the first time. Eleven national entities, including the Environment Authority, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat Municipality and Nama Water Services, contributed to its development. Implementation is phased: a voluntary trial from 2026 to 2027, gradual adoption after 2027, and full mandatory compliance targeted for 2030.
Sustainability sits inside the code as a dedicated pillar. The Energy Efficiency & Sustainability Code (OEESC), one of six specialised manuals in the OBC package, mandates insulation standards, smart lighting and low-flow water fixtures, with officials framing it as a direct driver of lower operating costs for homeowners and businesses. Alongside the code, Oman operates its own certification tool, the National Green Building Rating System, known as Roznah, which assesses residential, commercial and government projects against seven environmental criteria. Officials from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning and the Environment Authority's Environmental Standards and Metrology Centre have pointed to insulation, water reuse, energy-efficient lighting and renewable energy integration as the pillars of this push, with the Environment Authority linking the effort to Oman's Environmental Performance Index targets under Vision 2040 and the UN's 2030 Sustainable Development agenda.
A number of landmark Muscat developments already carry international green certifications, among them the Omantel headquarters, City Centre Muscat, Mall of Oman, the Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre, and the W Muscat hotel. Mall of Oman's approach is illustrative of where the market is heading: EV charging infrastructure, solar-covered car parks tied to a central cooling plant, and a LEED Dynamic Plaque that reports real-time performance across energy, water, waste, transportation and occupant experience.
Globally, the low-carbon materials conversation is moving fast, cross-laminated timber that sequesters rather than emits carbon, mycelium-based composites grown rather than manufactured, recycled-plastic building blocks, self-healing concrete for critical infrastructure, and green concrete formulations that can cut emissions by roughly a third to over two-thirds compared with conventional mixes. Not all of these translate directly to Gulf conditions, but the underlying substitution logic, swap carbon-intensive inputs for locally viable, lower-impact alternatives, is very much present in Omani research and practice.
Oman-specific building envelope research has focused on the country's single biggest energy problem: residential cooling, which accounts for the majority of household electricity use and over 70 percent of that load through air conditioning alone. Studies into locally available alternatives, concrete blended with expanded polystyrene beads, autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) blocks, and concrete incorporating industrial by-products such as ground-granulated blast-furnace slag and micro silica — have shown meaningful results. Combining AAC blocks with double-glazed windows and insulated roofing was found to cut electricity consumption by over 11 percent compared with conventional envelopes, translating into roughly 10 percent lifecycle cost savings across an assumed 50-year building life.
On the heavy-materials side, Oman is positioning itself as a regional low-carbon steel producer rather than only a consumer of imported green materials. Mining group Vale is developing a mega hub in Duqm centred on iron ore concentration and briquetting, with roughly USD 5 billion earmarked for its first phase and completion targeted for 2029, alongside a separate USD 600 million joint venture with a Chinese low-carbon steelmaker at Sohar Port. Both projects are explicitly framed around supplying lower-emission feedstock for construction and industry, reinforcing the built environment's link to Oman's wider industrial decarbonisation agenda, including green hydrogen development through Hydrom in the Special Economic Zone at Duqm.
The policy conversation in Oman has broadened beyond new construction to what already exists. The 2025 Green Build Oman Forum, organised by Petroleum Development Oman in Muscat, brought policymakers and industry specialists together specifically to address circular economy principles in construction, recycling demolition waste, updating technical specifications to accommodate newer eco-friendly materials, and integrating digital tools such as thermal energy storage modelling into Gulf-climate design. A follow-on RetrofitTech Buildings & Industrial Innovation summit, scheduled for November 2026 in Muscat, is dedicated entirely to modernising Oman's existing building and industrial stock, with OQ, acting as the country's designated Super ESCO, expected to announce new phases of retrofit and energy-efficiency projects.
This shift matters because so much of the low-carbon opportunity in construction is locked in at the design stage. Oman's National Spatial Strategy 2040 explicitly calls for a move away from low-density villa typologies toward higher-density, climate-responsive housing, contemporary reinterpretations of courtyard design and low-rise, high-density neighbourhoods, alongside expanded walking, cycling and smart-mobility networks in Muscat, Sohar and Salalah. Recent examples already reflect this direction: the Greater Muscat Structure Plan, shaped through consultation with more than 6,000 participants and over 90 public and private entities, is built around balancing urban growth with the protection of the capital's mountains, wadis and coastal ecosystems, while Yiti Sustainable City and the large-scale Sultan Haitham City development, designed to house around 100,000 residents, are being positioned as models for the kind of resource-efficient urban growth Vision 2040 calls for.
Hospitality has also become an unofficial showcase for sustainable design in Oman. Alila Jabal Akhdar has built its identity around locally sourced materials, water and energy conservation systems and eco-conscious guest amenities, while Six Senses properties in the Sultanate have pursued plastic-free and zero-waste operating models. These projects function as visible proof points for a market still building the supply chains, skilled labour and financing structures needed to scale sustainable construction nationally.
