History of Dubai's Clock Tower
 |
Why was the Clock Tower built?Today Dubai's Clock Tower is another traffic roundabout that Dubai's increasing traffic has to negotiate, is rarely looked at, seldom visited and hardly ever touched!. Yet the Clock Tower is Dubai's oldest Monument built over 40 years ago. But why the Clock Tower was built and who ordered it to be built? Engineer Edgar Bublik was General Manager of Overseas AST in Dubai in the 1970s. He explains the background to Dubai's Clock Tower...
Problems with Dubai Clock Tower in 1972The local builder who constructed Dubai's Clock Tower around 1964 used unwashed beach sand for the concrete, a common practice in Dubai in those days. Beach sand contains salt and allows water to find its way through the concrete which starts to corrode the reinforcing steel. Corrosion cracks the concrete and the structure begins to deteriorate. This is commonly called "concrete cancer". The Clock Tower began to crack and disintegrate and by 1972 urgent repairs were necessary. Overseas AST was given the task to refurbish the Clock Tower removing defective material and encasing the complete structure in a new "skin". The Clock was refurbished (said to have been Seiko who did the work) and the Clock Tower restored to its former glory. MORE about Dubai's Clock Tower in a Photogallery......CLICK HERE
|
|
Home -- |
||
Sheikh Ahmed of Qatar was Sheikh Rashid's Son-in-Law. In the early 1960s Sheikh Ahmed gave Sheikh Rashid a Clock as a Gift. It was a very large Clock. Sheikh Rashid did not know what to do with such a large Clock! 
My predecessor Mr Bulard had just completed building Zabeel Palace for Sheikh Rashid so he made a sketch of his idea for a Clock Tower. Mr Bulard gave the sketch to his Engineer to make the structural calculations and produce a design. The shape and design of the Clock Tower was from Mr Bulard's own ideas and did not represent an Oil Drilling Bit or any other object. 