Installing A Massive Control Tower At Heathrow Airport | Huge Moves | Spark

two million pounds of glass and steel is set to roll across one of the world's busiest runways london's new control tower is a goliath but will this nail-biting journey cause a 50 million dollar shutdown and bring chaos to the airport not if i want a job tomorrow five colossal grain towers weigh more than a million pounds they're taller than the statue of liberty and are set for an icy roller coaster mountain ride for both moves the stakes are high the daily dangers bring new fears trepidation or annihilation wheels can start moving out of control and somebody can either get hurt or killed two impossibly tall towers two teams with a mission to move them [Music] [Music] every day across the world buildings are on the move it's a booming business rather than move their furniture to a new house owners are moving the house to a new location [Music] sometimes people just want a change of scenery [Music] occasionally a building is in danger like this lighthouse the sea was about to wash it away when the movers came to the rescue [Music] each move is like an assault course high voltage power lines flooding rivers busy highways and sandy beaches are among the many hazards they face [Music] the journeys can be short like this cafe crossing the street in search of more customers most moves are not so straightforward sometimes there's an arduous journey ahead that's the fate awaiting these massive grain towers which will be leaving the sleepy valley of la riviera the grain plant has gone out of business so another farmer has bought the towers and wants to move them over the hill to his farm the skyline and fortunes of this tiny village will change forever the movers start work with a daunting task of lifting the massive structure from its foundation it's like jacking up your car for a flat tire you got to jack it up release it off the off the tires so you can change the tire and what we're doing is we're jacking it up and releasing it off the foundation so we can actually move it out harold minty's one of canada's top movers he shifts anything houses barns churches town halls he knows these towers will be hard to handle and could even collapse but he plays down the risk it may be amazing to the normal public but for us we do it on a regular basis every day so it's it's just it's just another day at work to get these enormous towers moving takes more than elbow grease we're using good old ivory soap this is the way we soap or beams this is the way we soap our beams this is the way we scoop our beams in la revere manitoba it just helps it so it slides it's just lubrication i guess it's amazing how much it lubricates the steel and the slide steel on steel we moved to church this week and five minutes slid 30 feet to the side with hardly any effort and it's clean minty plans to slide the towers onto sets of wheels called dollies he'll need a hundred wheels for the elevator alone he's made the bold decision to move all the buildings upright so why has he adopted this potentially risky strategy why not cut the towers into smaller chunks they would certainly be much easier to maneuver but putting humpty back together again would be a big problem why not lay them flat before moving this might make them easier to truck but during lowering they could break apart that's why minties decided to divide the towers into three super tall loads and haul them just as they stand the first task is to swivel them around onto the road as we're coming out with it then we'll be starting to load up our dollies here and put pressure on them so it's going to be transferred onto these dollies and we're gonna be making a slight rotation with it well maybe uh eight or ten degrees uh we're going to do a little pivot and probably move it out a bit more i think did it move there [Music] she goes boys well we moved it quite a bit inch by inch they nudge the towers around the perilous leaning tower is just beginning its wobbly ride out of the valley remarkably the convoy must cross over a mountain midway through its journey it's a 20-mile slog along a steep and twisty road to their new home across the prairies in the town of [Music] somerset [Music] dan stevens the man who has bought them is desperate for the towers to survive this hazardous journey or his business plan will be doomed [Applause] the railway comes by here about once every two weeks they usually bring with them 25 rail cars each rail car holds approximately 3 300 bushels a week with the layer of your elevator coming here that'll triple what we have now mindy's deal with dan is cash and delivery he knows his best chance of success is to complete the move before bad weather sets in but the fall storm season is approaching fast [Music] meanwhile four and a half thousand miles away in london england it's taken almost two years to plan the move of heathrow airport's new control tower heathrow is the world's busiest international airport 67 million passengers pass through its gates every year despite these staggering numbers air traffic is expected to double over the next two decades so a fifth terminal is under construction an extra 60 gates will dramatically increase the number of planes taxiing on the far side of the airport however it's impossible to see this zone from the existing control tower a much taller one needs to be built to safely control all the extra aircraft for the best view of the entire airport the new tower needs to be smack dab in the middle next to terminal 3. the only problem is this is one of the busiest crossroads in the airport turning it into a construction site would cause total chaos so the builders came up with an ingenious solution [Music] they're building the skyscraping control tower outside the airfield perimeter and then they'll move it in the man who has to pull off this daunting plan is nick featherston we're pre-assembling the cab behind me here which is 32 meters tall weighs approximately a thousand tons and we're going to transport it vertically across the runway to its final destination at terminal 3 which may seem like a really mad idea the tower's final resting place by terminal 3 is more than a mile away from where the team is building it once assembled the 2 million pound monster will be lifted up onto transporters for its journey across the airport nick's team have a razor thin window of just 5 hours 300 heart-pounding minutes in the dead of night to guide the tower into position across one of heathrow's major runways there's over 5000 square feet of glass encircling the tower which is terrific for visibility but it makes the observation area extremely fragile there's also a half a million pounds of expensive equipment on the top floors and that poses another problem for the movers the structure itself is inherently top heavy so it looks rather like a wine glass a lot of its weight is at the top half so