Dubai plans to cut up the Concorde like the QE2

Dubai has a thing for buying British vessels and cutting them up. Not long ago, it snapped up the retired cruise ship the QE2 with plans to cut it in half, add a section to the middle, and turn it into a floating hotel. The latest buy it and slice it plan is with one of seven British Concorde’s.

A Dubai consortium wants to place the Concorde–sans wings, near the altered QE2 as part of its fake island creation, the Palm Jumeirah.

Even though the Concorde hasn’t flown since 2003, thus doesn’t need its wings, there are some who think that cutting off the wings is a real slap in the face to British aviation. With people upset about the QE2 alteration project, this must seem like adding insult to injury.

Granted, there’s something a bit Sci-fi about a man-made island appointed with altered British vessels. But on the other hand, it could be seen as a compliment that vehicles that aren’t being used anymore for their original use are being given another lease on life, one with clipped wings and the other with an altered body. [Mail.Online]

Getting to the Hotels at The Palm Jumeirah Requires Going Underwater

While the glorious Palm Jumeirah — an island shaped like a huge palm tree — will house more than 20 hotels and other high-end facilities, getting people to the man-made island was a design challenge. Rather than build a road over the water — which would disrupt the look of the palm — engineers decided to build an underwater tunnel.

Connecting the tip of the island’s trunk to the crescent, the project is gargantuan in scope, involving 200,000 cubic meters of reinforced concrete, and requiring the construction of dykes and a dam to keep the water out. The entire project is expected to be completed in May 2007.

While I’m impressed by the engineering involved in this project — and I have no doubt getting to the island just got a lot more fun — I’m guessing pumping out the seawater and dredging the area devastated the local environment.

[Via Luxist]