Saudi Arabia has launched the main construction tender for its flagship pavilion at Expo 2030 Riyadh, marking one of the clearest signs yet that work on one of the event’s highest-profile venues is moving from planning into procurement.

The tender for the Saudi Pavilion was issued in recent days, according to industry platform MEED, advancing one of the most prominent assets planned within Riyadh’s six-million-square-meter Expo site.

The move follows weeks of preparatory work on site, with excavation under way and geotechnical and soil investigations progressing as project teams prepare the ground for construction.

Construction Week Saudi reported last month that design on the pavilion, expected to span about 16,000 square meters, had reached around 60% completion, a milestone that officials had said would trigger the next procurement phase. A main construction award had been targeted for the fourth quarter of 2026.

At around three times the size of Saudi Arabia’s pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, the Riyadh pavilion is expected to serve as one of the centrepieces of the event and among the kingdom’s most visible architectural statements as it prepares to host the world in 2030.

The tender also adds momentum to a broader acceleration across the Expo site, where infrastructure packages are being rolled out and early works continue ahead of a wider ramp-up later this year.

Murad AlSayed, chief delivery officer at Expo 2030 Riyadh, said in April that 2026 would mark an accelerated phase for engineering and construction awards across the development, including the Saudi Pavilion and other major assets.

Expo 2030 Riyadh is scheduled to run from October 2030 to March 2031 and is expected to welcome more than 40 million visits across more than 230 pavilions.