The Waldorf Astoria Diriyah super block has secured its main construction contract, with Egypt’s Hassan Allam Holding confirming that its subsidiary Hassan Allam Construction Saudi, in joint venture with UCC Saudi, has been appointed by Diriyah Company to build the landmark scheme in Riyadh. The award covers the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, Residences and Mixed Use Super Block, a project that sits within the Boulevard Northwestern district of Diriyah Gate 2. Regional trade press, including the coverage published by MEED, reported the deal at SAR2.7 billion, or roughly US$720 million, although Diriyah Company did not publicly disclose the value in its own announcement. The development will span about 241,000 square metres of built up area and bring together a Waldorf Astoria hotel with 200 keys, 47 branded residences, commercial and office buildings, an integrated super basement and a public realm laid out along the Grand Boulevard. UCC Saudi is the local arm of Qatar’s UCC Holding, while Hassan Allam draws on more than 90 years of work across the Middle East and North Africa. The contract was tendered in November 2025, with bids due in January 2026, before the June award landed. It is the latest in a steady run of hospitality packages handed out across the giga project, and it deepens a partnership that has already produced several luxury assets on the site.

What the Waldorf Astoria Deal Means for Riyadh Hospitality

The award arrives as Riyadh shifts from masterplanning into heavy delivery across its giga project portfolio. Diriyah Company is one unit of the Public Investment Fund, and the wider Diriyah development carries a price tag of about US$63 billion across 14 square kilometres of mixed use blocks northwest of the capital. The Waldorf Astoria sits among a planned 40 luxury hospitality projects spread across Diriyah and the neighbouring Wadi Safar destination, a pipeline that helps explain why so many international contractors are mobilising in the kingdom. Property consultancy Knight Frank has tracked Saudi giga project awards rising to US$196 billion in 2025, a 20 percent jump on the prior year, and that surge in giga project spending shows how quickly tendering has accelerated. The most striking comparison on the other side of Riyadh is The Mukaab, the cube shaped centrepiece of the New Murabba downtown that is set to become the largest building in the world. The Mukaab measures 400 metres in height, width and length, packs more than 2 million square metres of floor space, and has been described as large enough to hold 20 Empire State Buildings, with an estimated US$50 billion budget, a fully enclosed skyscraper inside and a dome built to project holographic scenes for guests of its 500 room hotel. Recent progress reports on The Mukaab noted that a 2024 target to excavate an average of 30 square kilometres of earth a day was met, that five of six bridge spans were complete and that its first phase is due by 2030 to house around 35,000 people. Where The Mukaab chases scale and spectacle, with all the engineering risk and the public debate over its resemblance to the Kaaba that such ambition invites, the Waldorf Astoria super block leans on heritage, branded living and a curated boulevard experience. Both, alongside Neom’s much trimmed The Line, share the same strategic logic of using tourism and real estate to pull the economy away from oil. Diriyah alone is forecast to add US$18.6 billion to national output once finished.

Waldorf Astoria Diriyah Timeline and What Comes Next

Diriyah Company did not attach a completion date to the Waldorf Astoria super block when it confirmed the award, so the timeline for this specific package stays open. What is clear is that the wider programme is targeting major delivery ahead of Expo 2030 in Riyadh, the same deadline that is driving The Mukaab, where developer New Murabba aims to have 8,000 homes ready to show by the time the kingdom hosts the trade show, after the overall Diriyah completion horizon slipped from 2027 to 2030 because of the volume of infrastructure work and broader cost pressures reported across the kingdom. Hassan Allam and UCC now move into mobilisation on a site already crowded with cranes and live packages, among them the Pendry super block and the Saudi Arabia Museum of Contemporary Art. The main near term questions are familiar ones for a project of this size: how fast the super basement and structure can rise, whether labour and material supply keep pace, and how the branded residences absorb as off plan releases continue. Diriyah Company group chief executive Jerry Inzerillo has said the destination has moved from laying foundations to large scale delivery, a message reinforced by the run of recent contractor awards at the site. If the hospitality cluster lands as planned, Diriyah expects to support close to 180,000 jobs and welcome tens of millions of annual visits.

Project Fact Sheet

• Project Name: Waldorf Astoria Hotel, Residences and Mixed Use Super Block
• Location: Boulevard Northwestern district, Diriyah Gate 2, Diriyah, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
• Project Value: Estimated at SAR2.7 billion (around US$720 million), per MEED and regional trade press; Diriyah Company did not officially disclose the figure
• Client/Owner: Diriyah Company, owned by the Public Investment Fund
• Main Contractor: Joint venture of Hassan Allam Construction Saudi and UCC Saudi
• Built Up Area: Approximately 241,000 square metres
• Key Components: 200 key Waldorf Astoria hotel, 47 branded residences, commercial and office buildings, integrated super basement, public realm
• Procurement Model: Competitively tendered main construction contract, tendered November 2025
• Construction Start: 2026, with mobilisation following the June 2026 award
• Expected Completion: Not separately disclosed; aligned with the Diriyah delivery push toward 2030
• Strategic Impact: Part of a PIF plan for 40 luxury hospitality projects across the Diriyah and Wadi Safar destinations

Project Team

• Client/Owner: Diriyah Company
• Parent of Client: Public Investment Fund
• Main Contractor (Joint Venture): Hassan Allam Construction Saudi and UCC Saudi, the local arm of Qatar’s UCC Holding
• Hotel Brand: Waldorf Astoria, part of Hilton
• Diriyah Company Group CEO: Jerry Inzerillo
• Hassan Allam Holding Chairman and CEO: Hassan Allam
• UCC Holding President and Group CEO: Ramez Al-Khayyat

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is building the Waldorf Astoria Diriyah super block? A joint venture of Hassan Allam Construction Saudi and UCC Saudi won the main construction contract, awarded by Diriyah Company.

How much does the Waldorf Astoria Diriyah project cost? Regional trade press including MEED put the contract at SAR2.7 billion, around US$720 million, though Diriyah Company did not officially disclose the value.

Where is the Waldorf Astoria Diriyah super block located? It sits in the Boulevard Northwestern district of Diriyah Gate 2, within the Diriyah development northwest of Riyadh.

What will the Waldorf Astoria Diriyah development include? About 241,000 square metres of built up area, with a 200 key Waldorf Astoria hotel, 47 branded residences, offices, commercial space and an integrated super basement.

When will the Waldorf Astoria Diriyah project be completed? A specific completion date was not disclosed, though the wider Diriyah giga project is pushing major delivery toward 2030 and Expo 2030 in Riyadh.