A few US airlines do that at their hubs as well. They refer to it as "banking" flights. I've never had to hold for that long over one fix though.
Quite generous of them to give you that much fuel too. If we ever had to hold for that long, we'd either wind up diverting, or being committed to the destination.
Surely there must be a more efficient way than spending more than half an hour holding. Is this a common occurrence?