Al Raid Group, one of Oman’s largest corporations, and Consero London, a leading British luxury property developer, have agreed to set up a joint venture to develop up to £300 million ($455 million) of luxury residential property across the sultanate and the wider Middle East over the next five years.

The partnership will commence with the establishment of a new 12 person office in Muscat (the capital of Oman) for Consero Design, the interior design and project management division of Consero London.

Saraya, the architectural design and project management division of the Al Raid Group, will act as lead consultant to Consero Design, providing the British company with its invaluable local knowledge, contractor network and local project management expertise.

Consero Design will provide British design excellence, product quality and specification innovation for which the brand is renowned in the UK accross London and the Home Counties.

The first project to be undertaken by the joint venture will be a luxury residential development of 14 large contemporary villas, each around 5,000 sq ft in size, surrounded by large terraces and set in landscaped gardens, said a statement from Al Raid.

The scheme will be located in a prestigious district of the capital Muscat. The villas are best described as being a Middle East version of Kensington’s famous Phillimores development and will set a new benchmark for quality and luxury for European style homes in the Oman property market.

The project, which will commence this summer, is likely to fetch up to £1 million ($1.5 million) for each unit. The new properties will be marketed under a new Saraya Consero brand name.

As part of its marketing strategy, the partners will build a four bedroom show house and marketing suite which is scheduled to be ready around the middle of this year.

The joint venture will then focus on developing luxury apartments, penthouses and large villas in locations including Muscat, Shatti Al Qurum and Al Khuwair and some of the sultanate’s integrated tourism complex locations where foreign property ownership has been allowed since 2002.

Once a strong presence and sales have been established in Oman, the partners will look at real estate opportunities in the wider GCC region.         

In addition to core business under the Saraya Consero brand, the partners have also agreed to roll out a “diffusion line” aimed at the broad middle market.

The first of these projects, with architecture by Saraya and specification by Consero Design, will be the Mumtaz project near the Qurum Hills district. This development will provide 264 one- and two-bedroom apartments and penthouses scheduled for launch in early 2015.    

On the new venture, Al Raid Group CEO Sheikh Fahad Abdullah Al Araimi said: “We are delighted by this new agreement which will fuse the group’s real estate strength, design excellence and local knowledge with the outstanding British product quality and innovation for which the Consero London brand is renowned."

"By aligning the Saraya and Consero brands we are creating an exciting fusion product which will deliver a high quality residential offering that will set new benchmarks in the local marketplace. There is a sustained demand for luxury apartments and large villas in Oman from both domestic, wider GCC and international expatriate buyers," stated Al Araimi.

Robert Osborn, the co-founding director of Consero London, said: "Our companies have entered into this exciting joint venture following the success of an Oman-based pilot project where Saraya and Consero London worked alongside each other. This Oman pilot project created a luxurious 12,000 sq ft mansion which took three years to build and was completed in December 2014."

"This joint development demonstrated to the boards of both companies that we work well together and the fusion of our skill-sets creates a real estate product of exceptional quality. We have developed an excellent relationship with Saraya who are a leading specialist in high quality architectural design and project management in Oman," stated Osborn.

"For us Saraya were the partner of choice for our entry into the Omani and wider Gulf Co-operation Council region," he added.-TradeArabia News Service