Construction Zone

National Geographic Channel Collection

The longest, the tallest, the widest, the deepest, the roundest, the shiniest, the oldest, the newest, bridges, buildings, dams, pipelines, you name it, we’re talking structures.

Everything about them: from the ancient architectural triumphs such as the Colosseum in Rome, whose architects drained a lake the size of five football fields, to construct a spectacular arena with a 55,000 capacity for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles; to modern day marvels, such as the European-built Airbus 380, seven storeys high, 73 metres long, 80 metres from wingtip to wingtip and it can carry 555 passengers, it’s the largest commercial aircraft in history. We examine everything about them from materials and methods used in construction to the science behind each structure’s durability. Stories come from many of the modern marvels around the world: from the massive US aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan to the creation of the «Green» structures found at the Beijing Olympic Games. We go to the very heartbeat of the modern metropolis to find out what keeps a modern city alive. What does the future hold? Who’s building what, where and when? We go in search of the answers.

The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge: It’s the world’s longest suspension bridge — a third longer than any constructed before. It’s also the tallest and the most expensive suspension bridge ever built...but it’s built in a place where no bridge should be. Japan’s Akashi Strait is a deep water channel beset by typhoons, heavy rain, treacherous currents, and to make things worse, it is built in the middle of a major earthquake zone. Midway through construction the bridge was hit by the full force of the Kobe earthquake. Incredibly, construction was only delayed by a month. The bridge has been open and trouble-free for six years. But could it one day fall down?

Dateline 1987. Thousands of workers go into action. Their task: to build the world’s longest undersea railway tunnel in one of the world’s most hostile environments. The Channel Tunnel is an engineering marvel. Yet in the face of financial meltdown, an epic battle with flood, and a near fatal fire, the Tunnel’s story is a hard won triumph.

Construction Zone will go behind the scenes to show what it takes to make these amazing places work. We’ll get inside the minds, and the jobs, of the people who keep this building standing tall. Construction Zone profiles what it takes to build, operate, maintain and drive the world’s ultimate structures.