The Clock Towers Is A Mixed Used Project Located in the Holy City Of Makkah
Project Overview
Al Borj Facility Management is responsible for providing total facility management services for Clock Towers mixed facilities by maximising the available capacity and quality service provided to customers at all times.
The Clock Towers complex is a Build-Operate-Transfer commercial and residential complex consisting of seven towers with a Gross floor area of over 1.5 million square meters, making it the largest concrete built up structure in the world.
Acknowledging tradition and heritage, Clock Towers complex offers visitors to Makkah the most modern facilities and amenities available while respecting the proximity to Masjid Al Haram.
The Clock Towers complex is the home to the largest and tallest clock in the world with a viewing deck and King Abdullah Centre for Crescent Observation and Astronomy.
The clock is built over the Fairmont Tower, also known as the clock tower, and stands at around 601 m above ground level making it the third tallest tower in the world.
The towers are built over a shopping mall and has the capacity to accommodate around sixty five (65,000) thousand guests, visitors and pilgrims at any one time per day.
Residing Visitors and guests of Clock Towers will get to have a convenient and unique experience where they get to perform their religious visits to the Holy Mosque steps away from their hotel rooms or residences while at the same time having access to the shopping mall which caters to the needs of all family members and age groups.
The shopping mall provides a wide selection of retail outlets with a diversified range of products and services in the commercial center including fine dining, supermarket, pharmacies and medical center, religious services, clothing shops, barber shops, souvenirs, jewelry, perfumes and cosmetics, ATM machines, outlets for money exchange to cater to the needs of visitors and pilgrims without the need of leaving the complex.
Project Details
The Clock Towers Complex is a 1,550,695 m² structure built on a 33,525 m² site area making it the largest floor area of any structure in the world and it includes the following:
- A total of 7 towers: 6 towers ranging from 35 to 64 floors and have a gross area of around 726,528 m². The 7th tower, which is the tallest building in Saudi Arabia and the third tallest building in the world, with a hight of 601 meters, consist of 108 floors with a totals area of 284,630 m².
- A large shopping mall consists of 18 floors topped by 5 towers of various heights and 2 towers adjoining to the complex.
- 11,116 residential rooms with a total area of 540,115.88 m² varies between hotel rooms and facilitites, studios, appartments and offices
- 1,444 commercial spaces with a total area of 87,440.33 m²
- 1,591 building services spaces with a total area of 85830.18 m²
- Multi vertical transportation systems like 129 escalators and 404 massive elevators, each can carry up to 50 persons at once. The total area of these vertical transportation system is 198681.09 m²
- Accommodates, at peak time, around 65,000 people
- The Royal Clock Tower is the highest building in the complex and is topped by a four faced clock, visible from 25 km away. The clock is the highest in the world at 530 meters above the ground. The clock faces are the largest clock faces in the world, each face measuring 46 meters in diameter and illuminated by 2 million LED lights. There are four oriented edges, just above the clock and alongside huge Arabic script reads “Allah is great” on the north and south faces and the Quran on the west and east. Four golden domes on pillars are present on all the corners. Another 21,000 white and green colored lights, representing the colors of the Saudi flag, are fitted at the top of the clock and flash to signal Islam’s five daily prayers times. These lights are visible as far as 30 km away. On special occasions such as New Year, 16 bands of vertical lights shoot 10 km up into the sky. The clock’s four faces are covered with 98 million pieces of glass mosaics. The Saudi coat of arms is displayed at the center of each clock behind the dials. The minute hand is 22 m long, while the hour hand is 17 m long.
- A viewing deck is located 558 m above the ground, right under the crescent. There is also an observatory deck at the base of the clock.