Master planning · Saudi Arabia
Master Planning in Saudi Arabia. We make built environments better.
A master plan decides the character of a place, how people move through it, and whether it still works a generation later, long before any single building is designed. We create and curate master planning frameworks in Saudi Arabia as part of our broader architecture services in Saudi Arabia, imprinting character and bestowing legibility that every building which follows can build on.
Your master plan sits at the centre of the largest development programme in the Kingdom's history. Vision 2030 and the Public Investment Fund are commissioning whole cities and districts at once, NEOM, Diriyah, Qiddiya, and New Murabba among them, at a scale that rewards a framework designed to hold its coherence across decades of delivery. The plan you set now decides whether that investment reads as a place people want to live, work, and gather in, or simply a collection of buildings. nicholas.design brings international master planning rigour with the cultural and climatic understanding the Kingdom's context demands.
What we do
Master planning services we deliver
Saudi Arabia's development pipeline, backed by the Public Investment Fund (PIF) and delivered through the Royal Commissions, spans everything from new residential communities to entire destinations. Each demands a framework before it demands a building. We create and curate across all of them.
District and community master planning
We set the structure for new residential and mixed communities: the movement network, the public realm, the density and grain, and the phasing logic that lets a place grow without losing coherence.
Mixed-use master planning
We resolve retail, office, hospitality, residential, and public realm into a single spatial proposition, so a development works as one place rather than competing parts.
Waterfront and destination master planning
We plan resorts, islands, and waterfront destinations where the setting is the asset.
Urban design and public realm
A master plan is only as good as the space between its buildings.
We carry the framework down to the street through our urban design in Saudi Arabia practice, so the plan reads as a place at human scale.
Urban design in Saudi Arabia →
Development framework and phasing strategy
We give developers a deliverable plan: infrastructure sequencing, plot definition, design codes, and a phasing strategy that protects the vision while the market moves.
Our work
Our master planning projects
Three commissions from our GCC portfolio that show the scope and depth of master planning experience we bring to architecture services in Saudi Arabia and the Kingdom's destination-scale briefs.
Danat Al Bahrain, Bahrain
A master-planned resort destination of connected islands off Bahrain's southern coast, one of our founding director's landmark frameworks.
- Residential, hospitality, and marina uses resolved into a single legible structure
- Island and waterfront urbanism planned at destination scale
- A long-horizon framework designed to hold its character across phased delivery
CapitaLand Bahrain Bay, Manama
A large-scale mixed-use development in Bahrain's premier waterfront district, planned as a coherent whole before the individual buildings.
- Retail podium, office towers, residential, and public realm within one master plan
- Waterfront frontage and movement network curated for a premium urban context
- Design management and lead consultancy across the development
East Point Riffa, Bahrain
A mixed-use master plan combining retail, F&B, workspace, and public realm within a unified destination in Riffa.
- Programme and public realm planned for footfall and dwell-time performance
- Contextual framework for a suburban development in a Gulf climate
- Full scope delivered from master plan through to building design
Place
Master planning in Saudi Arabia: the Vision 2030 context
Three forces are reshaping every master planning brief in the Kingdom today.
| Giga-projects and new cities | NEOM, Diriyah, Qiddiya, and New Murabba are commissioning master plans at a scale most regional studios have never delivered. These are frameworks for entire cities, where coherence across decades matters more than any single building. |
| National Urban Strategy and Quality of Life | Vision 2030's Quality of Life Program and the National Urban Strategy set liveability, walkability, and public space at the centre of how the Kingdom plans. A master plan is now judged on the life it creates, not only the plots it releases. |
| PIF development pipeline | The PIF-backed pipeline is the largest in the region's history. Developers and Royal Commissions are commissioning master planning for new districts at a scale and pace that rewards studios with both design ambition and the discipline to deliver a plan that holds. |
Sustainability
Sustainability in Saudi master planning
We align with international sustainability standards on every framework, whether or not formal certification is required by the client brief.
LEED for Communities and Cities · the international standard for sustainable master-planned development, covering land use, mobility, and resource performance at the district scale
Mostadam · Saudi Arabia's national green building rating system, with a community and neighbourhood tier applicable to master-planned development across the Kingdom
Estidama · the Gulf's community sustainability framework, applied to master plans and public realm across the region through its Pearl Community rating
Proof
Why clients trust us
- 30 years of GCC and international experience
- A suite of projects delivered across Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, and beyond
- MIPIM Future Projects Award, Office category
- RIBA-chartered practice
Process
How we work
We follow a clear, collaborative process from the first conversation right up to ribbon cutting. No stage is delegated; the same team members stay on your project throughout.
