It was an extraordinary coming together. Twenty-five CEOs, CIOs and senior decision makers representing companies with over £800 billion under management gathered in a showroom in Knightsbridge to consider investing in a new Saudi city.

No – not Neom, which has in the past dominated headlines about the transformation of this oil-rich Arab kingdom – but “Diriyah, The City of Earth”, joined at the hip to the Saudi capital Riyadh and an environmental masterpiece in the making. An over $63 billion city of the future scrupulously faithful to the country’s traditional architecture, where the pedestrian is king.

In front of meticulous giant models of the new city, Nawaf Rajeh, Senior Director of Development and Innovation Marketing at Diriyah Company, the project’s master developer, took guests on a tour of achievements past and still to come.

He explained how nowhere else in the world has the vision, the ambitions, the resources, the willingness and the momentum to build something on this scale – 14 million square metres in total, with a pedestrianised district spanning 3.5 kilometres in length and just over 1.2 kilometres in width.

In addition, he revealed the complex supporting subterranean infrastructure with layers of roads and car parks up to 40 metres deep underground – along with four metro stations linking to the international airport a mere 20 minutes away. All designed to make sure that life above is calm and serene, untroubled by traffic, fumes or excessive noise – to “unlock the majesty above ground”, as Kiran Haslam, Diriyah Company’s Chief Marketing Officer, framed it.

Guests also heard about the 24/7 continuous working – 45,000 people on site every day, working in shifts. And how the whole look and feel is inspired by the Unesco world heritage site, the birthplace of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, at Diriyah’s centre. So history will sit side by side with some of the world’s biggest brands – hotels by Oberoi, Taj, St Regis, Corinthia and Ritz Carlton, amongst others. And Armani won’t just be among the many retailers opening stores here – they are also opening a limited collection of branded residences curated by Giorgio Armani himself.

Mohamed Saad, President of DevCo at Diriyah Company, spelled out the infrastructure opportunities in the next phase of development. To date, $33 billion of contracts have been awarded and Diriyah Company, which is backed by PIF, the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, is making a significant investment commitment “to give comfort and confidence to investors”.

Mr Saad also highlighted the forces supporting the project, which include political and financial stability, companies moving headquarters into Riyadh from all over the region, a predicted 2 million increase in the population over the next 5 years; and strong tourism development, with Diriyah expected to attract a third of the 150 million tourists a year Saudi Arabia is targeting by 2030.

As Kiran Haslam, Chief Marketing Officer at Diriyah Company, put it – “Diriyah is not once in a lifetime, but once in history – a blank canvas city, with everything being built simultaneously”. The vision was to be “the developer of places that shape the future for humanity – in which we can live in communities and reconnect with nature, reconnect with one another, and do things in a much, much better way”.

For all the guests, the sheer scale of the project and the remarkable progress to date was a revelation. Echoing the thoughts of the real estate and infrastructure investors in the room, David Pfeiffer, Managing Director of the UK arm of Banco Finantia, put Diriyah at the top of the world’s big construction projects “not just because of its gigantic scope, but also because it has a story. It has the history of Saudi Arabia, the history and support of its royal family, and it is part of an opening up of a region in the world – so I think it has great legs.”

Marc Finney, Director in the Hotel and Resorts Team at Colliers International, said the scale and the quality were much greater than he had imagined: “I like the fact that it is very advanced, not just in developing infrastructure but getting operating assets on site. So it is something you can go to today and touch and feel, which helps the investment decision-making process a hundred percent.”

Olly Purnell, CEO and Founder of Q5, a consulting firm that invests all around the world, remarked: “It’s not even a vision now because so much of it is already in place. I imagine if we went back 120, 130 years, it's like the construction of Manhattan; it's as exciting as that”.

Simon Hirtzel of venture capital firm IQ Capital, saw tremendous opportunities because “there are no legacy technologies that have to be protected or replaced, so it is possible to create something totally new that hasn’t been seen before”.

John Neill, Founder of British multinational Unipart Group, thought that ”the lifestyle it is going to create puts it pretty high up on my agenda of places to go and live if I was a bit younger”.

Mary Pieterse-Bloem Chief Investment Officer at Rabobank, second largest bank in the Netherlands, was “very impressed by the environmental elements, the aesthetics and the clever use of water – a prime example of investment opportunities in the Middle East. Anyone interested in real estate should definitely have a look at this”.

Inside Saudi is running an exclusive series of events at Diriyah House London this autumn. To experience an immersive journey through Diriyah and inspiring conversations with distinguished guests, register here.

For more on how the future is being built at Diriyah, watch our behind-the-scenes footage of Diriyah here and the highlights of this inaugural event here.

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