Vanessa Branson, Richard Branson’s sister, who runs the fashionable Riad El Fenn boutique hotel in the medina, agrees. “Change is always unnerving but I’ve been here for four years and I think the old town is big and vibrant enough to cope with new, modern development. Whatever the West throws at us, the Middle Eastern-style medina culture will dominate.”

However, there is a bigger question for developers and the local politicians who back them, including King Mohammed VI himself, who has pledged to attract 3m tourists and homebuyers to Morocco each year. Who will want to buy a villa in the desert? Marrakesh may be only three hours away by plane from Britain and offer a greater cultural contrast than Spain, France or Italy, but unlike other new sun’n’sand overseas markets such as Dubai, it has no beaches.

Developers are gambling that British and French investors will be attracted by the vibrant medina and the nearby Atlas mountains instead. They point to the success of new bars and restaurants inside the city walls, notably Casa Lalla, a restaurant by British Michelin-starred chef Richard Neat, and Kssour Agafay, Morocco’s answer to Soho House. They also highlight the popularity of Richard Branson’s Atlas mountain hideaway, Kasbah Tamadot. Reid insists: “Many people prefer culture and mountains to beaches.”

Bauchet-Bouhlal is not so sure. “Developers may be in for a shock,” she says as she shelters from the 46C heat under a date palm. “For as long as I can remember, new investors have been promising to create new homes here and attract a new market. Riads have been successful because they are authentically Moroccan, but there is no precedent for villas, which traditionally sell to families. Most families with children want to be near the beach, not sharing a pool in the desert.” She predicts new rival villa developments on the country’s more temperate Mediterranean and Atlantic coastline will prove more popular among overseas buyers.

Back in the desert sand, Boyle, the gangster turned property developer, opens a Cas beer to celebrate closing his latest deal. He has just paid £150,000 for another nine acres of scrubland, on which he plans to build another two villas, making a total of four. He expects to make 100% profit selling three of them, and keep one, nicknamed Maison Jimmy, for himself. He scoffs at the idea that the Marrakesh market might be built on shifting sands.

“There’s nowhere like Marrakesh,” he says, almost downing his beer in one. “The buildings, the market, the mountains, the food — the whole place is one big exotic adventure. Anybody can go to the jolly old seaside but here, drinking beer in the sun while looking at the white peaks of the Atlas Mountains, well, that’s unique.”

Hamptons International, 0870 458 3653, www.hamptons.co.uk; Knight Frank, 020 7629 8171, www.knightfrank.co.uk; Amanjena, 00 212 44 403 353, www.amanresorts.com

On the market

Overlooking the mountains, the Bab Adrar d’Atlas resort has two-bedroom villas, each with its own pool, from £445,000 with Premier Resorts, 020 8940 9406, www.premierresorts.co.uk

A home of 5,000 sq ft, five miles from Marrakesh, with five en-suite bedrooms and a pool for £720,000, for sale with Atlas Immobilier, 00 212 61 105 995, www.altasimmobilier.com

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