The 2024 Saudi Building Code: What It Means for Fire Safety Design

Now that the 2024 edition of the Saudi Building Code is mandatory, the question is no longer whether anything changed. It is what changed for my project, and which edition applies to it? The difference between those two answers can mean recalculating exits, adding a sprinkler system, or simply updating a compliance statement.

This article summarises what matters to a fire safety designer in the new edition, how to establish which edition governs your project, and how to run an orderly gap check before submission.

What is new in the 2024 edition?

The new edition of the Saudi Building Code suite was issued by ministerial decision in late 2024 and served as a reference during a transition period before becoming mandatory from 1 July 2025. On the fire side, the Saudi Fire Code SBC 801 was updated to align with the 2021 edition of the International Fire Code (IFC), with a matching update to the general building code SBC 201.

Not every change tightens requirements: some add obligations, and some open conditional exemptions. Reading the update as simply "stricter" or "easier" is misleading; each item has to be checked against your own project.

What matters most to a fire safety designer

The points below are collected from published summaries by consultancies following the new edition. They indicate what to check; the official code text remains the reference for design and submission:

• The occupant load factor for business use changed from 9 m² per person to 14 m² per person. That changes the calculated occupant numbers, and with them exit capacity, stair widths and the number of exits required.
• Sprinklers in open parking are now required above a defined area (around 4,460 m² is quoted), including podium parking in high-rise buildings.
• The fire command centre: its size is now tied to the building area rather than a fixed area, and an identification sign is required at its entrance.
• Fire pump and riser rooms: permanent artificial lighting, and enough access and clearance for inspection and replacement.
• Emergency systems in high-rise buildings: substantially revised, so that chapter needs a full review on tall projects.
• Atriums: an open stair inside an atrium may count as part of the means of egress under defined conditions.
• Fire apparatus access: exemptions from the aerial apparatus access road for certain construction types, subject to conditions such as full sprinkler protection, roof access through a protected stair with a standpipe, and Civil Defense approval.
• Unoccupied mechanical rooms, or rooms entered only occasionally for maintenance, are exempt from common path of travel limits.

Which edition applies to your project?

This is the first question, not the list of changes. In practice:

• New projects are designed to the current edition.
• Projects that already hold approvals under the previous edition may continue on it under the transition arrangements, and the detail depends on the type and date of each approval.
• The decision rests with the authority. Keep a clear record: the type, number and date of every approval, and the edition it was reviewed against.

Multi-phase projects are the most exposed to confusion, since one phase may be approved under one edition and a later phase under another. Fix the code basis for each design package in writing.

How to run a gap check before submission

1. Establish the code basis for each part of the project and record it in the compliance statement.
2. Recalculate the occupant load for the affected uses, then verify exit numbers and capacity, travel distances and stair widths.
3. Review the sprinkler scope, especially open parking, podiums and areas previously exempt.
4. Review the technical spaces: the fire command centre, pump and riser rooms, and their lighting, access and clear space requirements.
5. Review the high-rise chapter, emergency systems and communications, if the project is tall.
6. Review external access for fire apparatus, water supplies and approach points.
7. Record the results in a gap matrix: the item, what it was, what it is now, the effect on design and cost, and the proposed decision.
8. Raise contentious items early with the authority, and document what is agreed before the drawings are finalised.

Common mistakes during the transition

• Mixing editions inside one package: drawings on one edition and the statement on another.
• Copying a compliance statement from an earlier project without updating its references.
• Reducing exits on the basis of a new occupant load factor without reviewing the related requirements.
• Relying on published summaries instead of the official code text.
• Leaving the gap check until after the architecture is fixed, which makes every fix more expensive.
• Not documenting the authority's agreement on the items discussed.

How Three Edges can help

Three Edges provides codes and standards compliance, including:

• Establishing the code basis for each package and preparing the gap matrix between editions.
• Fire safety design review and updating the compliance statement.
• Coordination and authority submissions through to approval.
• Resolving items that are hard to apply literally through performance-based design.

Read also: Performance-Based Fire Safety Design in Saudi Arabia.

Frequently asked questions

Does a project approved under the previous edition have to be redesigned?

Not necessarily. It depends on the approvals the project holds, their dates and the transition arrangements, and it is settled with the authority. What matters is having a documented record of those approvals.

Where is the official text?

On the Saudi Building Code portal, which publishes the requirements and commentary volumes for each code. Any published summary, including this article, is a checklist, not a substitute for the text.

Does the update always mean higher cost?

No. Some items add requirements, such as sprinklers in open parking, while others open conditional exemptions that can save on design, such as the aerial apparatus access exemptions.

What if an item cannot be applied literally on our project?

The administrative provisions of the code allow alternative materials, designs and methods that achieve an equivalent level of safety, subject to approval by the authority. That is the performance-based route.

Is your project caught between the two editions, or is your compliance statement due an update? Request a compliance review and we will set out the gaps and their priorities before you submit.

References

• Saudi Building Code portal — the official texts of SBC 201 and SBC 801
• International Fire Code (IFC) 2021 — the international reference SBC 801 aligns with
• Published summaries by consultancies following the 2024 edition (used as a checklist, not as a reference for design)