Construction Fails

A look a the collapse of the Ponte Morandi (Morandi Bridge) in Genoa, 2018. Multiple camera angles capture the bridge crashing down in a rainstorm as vehicles drive across the iconic structure. Then, the long construction of Barcelona's Sagrada Familia.

The Glasgow Tower in Scotland is the tallest fully rotating tower in the world, but few have ever seen it rotate. Fire, broken bearings, poor design and too much wind are just some of the reasons this structure has been branded an embarrassing white elephant on the banks of the River Clyde.

We begin with an in-depth look at one of the most prolific materials in the world: the science of concrete. Why are so many of today’s concrete structures cracking and failing? Why are so many ancient concrete structures still standing when today’s crumble after only decades?

We examine the crawler crane—the heavyweight champion of the construction industry. When things go wrong with this crane, it’s a catastrophe befitting the machine. And that’s what happened in Varese, Italy when a massive crawler crane installing a portion of a brand-new rail bridge toppled over. Was it the machine or operator failure?

The proliferation of heavy, oftentimes overloaded, transport truck traffic in China is having unintended consequences: the collapse of multiple roads and highways. Then, building in a landslide-prone area.

The Big Dig in Boston was America’s most expensive infrastructure project ever. Delays and cost over-runs are legendary, but the collapse of the tunnel’s ceiling is an infamous example of how just a few extra dollars spent on the correct adhesive could have prevented a tragedy.

A look at destruction at New Orleans' Hard Rock Hotel. The catastrophe left two cranes precariously dangling from the structure. Also, why bricks and walls fail, a tower collapse in Fredericton, and a demolition gone wrong in Denmark.

The Artz Pedregal Mall in Mexico City had only been open a few months before the cantilevered section of the structure came crashing to the street below. How could a brand new building fail so dramatically? What’s so precarious about cantilever designs?

Construction cranes are towers in the sky—except when they collapse. Learn about crane collapses in Seattle, Manhattan and Bangkok. Three disasters: three different reasons for collapse. Then, a look at the destruction from Typhoon Manghut.

The vast majority of demolitions rely on the excavator to bring the building down. In this episode, we witness the perfect way to do it and contrast it with multiple examples of demolition by excavator fails. Operator error, unstable ground, unpredictable fall angles – we show it all.

Glass may be the most popular construction material in the modern age, but constructing with glass is challenging and dangerous. We investigate the effect of nickel sulfide inclusion on glass. Then, machines gone rogue, London's Grenfell Tower, and a double crane that collapses at the Caracas subway construction.

We take a take a look at scaffolding, an integral piece of construction equipment. When it fails, the results can be catastrophic. But why does it fail? We examine the reasons through multiple examples.

A look at the Notre Dame Cathedral fire in the spring of 2019. Infrastructure fail that contributed to making the fire much more devastating than it should have been. Why earthquakes destroy some buildings but not others.

In Asia, we witness a variety of construction site collapses: massive holes in the ground that implode in dramatic fashion, hurling retaining walls, roads and equipment dozens of meters below into a pit. Substandard soil conditions and reclaimed land seem to be the biggest reasons for these fails.

A double telescopic crane collapse, a barge capsizing and a 187-ton bridge span all careening into a quiet residential Dutch neighborhood resulting in the total destruction of dozens of homes. The reason? A combination of wind, lack of balance and crane operator error.