Oliver Higgens, MSc

Executive Vice President Development Projects

United Arab Emirates

About

Oliver is an ambitious and highly driven real estate leader with 20 years of high-caliber client-side development experience across the UK and the UAE. As Executive Vice President Development Projects at Al Ghurair Development, he brings deep expertise in shaping complex mixed-use destinations and is focused on expanding the current platform with many exciting opportunities in the pipeline. His career reflects a strong track record in leading multi-billion-dollar master plans, managing high-pressure development environments, and aligning teams and stakeholders around ambitious business objectives. From ultra-luxury projects to large-scale mixed-use developments, Oliver has consistently demonstrated the ability to balance commercial performance with design quality, planning discipline, and delivery excellence. Prior to his current role, Oliver held senior development positions with Omniyat, Eagle Hills, Langtree, Matrix Group Limited building broad experience across development management, sales launches, investment structuring and pre-leasing. His leadership has been shaped by complex portfolios, joint venture partnerships and large-scale urban development programs. Oliver holds a Master of Science in Real Estate from The University of Manchester, graduating with distinction.

Experience

  • Executive Vice President Development Projects at Al Ghurair Development
    May 2026 - Present · 3 mos

  • Development Director at Dubai World Trade Centre
    Aug 2023 - May 2026 · 2 yrs 10 mos

  • Director of Development at TCN GCC
    Jan 2023 - Aug 2023 · 8 mos

  • Senior Development Manager at Omniyat Official
    Feb 2022 - Jan 2023 · 1 yr

    Leading high-calibre teams on market-leading projects in the ultra-luxury segment of the Dubai market.

  • Eagle Hills UAE (7 yrs 4 mos)
    • Senior Development Manager
      Apr 2018 - Jan 2022 · 3 yrs 10 mos

      Leading multiple, large scale, high-profile mixed-use development projects from concept to completion.

    • Development Manager
      Oct 2014 - Apr 2018 · 3 yrs 7 mos

      The creation, management and disposal of multi-billion US Dollar mixed-use projects in international markets.