Looking Ahead: The direction of travel across the Gulf, and in Oman specifically, is now reasonably clear even if the pace varies by market. Regional rating systems are converging around embodied carbon disclosure. National building codes are formalising what were previously voluntary best practices. And a new generation of materials, from AAC and slag-blended concrete to low-carbon steel is being adapted specifically for the thermal and economic realities of the Gulf rather than imported unchanged from cooler climates.
For Oman, the next few years will be defined less by any single flagship project than by whether the Oman Building Code's voluntary trial period translates into genuine industry-wide capability before mandatory compliance arrives in 2030 and by whether Roznah certification, the OEESC's efficiency mandates, and the country's emerging low-carbon materials base can scale together fast enough to keep pace with the infrastructure ambitions of Vision 2040.
1. Standards and incentives boost green construction in Oman, Muscat Daily — https://www.muscatdaily.com/2025/09/27/push-for-green-building-standards-to-drive-sustainable-development/
2. New Building Code in Oman: How Updated Construction Standards Will Impact Your Business and Investments, Omanet — https://omanet.om/en/news/economy/redefining-construction-standards-code/
3. Housing ministry unveils unified building code, Oman Observer — https://www.omanobserver.om/article/1177702/oman/housing-ministry-unveils-unified-building-code
4. New Building Code Spurs Action on Capacity Building in the Sultanate of Oman, International Code Council — https://www.iccsafe.org/building-safety-journal/bsj-dives/new-building-code-spurs-action-on-capacity-building-in-the-sultanate-of-oman/
5. Oman National Spatial Strategy 2040 — National Planning Standards, Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning — https://www.housing.gov.om/cmsapi/files/content/Books_publication/ONSS%20National%20Planning%20Standards_August%202023_FINAL%20PDF_compressed.pdf
6. Oman Vision 2040 — Impact on Construction Sector, Ventures Onsite — https://www.venturesonsite.com/content-hub/oman-vision-2040-impact-on-construction-sector
7. Oman launches ambitious Greater Muscat Structure Plan, Gulf Construction Online — https://gulfconstructiononline.com/ArticleTA/462278/oman-launches-ambitious-greater-muscat-structure-plan
8. RetrofitTech Buildings & Industrial Innovation Oman — https://retrofittechoman.com/
9. Green Build Oman Forum: How the Shift to Low-Carbon Construction Can Boost Your Business and Investment Opportunities, Omanet — https://omanet.om/en/news/economy/green-build-oman-low-carbon/
10. Energy-efficient Building Envelopes in Oman — A Study, EcoMENA — https://www.ecomena.org/energy-efficient-building-envelopes/
11. Building a greener future: The rise of eco-architecture in Oman, Oman Observer — https://www.omanobserver.om/article/1157603/opinion/business/building-a-greener-future-the-rise-of-eco-architecture-in-oman
12. Role of green buildings in Oman's sustainable cities, Zawya — https://www.zawya.com/en/economy/gcc/role-of-green-buildings-in-omans-sustainable-cities-bhgghhdd
13. $5 Billion Low-Carbon Steel Mega Hub in Oman, Omanet — https://omanet.om/en/news/economy/oman-low-carbon-steel-hub/
14. Embodied Carbon in GCC Construction — What You Need to Know in 2026, EnviroLink — https://www.envirolink.me/embodied-carbon-gcc/
15. Green Building Rating Systems in the MENA Countries, EcoMENA — https://www.ecomena.org/green-building-mena/
16. LEED vs. Estidama vs. GSAS: Choosing the Right Green Certification for Your Property, HermanWa — https://www.hermanwa.com/blog/green-certification-comparison.html
17. Seven Materials Reshaping Sustainable Building In 2026, Ecofreek — https://ecofreek.com/biodegradable/seven-materials-reshaping-sustainable-building-in-2026/
18. Sustainable Building Materials: The Complete 2026 Guide, Chaos Blog — https://blog.chaos.com/top-sustainable-building-materials
Two forces are driving the shift. National transition plans, the UAE's Net Zero 2050 strategy and Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 among them, are placing buildings at the centre of climate commitments. At the same time, giga-project procurement is turning sustainability from a marketing credential into a contractual requirement: developers now routinely ask suppliers for Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), verified life-cycle carbon data that follows international standards such as EN 15804 and ISO 14025. A widely cited case from a 2024 Abu Dhabi tower tender illustrates the point, three shortlisted material suppliers lacked EPDs, two were dropped from the bid, and the one with verified data stayed on the project.
