The company was established in November 1956, and given the Arabic name دار الهندسة
Dar Al-Handasah meaning "the house of engineering". It was founded by
Kamal Al-Shair (1930–2008) and Dr. Nazih Taleb (1928–2020) and three fellow professors in Engineering from the
American University of Beirut (AUB) Engineering School. In 1986, the company acquired the United States-based design firm of
Perkins&Will and, in 1989, it bought the United States-based consultancy firm of
T. Y. Lin International. The company won the
IStructE Award for Transportation Structures and the Supreme Award in 2006 for designing the
Prai River Bridge in
Penang,
Malaysia. It acquired the UK-based engineering consultancy, Currie & Brown, in 2012. The company changed its name to Sidara in December 2023 and acquired the
Aberdeen-based engineering firm,
John Wood Group, in November 2025. == Subsidiaries and affiliations ==