MIDARAGLOBAL DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS

INDEPENDENT PERSPECTIVE. SENIOR INVOLVEMENT.

Strategic real estate
development advisory.

In Saudi Arabia and across the GCC.

We help landowners, investors and developers shape opportunities, structure partnerships and guide development from early decisions through implementation.

Framework precedes form.

An abstract copper cube assembled from individual architectural blocks.

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?

THE MIDARA APPROACH

Four actions. One connected perspective.

From ambition to a coherent
development strategy.

Aligning commercial objectives, a sense of place and the expertise needed to carry the strategy into implementation.

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

Explore our capabilities ↗

WHAT WE DO

One development perspective.
Multiple disciplines.

Midara brings these disciplines together around your development mandate. Our role can begin with a specific decision and extend into the coordination and oversight needed to carry it through.

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.

Connect partners and expertise

Investor, developer, operator and institutional partnerships. Assessment of strategic fit and commercial alignment. Specialist team selection, design and procurement strategy.

Maintain the intent

Client representation. Development and delivery oversight. Design governance. Marketing, sales and leasing strategy aligned with the original proposition.

FOUNDED BY MIREILLE BABTI

Founder’s career highlights

A perspective shaped by
the breadth of experience.

A wider view.
A closer involvement.

More than 24 years across the Gulf and Australia, connecting commercial strategy, governance, design and development.

SAR5.5bn

Investment-ready projects originated and packaged

SAR~800m

Long-term contractual revenue through negotiated agreements

SAR300m+

Asset-value enhancement

SAR~150m

Value engineering and cost savings

50+

Agreements executed across investors, hotel and mall operators, consultants and contractors

Commercial strategy.
Governance.
Development.
Design vision.

Mireille Babti held the role of Chief Development Officer at Knowledge Economic City in Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah, where she led the development of its 6.8-million-square-metre masterplan.

Her earlier leadership roles include Chief Development Officer at Edamah, Bahrain’s sovereign real estate arm, and Executive Director at Premier Group Bahrain. Her career spans waterfront destinations, mixed-use developments and master-planned communities across the Gulf and Australia, including subdivision and master-planning across more than 500 hectares.

She brings commercial strategy, partnership negotiations, governance, design and delivery into one development perspective. Her work encompasses investment-ready project origination, long-term revenue creation, asset-value enhancement and cost optimisation.

Mireille also taught at the University of Strathclyde, exploring the international business environment. That experience informs her executive workshops and contributions to discussions on development, investment and governance.

Midara combines this direct senior involvement with an established network of specialist collaborators, selected around the needs of each mandate.

QUALIFICATIONS & CREDENTIALS

MBA — University of Strathclyde
Master of Project Management — University of Technology Sydney
Bachelor of Law — University of New England, Australia
Bachelor of Architectural Engineering

Certified Independent Director — Hawkamah / Mudara Institute of Directors, UAE (2016).

Executive judgment. Micro- and macro-level involvement.

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.

Secured a school agreement representing SAR 400 million in lease revenue over 25 years, connecting the institutional relationship with the commercial and development framework.

STRUCTURE / ASSEMBLE / STEWARD
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.

Negotiated agreements representing approximately SAR 400 million in long-term revenue, alongside approximately SAR 50 million in value-engineering and cost savings.

SHAPE / STRUCTURE / ASSEMBLE / STEWARD
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.

SHAPE / STRUCTURE / ASSEMBLE

SAUDI ARABIA & THE HOLY CITIES

International perspective. Local intelligence.

The destinations
already exist.
The opportunity
awaits.

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.

Midara helps clients navigate the regulatory requirements, cultural nuances and institutional relationships that shape development in Saudi Arabia and the wider GCC. We connect clients with relevant local expertise and coordinate specialist input, bringing the local context into commercial and development decisions from the outset.

Explore our thinking on enduring places ↓

The figures describe international Umrah pilgrims to Saudi Arabia. The 2030 figure is a national target. Sources reviewed September 2026.

Commercial sense.A sense of place.Relevance over time.

IDEAS FOR ENDURING PLACES

RESEARCH IN PROGRESS

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

EXECUTIVE WORKSHOPS

From experience to shared understanding.

Better frameworks.
Better-informed decisions.

Midara offers practical workshops for leaders and teams navigating development decisions. Three connected areas of learning, grounded in the relationship between commercial ambition, governance and implementation.

Development Frameworks

Connect the investment ambition with a clear development brief, decision-making structure, responsibilities and a pathway to implementation.

Scenario Planning

Explore plausible scenarios, test assumptions and understand how changing market, economic and social conditions could shape an opportunity.

Development Risk

Examine commercial, contractual, design and delivery risks, their interdependencies, and the governance needed to identify and manage them.

Discuss a workshop ↗

Speaking & Conferences

Bring a development perspective to the conversation.

Speaking and panel contributions on real estate development, investment, governance and the future of places. Midara welcomes opportunities to contribute to forums that advance the industry, challenge established thinking and shape the future of development.

Explore a year to discover the conversation.

Discuss a speaking contribution ↗

YOUR NEXT CHAPTER

Let’s give your next ambition
a clear direction.

In Saudi Arabia and across the GCC.

Whether you’re a bank, an investor or a real estate developer,
let’s begin a conversation.

Let’s discuss your development ↗

info@midaradevelopment.com