ARCHITECT John Harris helped raise Dubai from the desert before the United Arab Emirates struck oil and unimaginable wealth in the 1960s.

His achievements included the 40-storey World Trade Centre, which was, for many years, the tallest building in the Arab world.

He was also the man who designed Ealing Hospital, in response to the health needs of a growing population.

Harris was present when the desert state’s ruler, Sheik Rashid, was presented in 1966 with a first jam jar of oil.

It transformed the country’s fortunes, supercharging its growth and Harris’s planning brief.

He spent many years travelling between the UK and Dubai, but in the 1970s also oversaw the hospital’s design.

The community had been served by several smaller cottage hospitals, but London’s post-war growth demanded the creation of larger municipal hospitals.

The £8m project was not without its problems and one could only wonder at the architect’s frustration with the building industry and vagaries of the weather.

The Government had ambitiously promised the new hospital by 1974, but it wouldn’t open for a further five years and was £4m over budget.

A succession of strikes hit building work.

Some of the problems descended into farce, including furniture being installed, removed and then reinstalled because the painters had not been allowed in first.

Lifts were out of action, meaning equipment had to be carried up the stairs - no joke in a 10-storey building – while a fire destroyed electrical cabling, and even the weather was blamed for making site conditions unworkable.

The hospital finally opened in 1979.