Ticked off

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Few could deny that Saudi Arabia needs the housing units, metro lines and office buildings that have been springing up in the nation in the last couple of years.

But while mega projects in Riyadh, Al Khobar and Jeddah have been largely praised by outside observers, the development of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina has been more contentious.

This week, the Saudi government is due to unveil the Mecca Clock Tower, the 601-metre tall building that currently looms over the Grand Mosque and will soon be home to some of the world’s richest Muslims, Saudi royals and wealthy pilgrims, at the 1,005 room Fairmont Hotel.

It is clear that the clock tower is a magnificent feat of construction, with a huge footprint, five separate towers and the clock tower centrepiece, which will be six times the height of London’s Big Ben – not to mention making it the second tallest building in the world.

But equally, it is easy to see why the monumental project is controversial. Last month Saudi architect Sami Angawi hit out at the project in an interview with Middle East Architect, while online blogs and forums, as well as ConstructionWeekOnline readers, have expressed alarm at a tower that will be visible from anywhere in Mecca.

The clock tower may be the biggest development to happen in Mecca since the Grand Mosque itself, but its critics see it as just one in a long line of projects that have collectively decimated the historic fabric of Islam’s holiest city.

Like Jeddah, Mecca’s old buildings are seen more as an inconvenience to city planners than a part of city’s heritage – as a result, they are increasingly making way for malls and metros.

Five years ago, the Independent reported that fewer than 20 structures remained in Mecca that date back to the time of the Prophet (PBUH).

Those that have disappeared include the house of Khadijah, the wife of the Prophet (PBUH), demolished to make way for public lavatories, and the house of Abu Bakr, which is now the site of the local Hilton hotel. It is little surprise that money is the ultimate cause of this sorry state of affairs.

Mecca now welcomes some 13 million visitors every year, and boasts hotels and malls that would give Dubai or Doha a run for their money.

At the current building rate the city could have 80,000 hotel rooms by 2015, and plans to expand the size of the mosque again will bring even more pilgrims to Mecca in the coming years.

Meanwhile, the Saudi national airline, Saudi Arabian Airlines, generates 12% of its income from the pilgrimage. Fares paid by pilgrims to reach Mecca by land also generate income; as do the hotels and lodging companies that house them. Investors are catching on.

A 2008 report by the Saudi British Bank, one of the kingdom’s biggest lenders, estimated that £15 billion will be invested by foreign and Saudi companies in construction and infrastructure in Mecca by 2012.

It is understandable that the Saudi authorities want to develop Mecca. More and more pilgrims will want to visit Saudi Arabia’s holy sites, as travel to the kingdom gets both cheaper and easier.

Those pilgrims will need hotels, and places to eat, and transport, and developments such as the Mecca clock tower will cater to these people – albeit only the very wealthiest of them.

The kingdom is also not alone in ignoring its architectural heritage during its drive towards modernisation. China, for example, has systematically destroyed the historic heart of cities like Beijing and Shanghai in its push to get city-dwellers out of the hutongs and into high-rise apartments.

But despite all this, it is easy to see why recent development has got many so upset. Mecca is not a modern, evolving city like Shanghai or Riyadh, and it is too important to become little more than a tourist destination for the super rich.

At the same time, Saudi Arabia has already come under fire for failing to protect the historical districts of cities such as Jeddah, and with Mecca the stakes are far higher.

As for the clock tower, if it had been built in Riyadh, Jeddah or Damman, I would probably be praising it right now for both for its significant achievements in terms of both engineering and construction.

But, as it happens, Mecca has had a major landmark for the last 1,400 years, and it is difficult to see why it needed another.

Orlando Crowcroft edits Middle East Architect.