After 50 years of long gap, the bells in the clock tower of heritage building Gandhi hall which was built in 1904 and earlier known as king Edward hall, have now started creating sound and showing time to the thousands of passersby who pass from the roads around the Gandhi Hall.
Indore smart city administration has renovated the complete Gandhi hall building including its entire campus which is spread in 4.245 acres including the 1200 square meters area of hall with marble flooring, wooden stage area, unique painting and beautiful wooden ceiling have been completed. CEO Indore smart city Aditi Garg told The Pioneer that major key issues with the Gandhi hall structure were structural cracks in clock tower, because of these cracks the ringing of clock was stopped in past.
As the load bearing structure is in brick masonry and clad in stone from both sides it was very challenging to structurally strengthen the tower without adding the structural member fabrication which will compromise the beauty and origin of the structure. So special patented technology of cintec anchor (UK) was used with high tensile strength stainless steel anchors embedded across the length and width of clock tower. Another issue was outward leaning and separation of northern and east walls at north east corner of the building.
This was also crucial as the building is having a load bearing foundation and the separation of walls is a result of long term deflection and movement. This too is addressed through cintec anchors tying both the walls to stop further separation.
The Gandhi hall renovation is cultural insert in the social fabric of this vibrant Indore city having a underground library building of 600 square meter, green cover area of over 14500 square meter area, parking, open air theatre and public plaza for having social religious and cultural gathering.
Gandhi hall is a major venue for art and cultural exhibition with a central hall of capacity to accommodate 2000 people and grounds for even bigger events. This newly renovated Gandhi hall will boost the heritage tourism of MP and is located very near to Indore railway and bus stand.