The GCC has largely built its own sustainability infrastructure rather than importing it wholesale. Abu Dhabi's Pearl Rating System (Estidama), introduced in 2010, was the first mandatory framework in the region, requiring at least a one-Pearl rating for all new developments and tailoring credits to the emirate's hot, arid climate. Qatar's GSAS has become the dominant standard for public projects and is gaining traction beyond Qatar's borders, including in Oman and Kuwait, thanks to a strong emphasis on cultural preservation credits alongside environmental performance. Saudi Arabia's Mostadam, developed by the Ministry of Housing, ties directly into Vision 2030 and the Saudi Green Building Code, and now covers everything from single dwellings to mixed-use communities.
Embodied carbon reporting is the fastest-moving part of this landscape. Estidama, GSAS, Mostadam and LEED v4.1 all now require or reward EPD data, yet an Emirates Green Building Council survey found that embodied carbon modelling still is not common practice for the large majority of UAE respondents, a gap most of the region shares. No GCC country has yet legislated a hard carbon limit on construction materials, but with the World Green Building Council calling for 40 percent less embodied carbon in new buildings by 2030, and the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism beginning to affect regional steel, cement and aluminium exporters, mandatory regulation is widely expected within the next two to three years.
Oman's Own Framework: Vision 2040, the Building Code, and Roznah
Oman has moved from voluntary guidance toward a structured national framework over the past year. The Oman Building Code (OBC), developed by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning with the International Code Council and based on the 2021 International Building Code, was finalised in 2025 as the country's first unified construction standard, harmonising requirements across all governorates for the first time. Eleven national entities, including the Environment Authority, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat Municipality and Nama Water Services, contributed to its development. Implementation is phased: a voluntary trial from 2026 to 2027, gradual adoption after 2027, and full mandatory compliance targeted for 2030.
Sustainability sits inside the code as a dedicated pillar. The Energy Efficiency & Sustainability Code (OEESC), one of six specialised manuals in the OBC package, mandates insulation standards, smart lighting and low-flow water fixtures, with officials framing it as a direct driver of lower operating costs for homeowners and businesses. Alongside the code, Oman operates its own certification tool, the National Green Building Rating System, known as Roznah, which assesses residential, commercial and government projects against seven environmental criteria. Officials from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning and the Environment Authority's Environmental Standards and Metrology Centre have pointed to insulation, water reuse, energy-efficient lighting and renewable energy integration as the pillars of this push, with the Environment Authority linking the effort to Oman's Environmental Performance Index targets under Vision 2040 and the UN's 2030 Sustainable Development agenda.
A number of landmark Muscat developments already carry international green certifications, among them the Omantel headquarters, City Centre Muscat, Mall of Oman, the Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre, and the W Muscat hotel. Mall of Oman's approach is illustrative of where the market is heading: EV charging infrastructure, solar-covered car parks tied to a central cooling plant, and a LEED Dynamic Plaque that reports real-time performance across energy, water, waste, transportation and occupant experience.
Globally, the low-carbon materials conversation is moving fast, cross-laminated timber that sequesters rather than emits carbon, mycelium-based composites grown rather than manufactured, recycled-plastic building blocks, self-healing concrete for critical infrastructure, and green concrete formulations that can cut emissions by roughly a third to over two-thirds compared with conventional mixes. Not all of these translate directly to Gulf conditions, but the underlying substitution logic, swap carbon-intensive inputs for locally viable, lower-impact alternatives, is very much present in Omani research and practice.
Oman-specific building envelope research has focused on the country's single biggest energy problem: residential cooling, which accounts for the majority of household electricity use and over 70 percent of that load through air conditioning alone. Studies into locally available alternatives, concrete blended with expanded polystyrene beads, autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) blocks, and concrete incorporating industrial by-products such as ground-granulated blast-furnace slag and micro silica — have shown meaningful results. Combining AAC blocks with double-glazed windows and insulated roofing was found to cut electricity consumption by over 11 percent compared with conventional envelopes, translating into roughly 10 percent lifecycle cost savings across an assumed 50-year building life.
On the heavy-materials side, Oman is positioning itself as a regional low-carbon steel producer rather than only a consumer of imported green materials. Mining group Vale is developing a mega hub in Duqm centred on iron ore concentration and briquetting, with roughly USD 5 billion earmarked for its first phase and completion targeted for 2029, alongside a separate USD 600 million joint venture with a Chinese low-carbon steelmaker at Sohar Port. Both projects are explicitly framed around supplying lower-emission feedstock for construction and industry, reinforcing the built environment's link to Oman's wider industrial decarbonisation agenda, including green hydrogen development through Hydrom in the Special Economic Zone at Duqm.
