Dubai loves doing things bigger and better than everybody else. Quite whether history will put the giant rubber duck that is set to drift down the Creek alongside the world’s tallest building or biggest mall remains to be seen. But that’s exactly what is coming to town.

As part of the National Day celebrations, an enormous 18 metre floating sculpture will entertain crowds near the Saudi Arabia Consulate in Al Seef Road on from 11.15am on Sunday December 1.

The oversized bath toy is a direct copy of the original work of Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, which has previously been rolled out in cities like Amsterdam, Osaka, Sao Paulo, Hong Kong and even the iconic Sydney Harbour. Most recently it stopped off in Pittsburgh, USA, where it is claimed over 1,000,000 people were gripped by yellow duck fever.

The reason for its visit is to help raise awareness for water conservation, according to organisers GeoWash, the UAE’s largest environmentally friendly mobile car wash.

The UAE currently has almost no renewable water resources, despite boasting consumption rates among the highest per-capita in the world. It is claimed by the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi that each resident uses about 550 litres of water a day, 65 more than the USA.

According to his online profile, the original artist doesn’t settle for less than ‘humour, sensation and maximum impact’ in his work. The Dutchman, whose creation has inspired GeoWash, is also responsible for ‘Fat Monkey’, which was made with 10,000 brightly coloured flip-flops in Brazil. There has also been ‘Big Yellow Rabbit’, ‘Muskrat’, ‘Look-out Rabbit’ and ‘Steelman’, an 11-metre high bear with a pillow under its arm,which is inspired by conversations by local youths in the Staalmanplein, a previously rough neighbourhood of the Dutch capital Amsterdam.

To see more of Florentijn Hofman’s brilliant works, click here.