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Living on a prayer
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SAUDI ARABIA
by DOTW News staff | May 1, 2010
Makkah’s gargantuan Abraj Al-Bait is set to dwarf Big Ben and break 14 world records when it opens in July - here’s how
Saudi Arabia’s new Abraj Al-Bait Towers, or Makkah Clock Royal Tower, now dominate the skyline in the holy city.
The imposing structure is being constructed by the Saudi Binladin Group and comprises a central hotel tower, which will house the Makkah Clock Royal Tower – A Fairmont Hotel, as well as six separate smaller towers, which will house the largest Islamic museum in the world.
The all-suite Raffles Makkah Palace Hotel and a Swissôtel Makkah will flank the central clock tower, while the other four towers will comprise residential units, a shopping mall, a conference centre, and office space.
The structure is so vast; almost every vital statistic breaks new ground as the biggest, tallest or highest of its kind in the world.
IN NUMBERS:
| 662m |
Height of the Makkah Clock Royal Tower – Saudi Arabia’s tallest building and the world’s largest hotel, by Fairmont. |
| 1.5million square metres |
Floor area of the complex - the largest floor area of any structure in the world. |
| 76 |
Number of floors in the Makkah Clock Royal Tower. |
| US$3 billion |
Total investment in the project. |
| 450m |
Height of the highest residential floor. |
| 4 |
Number of clock faces that sit atop the tower. |
| 155m |
Height of the crescent-topped metal spire on top of the building. |
| 80x80 |
Dimensions, in metres of the clock faces. |
| 2 |
The Abraj Al-Bait Towers contain the second tallest building currently under construction. |
| 2600+ |
Number of Muslim staff currently being recruited at the Makkah Clock Royal Tower – a Fairmont hotel. |
| 850 |
Rooms and serviced residences in the Fairmont hotel. |
| 5.7 |
Number of times bigger the clocks in the Makkah Clock Royal Tower will be than the UK’s Big Ben.
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| 530m |
Height of the clock face in the Makkah Clock Royal Tower, making it the world’s highest exterior clock face. |
| 65m |
Height of the spire on top of the tower that rises from above the clock faces. |
| 10,000 |
Capacity of the Abraj Al-Bait Towers prayer room. |
| 4 |
Number of storeys in the shopping mall in Abraj Al-Bair Towers. |
| 100,000 |
Number of people that can be housed in the complex. |
| 11km |
Distance from which the clock tower will be visible during the day. |
| 17km |
Distance from which the clock tower will be visible during the night. |
| +1000 |
Number of parking spaces in the complex’ parking garage. |
| 2 |
Number of heliports on the complex. |
| +5 million |
The number of pilgrims who travel to Makkah annually to perform the Hajj.
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| 6 |
Number of smaller towers that surround the hotel tower. |
LINKS
FAIRMONT: www.fairmont.com/promo/makkah
RAFFLES: www.raffles.com/en_ra/property/rmh
SAUDI BIN LADEN GROUP: www.sbg.com.sa
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