Discovery. We start by listening carefully. A meeting or series of meetings to understand your brief, your constraints, and what success looks like for you and the people your project will serve.
Concept and design. We develop design concepts in close collaboration with you, working through agreed stages from Concept Design through to Detailed Design and Construction Documentation. You sign off at the conclusion of each stage.
Delivery. We act as lead consultant, coordinating engineering inputs and specialist consultants on your behalf, managing procurement, and guiding the tender process and contractor selection.
Construction and handover. We stay on your project throughout the build, monitoring quality and design integrity, managing commissioning and handover, and supporting you through the Defects Liability Period.
Why nicholas.design
Why nicholas.design for your project
Global standards. Gulf delivery.
RIBA-chartered design excellence, delivered by team members based in the GCC who know Saudi regulations, construction conditions, and cultural requirements inside out and from the ground up.
The principal you first meet remains the principal on your project.
No hand-over after the project award. Nicholas Bonaventure and the senior team stay involved from the first briefing meeting to the final handover.
Architecture that belongs to place.
We design with Najdi culture and Riyadh's climate embedded from the Concept stage. There are no imported solutions adapted after the fact.
The studio
Meet the team
Our founding director, Nicholas Bonaventure, has spent decades designing some of the Gulf's most exacting projects, including the Bahrain World Trade Center, Durrat Al Bahrain, Durrat Al Bahrain Marina and the Al Sharq Office Tower in Kuwait.
nicholas.design operates a collaborative and supportive studio environment. We work in English and Arabic, and can speak other languages including Hindi/Urdu. We are non-hierarchical, principal-led, and built to give every client the attention their brief demands.
About the studio →FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between master planning and urban design?
Master planning sets the overall structure of a development: land use, density, movement, and phasing across the whole site. Urban design resolves the experience of the spaces within it, the streets, squares, and public realm at human scale. We provide both, and the two are strongest when the same studio carries the framework down to the street. See our urban design in Saudi Arabia page for how we approach the public realm.
Do you master plan Giga-projects and new districts in Saudi Arabia?
Yes.
We work at destination and district scale, and our GCC portfolio includes master-planned islands, waterfronts, and mixed-use districts of comparable ambition. For Giga-project and Royal Commission briefs, we bring international master planning rigour with the cultural and climatic understanding the Kingdom's context requires.
Can you take a master plan through to the architecture of individual buildings?
Yes.
We create the framework and can deliver the buildings within it, from the master plan through to the commercial architecture in Saudi Arabia and residential architecture in Saudi Arabia that realise it. A single studio holding both scales keeps the original intent intact through delivery.
Speak with our team →What sustainability standards do you apply to master planning in Saudi Arabia?
We work to community and district-scale certification as standard, and target specific levels based on the brief.
- LEED for Communities and Cities: district-scale certification covering land use, mobility, and resource performance
- Mostadam: Saudi Arabia's national green building rating system, applied at the community and neighbourhood tier
- Estidama: the Gulf's Pearl Community rating for master-planned development and public realm
Do you work with the Royal Commissions and PIF developers?
Yes.
We are structured to work as lead consultant alongside the investment authorities, Royal Commissions, and PIF-backed developers commissioning at scale in the Kingdom, coordinating the full consultant team while holding design intent across long, phased programmes.
Start your master planning project →Contact
Commission your master planning project
nicholas.design
Office 2016, Level 19, East Tower
Bahrain World Trade Center
Isa Al-Kabeer Avenue, Manama 316
Kingdom of Bahrain
Tel: +973 7777 9524
Email: hello@nicholas.design
Hours: Sunday to Thursday, 8:30–17:30 AST
And by appointment
Our clients
Head office
nicholas.design
Office 2016, Level 19, East Tower
Bahrain World Trade Center
Isa Al-Kabeer Avenue, Manama 316
Kingdom of Bahrain
+973 7777 9524
Sunday to Thursday, 08:30 to 17:30 (Arabian Standard Time)
And by appointment
Saudi Arabia
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hello@nicholas.design