The impact of applying the new Saudi Building Code on residential buildings’ performance in Riyadh region

The continual increase in energy consumption is of great concern to human wellbeing due to its environmental impact. Rapid population growth, fast urbanisation and high economic growth are the main causes of a considerable expansion in the building sector, whose extensive construction activities, especially with respect to domestic buildings, undoubtedly contribute to the overall increase in energy consumption. Worldwide, over a third of the total global energy consumption occurs in the building sector. Domestic energy consumption in particular has experienced fast growth in many developing countries during the last few decades. For example, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), the energy demand in the domestic building sector has increased by approximately 7% annually since 1990, mostly due to air conditioning for cooling. One way to curb such energy consumption is through energy efficiency measures for buildings, and introducing effective energy standards and codes, which have been adopted in over 30 countries and regions around the world. This paper assesses and analyses the energy consumption patterns in residential buildings in the Riyadh region, the largest region in KSA in terms of population and housing density. The impact of applying the recently developed Saudi Building Code (SBC) on buildings’ energy performance is investigated. This study includes 21 typical residential buildings within the Riyadh region, comprising villas and apartments, which are increasing rapidly in the Saudi building sector. The analysis is based on actual electricity bills, user behaviour, and results of a building simulation using DesignBuilder software. Results show that the application of the SBC and standards to the buildings’ fabric can lead to an improvement in the energy consumption of villas and apartments by up to 19% and up to 40%, respectively. The variation is due to the impact of the various retrofitting strategies. The building fabric elements, in particular, are found to significantly influence the reduction of the buildings’ energy consumption.