Circular Economy, Retrofits and the Next Chapter
This shift matters because so much of the low-carbon opportunity in construction is locked in at the design stage. Oman's National Spatial Strategy 2040 explicitly calls for a move away from low-density villa typologies toward higher-density, climate-responsive housing, contemporary reinterpretations of courtyard design and low-rise, high-density neighbourhoods, alongside expanded walking, cycling and smart-mobility networks in Muscat, Sohar and Salalah. Recent examples already reflect this direction: the Greater Muscat Structure Plan, shaped through consultation with more than 6,000 participants and over 90 public and private entities, is built around balancing urban growth with the protection of the capital's mountains, wadis and coastal ecosystems, while Yiti Sustainable City and the large-scale Sultan Haitham City development, designed to house around 100,000 residents, are being positioned as models for the kind of resource-efficient urban growth Vision 2040 calls for.
Hospitality has also become an unofficial showcase for sustainable design in Oman. Alila Jabal Akhdar has built its identity around locally sourced materials, water and energy conservation systems and eco-conscious guest amenities, while Six Senses properties in the Sultanate have pursued plastic-free and zero-waste operating models. These projects function as visible proof points for a market still building the supply chains, skilled labour and financing structures needed to scale sustainable construction nationally.
Looking Ahead: The direction of travel across the Gulf, and in Oman specifically, is now reasonably clear even if the pace varies by market. Regional rating systems are converging around embodied carbon disclosure. National building codes are formalising what were previously voluntary best practices. And a new generation of materials, from AAC and slag-blended concrete to low-carbon steel is being adapted specifically for the thermal and economic realities of the Gulf rather than imported unchanged from cooler climates.
For Oman, the next few years will be defined less by any single flagship project than by whether the Oman Building Code's voluntary trial period translates into genuine industry-wide capability before mandatory compliance arrives in 2030 and by whether Roznah certification, the OEESC's efficiency mandates, and the country's emerging low-carbon materials base can scale together fast enough to keep pace with the infrastructure ambitions of Vision 2040.
Sources
2. New Building Code in Oman: How Updated Construction Standards Will Impact Your Business and Investments, Omanet — https://omanet.om/en/news/economy/redefining-construction-standards-code/
3. Housing ministry unveils unified building code, Oman Observer — https://www.omanobserver.om/article/1177702/oman/housing-ministry-unveils-unified-building-code
4. New Building Code Spurs Action on Capacity Building in the Sultanate of Oman, International Code Council — https://www.iccsafe.org/building-safety-journal/bsj-dives/new-building-code-spurs-action-on-capacity-building-in-the-sultanate-of-oman/
5. Oman National Spatial Strategy 2040 — National Planning Standards, Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning — https://www.housing.gov.om/cmsapi/files/content/Books_publication/ONSS%20National%20Planning%20Standards_August%202023_FINAL%20PDF_compressed.pdf
6. Oman Vision 2040 — Impact on Construction Sector, Ventures Onsite — https://www.venturesonsite.com/content-hub/oman-vision-2040-impact-on-construction-sector
7. Oman launches ambitious Greater Muscat Structure Plan, Gulf Construction Online — https://gulfconstructiononline.com/ArticleTA/462278/oman-launches-ambitious-greater-muscat-structure-plan
8. RetrofitTech Buildings & Industrial Innovation Oman — https://retrofittechoman.com/
9. Green Build Oman Forum: How the Shift to Low-Carbon Construction Can Boost Your Business and Investment Opportunities, Omanet — https://omanet.om/en/news/economy/green-build-oman-low-carbon/
10. Energy-efficient Building Envelopes in Oman — A Study, EcoMENA — https://www.ecomena.org/energy-efficient-building-envelopes/
11. Building a greener future: The rise of eco-architecture in Oman, Oman Observer — https://www.omanobserver.om/article/1157603/opinion/business/building-a-greener-future-the-rise-of-eco-architecture-in-oman
12. Role of green buildings in Oman's sustainable cities, Zawya — https://www.zawya.com/en/economy/gcc/role-of-green-buildings-in-omans-sustainable-cities-bhgghhdd
13. $5 Billion Low-Carbon Steel Mega Hub in Oman, Omanet — https://omanet.om/en/news/economy/oman-low-carbon-steel-hub/
14. Embodied Carbon in GCC Construction — What You Need to Know in 2026, EnviroLink — https://www.envirolink.me/embodied-carbon-gcc/
15. Green Building Rating Systems in the MENA Countries, EcoMENA — https://www.ecomena.org/green-building-mena/
16. LEED vs. Estidama vs. GSAS: Choosing the Right Green Certification for Your Property, HermanWa — https://www.hermanwa.com/blog/green-certification-comparison.html
17. Seven Materials Reshaping Sustainable Building In 2026, Ecofreek — https://ecofreek.com/biodegradable/seven-materials-reshaping-sustainable-building-in-2026/
18. Sustainable Building Materials: The Complete 2026 Guide, Chaos Blog — https://blog.chaos.com/top-sustainable-building-materials
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