Diriyah: The Historic Heart of Saudi Arabia will Transform Urban Living 

Diriyah is one of a number of extraordinary giga-projects funded by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. Mohamed Saad, President of Diriyah DevCo, tells Inside Saudi about the luxury residences and hotels that are being built in Diriyah, Diriyah’s Harrods activation and opportunities for international investors. 

Jack Dickens (JD) – Tell us about your role as President of Diriyah DevCo and your work on the Diriyah project?

Mohamed Saad (MS) – As President of Diriyah DevCo, the development arm of the Diriyah Company, I am the executive member of the leadership team driving the development of our Masterplan, which includes the largest future retail district in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Diriyah Square.

Relying on my 20-plus years of experience running infrastructure projects across the Middle East, I am helping lay the groundwork for the extraordinary Diriyah, The City of Earth. This covers the full spectrum of work to secure world-class contracting partners to build our many and highly varied assets, ensuring we keep to sustainable building principles and attract the best global brands to join us on our amazing development journey at Diriyah.

JD – How does Diriyah compare to other projects that you have worked on in your career?

MS – This is without a doubt the biggest project I have ever worked on. I have worked with some of the biggest developers in the region in the past – but nothing of the size, scale and ambition of Diriyah. When you consider our starting point is as the custodian of the birthplace of the modern Saudi state and its 300-year-old heritage – we have an enormous responsibility to ensure that we preserve the past, embrace the present and create a dynamic new future.  

We take the preservation and conservation of our UNESCO World Heritage Site as the foundation of everything that we do and then build what is effectively a new city for Diriyah, the Kingdom and the world. It will be a place where people will live, work be entertained, shop and dine, and it will attract an estimated 50 million visits a year in the future.

JD – What makes the residences and hospitality spaces provided by Diriyah so special? What are some of the most exciting features of the project? 

MS – In Diriyah we are creating a place that will be a home to over 100,000 residents and host millions of annual visits in the future. To achieve that goal, we are developing over 40 hotels which will offer over 6,800 keys. This unparalleled collection of hotels and resorts will also bring a wide range of luxury residences to the development for individuals to buy, providing them with a unique opportunity to experience fully the unique quality of life and living proposition offered by Diriyah.

For the experiential traveler, they will be immersed in Najdi inspired architecture and design, providing a unique and authentic living experience. They will experience an unparalleled level of service and luxury, an authentic cultural and heritage environment and generous hospitality by leading hospitality brands. Construction work is already underway on The Ritz-Carlton Diriyah, Four Seasons Hotel Diriyah, Address Diriyah, Six Senses Hotel, Aman Hotel, the Oberoi Hotel, and Capella Diriyah. Our hotels and luxury residences will also offer authentic Saudi hospitality, enriching experiences, a sense of wellbeing and will be in harmony with nature.

JD – Can you tell us about some of the challenges involved in creating residential and hospitality spaces that are both sensitive to traditional architecture and sustainable on an environmental level?

MS – I like to see this not so much as a challenge but rather as an opportunity. The chance to build and create something that has never been done before. We are taking the 300-year-old mud brick Najdi architectural heritage of Diriyah and giving it a visionary and contemporary feel for the 21^st Century.  Across our 14 square kilometer development area, we aim to incorporate elements of Diriyah’s rich heritage at every touchpoint. At Bab Samhan, a Luxury Collection Hotel, which we will open later this year with 135 rooms, we will feature Najdi architectural designs both inside and out. This will reflect the distinctive mud brick features that lie at the heart of historic Diriyah.

JD – What is your vision for the Diriyah lifestyle? Will it be comparable to the lifestyle in any other city on earth or will it be completely unique? What might a typical day in Diriyah look like? 

MS – It is important to recognize that Diriyah will be a vibrant and dynamic city full of life where people will live their lives and come to work, shop, recreate and dine. The environment we are creating will be a pedestrian friendly one where connectivity is key – both from a digital and from a transportation perspective, with cutting-edge technology embedded in the foundations of what we are building and four metro stations and thousands of underground parking spaces built into the framework of Diriyah.

We are developing a truly integrated urban environment with amazing gathering places, including parks, entertainment centers, museums, art galleries, educational institutions, and high-end retail districts. Individuals and families who grasp the opportunity to live in Diriyah, The City of Earth will have an unparalleled lifestyle not experienced anywhere else in the Kingdom before, a human-centric way of living that places quality of life, accessibility and connectivity at the forefront.

JD – Do you have a particular resident in mind? Who will be living in Diriyah and visiting its historic sites? Will it mostly be seeking to lure Saudis and GCC nationals? Or will Diriyah aim to attract residents from around the world?

