Offsite Project of the Year

Architecturally Engineered Construction - exceeding the norms and building codes with 95% recycled content. We challenged the team to transform an existing villa design into an architecturally engineered benchmark using Modern Methods of Construction (MMC).

The mandate focused on delivering superior performance and unprecedented sustainability.

Performance: Maintaining or enhancing the internal footprint while achieving performance levels that exceed UAE building codes across all parameters.

Wellness & Carbon: Integrating superior wellness features (indoor air quality, thermal, acoustic, airtightness) and designing for Net-Zero Carbon potential, using significant solar power to immediately contribute to regional 2050 sustainability goals.

Circular Economy: Achieving a critical milestone of 95% recycled material content.

Digital Integration: The entire project leveraged BIM 3D for full traceability, used AI partners and blockchain for an accountable supply chain, and delivered integrated smart home technology for the end-user.

The final construction is being validated by local authorities, global accreditors, and insurers, providing the long-term assurance required to directly challenge and compete with traditional construction models.

The Four Seasons Resort Red Sea is a complex luxury hospitality development in a remote, environmentally sensitive island location, with requirements for quality, precision, and coordination.

DuPod was appointed to manufacture and deliver luxury bathroom pods, each 25–30 sqm, incorporating specialty glass partitions, bespoke vanities, high-end mirrors, premium marble finishes, and fully integrated MEP systems.

The project achieved a 100% offsite-manufactured, plug-and-play solution, representing one of the highest levels of offsite adoption for luxury hotel bathrooms. All pods were fully completed, tested, and quality-assured in controlled factory conditions prior to transportation and installation, reducing on-site trades, interfaces, and programme risk.

Digital and supply-chain integration played a central role. BIM-led coordination, a cloud-based Common Data Environment and multi-contractor collaboration ensured alignment between architectural intent, suppliers, manufacturing, logistics, and site installation. Digital models were used to manage interfaces, tolerances, and sequencing, while factory-based quality control ensured consistent finishes across all units.

Offsite construction was selected to meet the project’s stringent quality/sustainability/schedule requirements, while overcoming logistical constraints of an island site.

The pods were delivered within budget, safely installed with minimal onsite manpower, and achieved luxury standards aligned with the Four Seasons brand, demonstrating the viability of industrialised construction for premium hospitality developments.

The Jeddah Formula 1 Tied Arch Bridge is a highly engineered, offsite-manufactured infrastructure system designed for extreme programme, safety and site constraints. The bridge spans the live Formula 1 circuit, allowing operational continuity while providing vehicle and pedestrian access across the track.

The structure is a true tied-arch system, engineered using full digital analysis (including load, resonance and braking force simulations) and manufactured as a precision kit-of-parts offsite. Over 95% of the structure was fabricated, tested, pre-assembled and quality-assured prior to mobilisation. Onsite works were limited to rapid bolted assembly, lifting and commissioning.

The bridge carries a uniform distributed load of 160 tonnes - four times its own weight - and includes radial hanger cables that increase load capacity by 15%. It requires no foundations and leaves no permanent impact on the site. Despite its scale - large enough for a Boeing 737 to taxi beneath - the entire structure was assembled at ground level in five days and installed across the live track in just two hours.

The project demonstrates how advanced offsite engineering, digital integration and logistics planning can deliver complex infrastructure faster, safer and with significantly lower environmental and site impact than traditional methods.

The King Salman International Complex for Maritime Industries (Maritime Complex) stands as a landmark achievement in industrial construction, embodying innovation, strategic foresight, and execution excellence.

As a flagship project under Saudi Vision 2030, it aspires to become a global leader in sustainable maritime development. The high-tech yard is designed to set the standard for sustainability in the global maritime industry, with a commitment to achieving ambitious targets that reduce carbon emissions and mitigate impact on marine life.

Covering approximately 12 million square meters, the Maritime Complex is one of the largest full-service maritime yards in the Middle East & North Africa. The Complex integrates shipbuilding, repair, offshore rig fabrication, and comprehensive lifecycle services, positioning itself as the preferred MRO (maintenance, repair, and overhaul) hub for regional and global operators.

