Mecca Royal Clock Tower vs Carlton Centre

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The Abraj Al-Bait (Arabic: ????? ??????, romanized: ?Abr?? al-Bayt 'Towers of the House') is a government-owned complex of seven skyscraper hotels in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. These towers are a part of the King Abdulaziz Endowment Project which aims to update the city in catering to its pilgrims. The central hotel tower, the Makkah Royal Clock Tower, has the world's largest clock face and is the third-tallest building and fifth-tallest freestanding structure in the world. The clock tower comprises the Clock Tower Museum which occupies the top four floors of the tower.The building complex is metres away from the world's largest mosque and Islam's most sacred site, the Great Mosque of Mecca.

The developer and builder of this complex is that the Saudi Binladin Group, the Kingdom's largest construction firm. It's the world's second most expensive building with the whole cost of construction totalling US$15 billion. The complex was built after the demolition of the Ajyad Fortress, the 18th-century Ottoman citadel on top of a hill overlooking the Grand Mosque. The destruction of the historically important site in 2002 from the Saudi authorities sparked international outcry and a powerful response from Turkey.

Source: Wikipedia

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The Carlton Centre is a 50 story skyscraper and shopping centre situated in downtown Johannesburg, South Africa. In 223 metres (732 feet ), it is the second tallest building in Africa following The Leonardo and the tallest office building. The foundations of both buildings in the complex are 5 m (16 feet ) in diameter and extend 15 m (49 feet ) down to the bedrock, 35 m (115 feet ) below street level. The building houses both offices and shops, and has over 46 percent of the floor area below ground level. The Carlton Centre is linked to the Carlton Hotel by a below-ground shopping centre with over 180 shops.

Source: Wikipedia