2025 · RECORDED
18.03mInternational Umrah pilgrims welcomed to Saudi Arabia in 2025.
Pilgrim Experience Program ↗THE DECISIONS BEFORE THE DEVELOPMENT
FRAMEWORK
PRECEDES
FORM
An independent strategic development partner.
Alongside you, from the earliest decision
through implementation.
THE ART OF THE REALCommercially grounded. Connected to place.01 — THE OPPORTUNITY
BEFORE THE BRIEF. BEFORE THE COMMITMENT.
Make it a destination
with more to offer.
An investment ambition, large or small.
The critical work is connecting the questions: what to develop, for whom, with whom, and on what commercial basis.
Midara brings development, commercial, market and local intelligence together, establishing a clear pathway and carrying that intent into delivery.
What creates demand?What makes it viable?What will make it endure?
02 — THE MIDARA APPROACH
Four actions. One connected perspective.Bring the right things together.
Keep them connected.
From the first question to the decisions that follow. Explore each part of the approach.
01 / SHAPE
Ask the questions
that change the outcome.
Understand the land, the market, the people and the investment ambition. Test what the opportunity should become before design and capital lock in assumptions.
What should this become — and why?
THE WORK BEHIND THE DECISION
Development strategy · Feasibility · Highest and best use · Destination positioning
03 — SAUDI ARABIA & THE HOLY CITIES
International perspective. Local intelligence.The destination
already exists.
The opportunity
is what comes next.
MAKKAH ■ MADINAH
How do we serve people better?
Makkah and Madinah hold an enduring place in people’s lives. Their next chapter is taking shape at a new scale: Saudi Arabia welcomed 18.03 million international Umrah pilgrims in 2025 and targets 30 million annually by 2030.
For Midara, that scale raises a development question: how can investment enrich the visitor journey while strengthening the everyday life of each city?
Midara’s perspective connects hospitality, education, culture, wellness, public realm and family life. Places that welcome visitors while remaining useful and relevant to the people who call them home.
For international investors, we connect investment expectations with locally executable development strategy — bringing the opportunity, its context and the right specialist expertise into the same conversation.
Explore our thinking on enduring places ↓2030 · NATIONAL TARGET
30mInternational Umrah pilgrims annually targeted by Saudi Vision 2030.
Saudi Vision 2030 · 2025 report ↗The figures describe international Umrah pilgrims to Saudi Arabia. The 2030 figure is a national target. Sources reviewed September 2026.
04 — EXPERIENCE BEHIND MIDARA
Selected founder experienceAn approach developed
through doing.
These examples draw on the founder’s work over the past 30 years. They show the decisions, structures and relationships behind development.
01 / BAHRAINThe Avenues BahrainAligning the land, the partnership and the delivery pathway.+
THE DEVELOPMENT QUESTION
How do the commercial foundations become a deliverable waterfront development?
Brought together the municipal lease, joint-venture and operator agreements, support for the SPV, design development, infrastructure procurement, value engineering and main-contract appointment.
The connection: agreements, governance and design carried through to procurement.
02 / SAUDI ARABIAMisk / Riyadh SchoolsEstablishing the foundations before construction.+
THE DEVELOPMENT QUESTION
What needs to be aligned before an education development can move forward?
Led the Misk / Riyadh Schools business plan, negotiated contract terms alongside KEC’s legal counsel and closed the agreement. Established the development and design team, with weekly progress oversight and early identification of risks.
The connection: the institutional relationship, commercial framework and development process considered together.
03 / BAHRAINDestination BahrainTranslating a tourism ambition into development opportunities.+
THE DEVELOPMENT QUESTION
How does a national destination ambition become a practical development strategy?
Assembled and led the consultant team for the Destination Bahrain strategy, connecting market assessment, tourism and infrastructure opportunities, feasibility and the available land bank. The strategy became a blueprint for the nationwide project plan over the following 10 years.
The connection: a destination proposition translated into a programme of potential developments.
05 — WHAT WE DO
One development perspective.
Multiple disciplines.
Midara works alongside landowners, investors, developers and institutions. The mandate takes its shape from the decision ahead and the expertise it requires.
Define the opportunity
Development strategy and feasibility. Highest and best use. Masterplan and development briefs. Destination and market positioning.
Establish the framework
Commercial and joint-venture structuring support. Negotiation and due-diligence coordination. Governance, risk, phasing and implementation planning.
Assemble the expertise
Investor, operator and strategic-partner engagement. Consultant selection. Design and procurement strategy. Alignment across specialist teams.
Maintain the intent
Client representation. Development and delivery oversight. Design governance. Marketing, sales and leasing strategy aligned with the original proposition.
06 — FOUNDED BY MIREILLE BABTI
A wider view.
A closer involvement.
Commercial strategy. Governance.
Development. Design vision.
Midara draws on more than two decades of the founder’s development leadership across Australia and the GCC, spanning waterfront developments, masterplanned communities, tourism destinations and institutional partnerships.
The founder’s background in law, architecture, project management and business informs an integrated approach, connecting the investment ambition with the physical, contractual and operational decisions needed to realise it.
Executive judgment. Micro- and macro-level involvement.
07 — IDEAS FOR ENDURING PLACES
RESEARCH IN PROGRESSAwqaf &
Awqaf &
the sustainable city.
Woven into the life of a place.
Examining the enduring role of Awqaf as a pillar of social sustainability, and exploring how its principles can once again be meaningfully woven into real estate development, destination-making and the long-term life of our cities. This research also considers how emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, can support that enduring purpose in a changing urban world.
Coming soon
08 — YOUR NEXT CHAPTER
Is Saudi Arabia
in your sights?
Or elsewhere in the GCC.
Whether you’re a bank, an investor or a real estate developer,
let’s begin a conversation.
mbabti@midaradevelopment.com