Interior Design and Fit-Out in MBR City

One city, several very different communities

District One is set within Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum City, according to a Nakheel announcement of Naya at District One, a development launched by the master developer Meydan and managed by Nakheel. The district is built around a crystal lagoon, with villas, mansions and waterfront residences, and it has its own District One page.

Sobha Realty describes Sobha Hartland as a waterfront community in the same city, with high-rise apartment buildings, villas and townhouses set among green space and international schools; see our Sobha Hartland page. Emaar places Dubai Hills Estate within Mohammed Bin Rashid City as well.

The practical point for an owner is that rules, house types and management differ from one community to the next. A scheme that suits a lagoon villa could be quite wrong for a Hartland townhouse, so we always start from the specific address.

Large villas and mansions

A big house gives room to rethink how a household moves through it: where guests arrive, how far the kitchen sits from the family room, and whether each bedroom needs its own dressing area. We settle circulation and storage before finishes, because no material, however beautiful, can rescue a layout that fights the daily routine.

Where a home looks onto water or parkland, the scheme should face outward. Furniture placement, window treatments and after-dark lighting are drawn together, and terraces or gardens can join the same design so the indoor and outdoor rooms feel related.

• Ground floor reception and family rooms replanned
• Kitchens and pantries rebuilt around the way you cook
• Made-to-measure wardrobes, vanities and wall panelling
• Lighting schemes for daytime, evenings and entertaining
• Furniture, fabrics and artwork chosen as one scheme

Apartments in MBR City towers

Sobha Hartland and parts of District One include apartment buildings, and fitting out an apartment is a different exercise from a villa. Structure and shared services are fixed, deliveries share the lifts with residents, and building management sets its own rules for contractors, so we plan around those limits from the first visit. Noisy trades are usually confined to set hours in a tower, which makes the order of work matter as much as the design.

Our Imperial Avenue Apartment in Downtown Dubai, 5,500 sq ft and delivered on a design and build basis in 2023, shows the approach: a restrained palette of cream, beige and taupe, softly lit arched wall features and marble dining surfaces, all chosen for calm rather than display.

Approvals across MBR City

Because each community has its own developer and management, the approval route for a renovation varies across the city. A lagoon villa, a Hartland townhouse and a tower apartment can each draw in a different mix of the master developer or community management, building management and the relevant authority. We confirm the route for each address while the concept is still taking shape, not after it has been signed off.

Drawings, compliance documents and submissions are part of our programme, and the authority approvals page lists the documents involved. Approval timing rests with the bodies reviewing the work, so that stage is built into the plan instead of being promised a date.

Two ways to work with us in MBR City

If you already have a builder, design only hands them our concept, rendered views, material schedules and construction drawings. With design and build, one team also handles procurement, the fit-out, supervision on site and handover, which closes the gap between designer and builder where misunderstandings tend to start.

Whichever route you choose, the design moves through the same stages: a brief and measured survey, concept and mood boards, detailed 3D renders, then technical drawings and specifications. Procurement starts only once you have approved those, which keeps expensive changes off site.

Meydan has launched newer developments, Naya at District One among them. If you have bought into a new launch, starting the interior design before or at handover means layouts, joinery and lighting can be agreed well before you move in.

Costs and living through the works

Nothing we take on in MBR City starts below AED 150,000. What happens above that line depends on floor area, the share of made-to-measure joinery, the quality tier of stone, timber and fabric, any change to services or structure, and the furniture you choose. Put a working figure on the table early and the concept is drawn to it, not pruned afterwards.

Families often stay put during a villa renovation. We phase the work room by room with dust screens and agreed hours, and you sign off finishes on detailed renders first. When the house comes back to you, everything we built in it is protected by a 12-month defects liability period set out in your contract, and snagging is done before we leave.

A note on Jumeirah Golf Estates

People sometimes group Jumeirah Golf Estates with MBR City, yet the two lie in separate parts of the city, and the golf estate now has its own Jumeirah Golf Estates page. Its own website puts the estate close to Al Maktoum International Airport and the former Expo grounds, whereas MBR City is close to Downtown Dubai, and the two have different developers, management and approval routes. For anywhere within MBR City itself, the quickest way to begin is our estimate request.