MS – Our residential properties are available to a wide range of buyers, including residents of Saudi Arabia and the broader GCC region. This reflects the current regulatory framework for property ownership in the Kingdom. However, the real estate market in Saudi Arabia is rapidly evolving, we are excited about the prospect of a global customer base as the market continues to develop.

JD – Diriyah has recently partnered with Harrods to open up a new “activation”. Can you explain what this is?

MS – The Diriyah Company has launched our exciting summer activation at Harrods that runs until July 26 and features a pop-up exhibition on the ground floor of the luxury store accessible to the estimated 450,000 visitors to the store this month. This event is a showcase for our luxury branded residences that are being developed currently by our luxury hotel brand partners the Ritz Carlton, Baccarat and Corinthia. There has been an exceptional interest and strong demand from prospective buyers for these residential properties. This high level of interest underscores the growing appeal and desirability of real estate offerings in this thriving market, with a significant number of buyers have already been secured. And for Baccarat we are working with our international partner Sotheby’s Real Estate to market these wonderful residences to prospective buyers.

JD – Inside Saudi speaks to the financial community in the City of London, which includes institutional investors such as large real estate and infrastructure funds. Do you see these entities playing a role as investors in Diriyah? If so, which kind of assets could they target as potential investors? 

MS – We have a broad range of assets that investors can invest in, ranging from residential, offices, mixed-use and hospitality.  Investors have the opportunity to invest either through a lease structure or through a build-to-own scheme. The Diriyah Company is currently developing more than 40 hotels, 18,000 residential units, education and healthcare assets which investors have the opportunity to explore. 

The Diriyah Company also offers the opportunity to invest in several infrastructure projects such as car parks and waste treatment plants.  Recently, Diriyah partnered with a private investor to build, operate and transfer a district cooling plant for the first phase of the Diriyah masterplan and will be exploring further third-party investment opportunities for its upcoming projects.

JD – As you have mentioned, numerous international hotel groups are committed to building a presence in Diriyah. What opportunities are there in Diriyah for other international companies interested in investing in residences and hospitality? 

MS – At Diriyah, we are very proud and privileged to have attracted an unprecedented number of global leading hospitality brands right from the early days of the project. As we progress with the design development and the construction phases of various hotel assets, we look forward to opening our first hotel, Bab Samhan, A Luxury Collection Hotel, later this year.

As a forward-thinking developer and a project built on a detailed master planning process, we have already secured partnerships with many of the world’s biggest luxury hospitality brands. Groundbreaking for seven hotels including The Ritz-Carlton Diriyah, Four Seasons Hotel Diriyah, Address Diriyah, Six Senses Hotel, Aman Hotel, the Oberoi Hotel, and Capella Diriyah, happened in December 2023 during our annual Bashayer showcase event, and we anticipate announcing details of further partnerships with global brands in the months ahead. 

It was Diriyah’s unique proposition, our carefully curated multi-asset class masterplan and our location on the outskirts of Riyadh that has generated these strong global brand affiliations. This naturally means we have a very high level of interest from national, regional and international investors who are looking for substance, quality and return on investment. 

JD – How will Diriyah contribute to Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 programme? What opportunities have been created by the hospitality spaces and residences being built in Diriyah for Saudis and non-Saudis?

MS – Diriyah is part of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) giga-project portfolio. The size and scale of the Diriyah development will make a significant contribution to the economic diversification of the Saudi economy in supporting Vision 2030. We are creating more than 178,000 direct jobs, many of these exciting new career opportunities for our future generations and will contribute $18.6 billion directly to the Kingdom’s GDP.

JD – Is Saudi Arabia becoming a pioneer and global leader in creating new urban spaces?

MS – There is clearly no other country in the world that is advancing at the speed and ambition of Saudi Arabia in the size, scale and innovation of the places and destinations it is creating. The Kingdom is leading the way when it comes to new visionary urban places. In Diriyah, the Kingdom is creating a new destination that draws inspiration from centuries of heritage but which is built with the future in mind.

JD – Do you hope that your work in Diriyah will provide an example for cities around the world to follow?

MS – The Diriyah Company is creating a unique blueprint on how to develop a vibrant new place to live, work and play that embraces the past and at the same time preserves centuries of culture while implementing the smart city technology of the future. Our Masterplan also emphasizes how we put people first – in terms of accessibility, walkways, pedestrian access and connectivity – both within The City of Earth and to Riyadh and beyond.

JD – Thank you, Mohamed Saad.

MS – Thank you.