Beijing-headquartered China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) has won a SR5.7bn ($1.5bn) contract to build the Arena Block assets in the Boulevard Southwest section of the DG2 area of the Diriyah gigaproject in Saudi Arabia.

The Arena Block will include Diriyah Arena, which is designed by UK-based HKS Architects, as well as three office buildings and a parking facility.

Diriyah Arena will cover an area of about 74,000 square metres and will have a capacity of 20,000 spectators.

In April, MEED exclusively reported that China Harbour Engineering Company had emerged as the frontrunner for the project after selected firms were invited to submit their best-and-final offers for the package.

Diriyah Company opened commercial bids for the project in January.

The company is expected to award more multibillion-dollar contracts this year. Earlier in July, MEED reported that the company had awarded a $600m contract to Italian contractor WeBuild for a package at the Diriyah Square project.

The contract relates to construction works on package three of the Diriyah Square project. It involves the finishing and mechanical, electrical and plumbing works on more than 70 buildings and public spaces within Diriyah Square.

Diriyah gigaproject

The Diriyah masterplan envisages the city as a cultural and lifestyle tourism destination. Located northwest of Riyadh’s city centre, it will cover 14 square kilometres and combine 300 years of history, culture and heritage with hospitality facilities.

The company awarded several significant contracts last year, including three contracts worth over SR21bn ($5.5bn). These included an estimated $2bn contract awarded to a joint venture of El-Seif Engineering & Contracting and China State to build the North Cultural District.

In late July 2024, Diriyah also awarded a $2.1bn package to a joint venture of local contractor Albawani and Qatar’s Urbacon to construct assets in the Wadi Safar district of the gigaproject.

In December, MEED reported that Diriyah Company had awarded an estimated SR5.8bn ($1.5bn) contract to the joint venture of local firm Nesma & Partners and the local branch of Man Enterprise for its Jabal Al-Qurain Avenue cultural district, located in the northern district of the Diriyah Gate project.

Once complete, Diriyah will have the capacity to house 100,000 residents and visitors.