When I first walked into GRED’s offices in Jeddah two years ago, I wasn’t just looking for a job in real estate development. I was looking for purpose. I wanted to be part of something that would outlast quarterly reports and sales targets, something that would contribute meaningfully to the transformation happening across our Kingdom.

What I found at GRED was exactly that.

Beyond Building: A Different Approach

Before joining GRED, I worked with several developers across the Gulf. Most approached projects the same way: identify land, maximize unit count, deliver on time, move to the next site. It’s efficient. It’s profitable. But it felt transactional.

GRED operates differently, and that difference became clear during my first project meeting. We weren’t discussing how many units we could fit on a plot. We were discussing how families would move through the space. Where children would play. How neighbors might naturally encounter each other. What the community would feel like in ten years, twenty years, fifty years.

This wasn’t marketing language. These were actual design considerations driving real decisions.

Vision 2030 as More Than a Slogan

Every company in Saudi Arabia mentions Vision 2030. It’s on websites, in presentations, in mission statements. But there’s a difference between mentioning it and letting it fundamentally shape what you build.

At GRED, Vision 2030 isn’t corporate positioning, it’s operational reality.

When we design Obhur Hills, we’re not just creating 567 villa and townhouse plots. We’re asking: How does this master-planned community support Vision 2030’s quality of life goals? How does walkability reduce car dependence and improve health? How do integrated amenities foster the community connection that the Vision emphasizes? How does our approach to sustainability align with environmental commitments?

These questions slow us down sometimes. They make projects more complex. But they also make them better.

The Human Element

What surprised me most about working at GRED wasn’t the Vision 2030 alignment, it was how seriously we take the “human-first” philosophy.

During the Riviera Residence design process, we spent weeks debating balcony orientations. Not for architectural aesthetics, but because we wanted to understand how Saudi families actually use outdoor spaces. When do they want morning sun versus afternoon shade? How can we maximize privacy while maintaining views? What size balcony supports real family use versus just existing as a design feature?

This attention to lived experience extends beyond residential projects. When planning PS1’s mixed-use components, we mapped actual family routines. When do working parents need childcare? When do they shop for groceries? How can we integrate these services to genuinely reduce stress rather than just increase project revenue?

It sounds obvious when I write it, but in practice, most developers don’t work this way. It’s easier to follow standard formulas than to genuinely understand how people live.

Small Decisions, Big Impact

Some of my proudest moments at GRED have come from seemingly minor decisions that reflect our values.

Last year, we were finalizing specifications for Obhur Hills’ community spaces. Budget pressures suggested reducing the covered walkway network. It would have been an easy cost saving, most buyers wouldn’t notice during site visits.

But our team pushed back. In Jeddah’s climate, uncovered walkways mean people drive instead of walk, even short distances. That single decision maintaining covered pathways supports Vision 2030’s health and sustainability goals more than any corporate statement could.

These moments happen constantly. Choosing native, drought-resistant landscaping over water-intensive grass. Designing parking that doesn’t dominate streetscapes. Creating children’s play areas visible from homes without compromising privacy.

Each decision costs more upfront. Each makes our projects slightly less profitable on paper. And each makes them substantially better places to live.

The Investment Perspective

I’m often asked whether our approach,the extra time, the higher standards, the human-first philosophy makes business sense.

The honest answer: in the short term, it’s harder. Projects take longer. Margins are sometimes thinner. We occasionally lose bids to competitors offering cheaper, faster alternatives.

But we’re not building for quarterly results. We’re building communities that will serve Saudi families for generations.

The families who invest in Riviera Residence or Obhur Hills aren’t just buying property, they’re buying into a philosophy about how life should be lived. They’re choosing developers who think beyond transaction to transformation.

And increasingly, Saudi buyers recognize this difference. They’ve seen enough rushed developments, enough compromised quality, enough projects that looked good on renderings but disappointed in reality.

GRED’s approach, slower, more thoughtful, more expensive upfront, creates developments that appreciate not just in monetary value but in lived experience. That’s the kind of investment that aligns with Vision 2030’s long-term thinking.

Challenges and Reality

I don’t want to present an unrealistic picture. Working at GRED isn’t always easy.

Our standards create pressure. When we commit to sustainability, we can’t quietly compromise when costs rise. When we promise community-centric design, we can’t take shortcuts when schedules tighten. When we align with Vision 2030, we’re held accountable to those principles.

There are moments of frustration. Times when following our values seems to put us at competitive disadvantage. Days when it would be easier to just build like everyone else.

But these challenges are precisely why the work matters.

Vision 2030 isn’t about easy choices. It’s about transforming how we think, how we build, how we live. If that transformation were simple, it wouldn’t require a national vision, it would just happen naturally.

The difficulty is the point. We’re creating something that doesn’t yet fully exist in the Saudi market: lifestyle-first development that genuinely prioritizes resident experience over maximum profitability.

What This Means for Saudi Arabia

When I step back from daily project work, I think about GRED’s role in a larger story.

Saudi Arabia is undergoing unprecedented transformation. Vision 2030 represents not just economic diversification but a fundamental reimagining of how we want to live, work, and build community.

Real estate development sits at the intersection of these changes. The communities we build today will shape Saudi life for decades. They’ll influence how families interact, how children grow up, how we balance tradition with progress, how we integrate into a global economy while maintaining our identity.

GRED takes this responsibility seriously. Every project we deliver is a small contribution to Vision 2030’s goals, not because we talk about alignment, but because we design with those goals embedded in every decision.

When Obhur Hills creates walkable neighborhoods that encourage outdoor activity and community interaction, we’re contributing to quality of life improvements.

When Riviera Residence integrates smart home technology with traditional Saudi preferences for privacy and family space, we’re demonstrating how innovation can enhance rather than replace our values.

When PS1 creates mixed-use environments that reduce commute time and support work-life balance, we’re responding to the evolving needs of Saudi families.

These aren’t monumental achievements. They’re incremental improvements. But transformation happens through accumulation of thoughtful, values-aligned decisions across thousands of projects by dozens of developers.

Why It Matters to Me

I could have stayed in my previous role. The pay was competitive. The work was stable. The company was successful.

But I wanted to look back in twenty years and see communities I helped create that genuinely improved people’s lives. I wanted to tell my children I contributed to Saudi Arabia’s transformation in a meaningful way.

At GRED, I have that opportunity.

Every family that moves into our developments is choosing a lifestyle we carefully designed. Every investor who trusts us is betting on our vision for Saudi real estate’s future. Every community we complete is a testament to what’s possible when you prioritize people over pure profit.

This is what makes waking up exciting. Not the real estate transactions or the project milestones, but the knowledge that our work contributes in small but real ways, to building the Saudi Arabia envisioned in Vision 2030.

Looking Forward

GRED’s current pipeline represents over 1,700 residential units across Jeddah, Khobar, and Dammam. Each one designed with the same philosophy: humans first, community at the center, Vision 2030 alignment embedded in every decision.

As we advance these projects, I’m constantly reminded that we’re not just building structures, we’re helping write the next chapter of Saudi development.

It won’t be perfect. We’ll make mistakes. We’ll face challenges we haven’t anticipated. Some decisions will prove better than others.

But we’re moving in the right direction. We’re asking the right questions. We’re prioritizing the right values.

And in an industry that too often settles for “good enough,” that commitment to excellence, to genuine transformation rather than superficial change, makes all the difference.

(The views expressed in this article are the author’s personal reflections and do not necessarily represent official GRED communications)