Strategically, the Maritime Complex positions Saudi Arabia as a global logistics hub connecting three continents, enhancing trade efficiency, global supply chain integration, and export capabilities, and will support 6% of global maritime traffic using Saudi Arabia’s waters. By enabling domestic production of rigs and vessels, it significantly reduces operational costs for major entities, while fostering innovation in logistics, offshore energy, and supply chain management.

PNC Architects, part of Sobha Realty, is leading the design and development of pods, initially focusing on bathroom pods using advanced offsite manufacturing. Sobha Realty, a luxury real estate developer, is implementing offsite construction to ensure efficiency, precision, and high-quality execution across its projects.

The pod initiative is being deployed across major developments including Sobha Hartland 1 and 2, Sobha One, and upcoming projects. All pods are manufactured entirely offsite by Sobha Modular and integrated into towers at various construction stages. PNC Architects is responsible for pod design and manufacturing oversight, ensuring quality and execution efficiency.

Sobha Modular’s factory is equipped with Framecad LGS roll-forming machines, robotic welding systems, and automated board-cutting robots, enabling consistent and precise production.

The program involves over 86,000 pods, with 30,000 already manufactured. The use of 100% offsite construction has reduced construction timelines, minimised on-site labour, and improved quality control. The first bathroom pod project was handed over several months ahead of schedule.

Digital integration includes Revit for 3D modeling, Framecad Revlink for automated CNC file generation, and Autodesk Inventor for fabrication drawings, ensuring precise coordination and scalable delivery.

The Safwa Rahima Water Link is a 3.2 km twin sea bridge within a 15 km transport corridor. Work involved:

• Construction spanning Gulf waters and building elevated bridge foundations around 14 m above the seabed with multiple spans, demanding precision marine civil engineering
• Precast elements for land and marine sections, and other modular pieces delivered to site - a classic example of offsite fabrication accelerating assembly.

Given the challenging maritime conditions and the strategic scale, meeting this delivery target reflects robust planning and execution aligned with national transport goals.

• The project adhered to stringent Saudi Roads General Authority (RGA) quality and safety standards, including advanced drainage systems, signage, and high-performance pavement and barrier systems for durability and traffic safety
• The use of precast elements and modular assembly at scale (both marine and land components) demonstrates modern construction methodologies - essential where environmental and safety constraints are high.

The strategic aims of the offsite production were to enhance construction speed, improve quality control, boost safety and optimise supply chain.

Sobha One is a landmark high-rise residential development delivered by Sobha Realty, with Sobha Modular playing a central role through large-scale industrialised offsite construction. For the project, Sobha Modular manufactured and supplied 7,183 fully finished bathroom pods, along with high-performance façade systems and modular cladding, all produced under controlled factory conditions.

The project demonstrates how modular and offsite construction can be deployed at scale in a dense, high-rise residential environment to deliver measurable improvements in quality, productivity, sustainability, and workforce wellbeing.

Standardisation, BIM-led digital coordination, and factory-based quality assurance enabled consistent outcomes while significantly reducing onsite variability, rework, and risk.

Sobha One also highlights the power of integrated collaboration, with early engagement between the developer, designers, site teams, manufacturers, and logistics partners. Close alignment between production planning and site sequencing ensured smooth installation of modular elements within the overall construction program.

Together, these strategies position Sobha One as a benchmark project for sustainability in the region, demonstrating how modular solutions can transition from isolated pilots to a repeatable, scalable delivery model for high-rise residential developments.

Real estate developer Pantheon Development delivers residential and mixed-use communities, defined by architectural precision, sustainability, and lifestyle enhancing design. Voxa in Jumeirah Village Triangle is a 29 floor, AED 800m mixed-use development combining residences, offices, retail, and over 24 curated amenities. It demonstrates commitment to creating a smart, connected, wellness driven communities.

The development has an emphasis on offsite construction. Precast concrete systems, modular pods, and factory-built MEP assemblies enhance quality control, reduce onsite labour, and support smoother project execution.