and obviously to make this structure much more stable we've had to put in place this temporary work structure behind us to reduce the center of gravity broaden the base and obviously prevent it from falling over during the transportation the airport management is anxious about the move it's taken months of planning now they try to imagine every possible thing that could go wrong we're on the move we're going down the ramp and there's a whole load of creaking and groaning out of the structure again stop all stop um and we try and determine where the noise is coming from i mean presumably this thing's likely to creep and grow anyway but it's trying to ascertain what's normal and what's beyond the norm i suppose isn't it okay next scenario a pain of glass cracks if the runway is blocked or damaged it could wreak havoc on world flight patterns and heathrow's business if we were to close part of the runway just for a day you're probably talking about some very big figures certainly 30 million plus so understandably um primary concern here is health and safety but almost immediately behind that would be the cab stopping on the runway so that as a business risk would be unacceptable because it's not just the 30 million pound loss of revenue it's also the share price and the bad pr that we would get from the airlines and everything else you know it could be a very costly costly day and i'd certainly be looking for a new job i think so so then i'm going to make sure it goes right on the night simple as that until the day of the move bolts anchor the tower to the ground the man who will release them and take charge of the move is mike wade at the moment the whole of the cab is supported on holding down bolts these are the holding down bolts this is actually what's holding the whole mast at the moment so once we've got the trailers under each corner and supporting it we can actually remove these nuts completely and then we'll lift lift the complete unit when the tower reaches its final destination mike will lock it into position with an identical set of bolts unlike the heathrow tower the grain towers in canada were not built for moving the heavy grain annex is particularly tough minty's given the unenviable task of shifting this stubborn load to kevin no no we'll just dig it out here so you can get the beam in here because that beam is what 18 inches yeah we're going to cut holes in the side of the building so we can put the put these big hydraulic jacks in here so that we lift the building up so we can get our beams under it once we get our steel beams in there and we just put some wheels on them and we're ready to roll [Music] lifting the tower is easier said than done the walls are almost a foot thick held together with rusty six-inch nails the biggest hydraulic jacks in the business struggled to lift this million pound monster it takes four hours to lift up the rear the building leans over at a precarious angle it's a dangerous operation they dare not lift each side any more than a foot at a time in case it falls over from the outside everything looks fine but kevin knows something's going wrong inside he ventures in to investigate the nails are splitting we're going to jack it up that'll bring the rest of this up in this messy hole what is down there dust green dustin a little bit of raccoon dust although the exterior walls are lifting up the middle remains firmly stuck to the ground the inside walls are splitting things don't look good they will have to jack each section up by hand and risk crawling under the unstable building they know their hard hats will offer little protection if this creaking edifice collapses [Music] after weeks of lifting the annex is finally free even after hitching a bulldozer to his truck the tower refuses to budge [Music] he doesn't want to slide once it's moving it's not bad but once it stopped then it takes a little jar to get it going again so if you could keep moving with it it'd be good we haven't got enough power there yet to keep moving they are now two weeks behind schedule with stormy weather closing in it is a soup hole and it's actually not safe for us to be moving this elevator at this time it's extremely slippery and the wheels can start moving out of control and somebody can either get hurt or killed the move is rained off and it could be several months before they can escape this quagmire over at heathrow airport a ripple of excitement greets the arrival of a special consignment from italy the second generation sbmts first generation we're okay with these are the all singing all dancing very nice [Music] the faggioli brothers are renowned for providing the slowest and smoothest ride in the world these wheels will spread the load of the control tower which weighs twice as much as a jumbo jet and protect the concrete from damage [Music] each 48-wheel drive vehicle can turn a full circle ideal for precision parking a building fantastic place [Music] each set of wheels is linked by computer-controlled hydraulics to the platform above to ensure it remains level no matter what obstacles it may have to cross with this move there are no trucks no drivers no pushing or shoving just roberto ratacella conducting the whole show with his magic box of tricks it's like a playstation it's very very simple it's a joke the tower is so heavy it will need three sets of wheels to carry it across the airport a giant steel pin will lock the tower to each trailer run straight in locates in here and then there's a closure plate that goes around the back of here that actually holds that in place [Music] [Applause] [Laughter] as the last trailer is locked into position mike received some bad news this is the bit i don't like moderate to high lightning risk it's the week of the move the construction manager in charge peter schwartas is feeling nervous and he's a right to be there's a threat of thunderstorms and he's worried lightning could strike during the move this map shows the thunder spots and there's one pretty close up in the thames valley despite all the planning they've overlooked a critical safety issue the tower won't be grounded while on the move it could be like walking around the airport attached to a lightning rod the forecast now is showing the wind peaking around midday tomorrow and so we've got this increasing trend that at the moment we don't feel very comfortable with lightning is a worry because the structure with its height and being steel is very prone to lightning strikes and if it does strike while it's sitting on the trailers it could come through the drive units and damage them or worse still it could injure or kill one of the operators if they're anywhere near the escape route for a lightning bolt could be via the italians control box the shock could kill him over in canada winter has arrived early rain and mud have given way to snow and here in ice wait 30 seconds the weather will change play yesterday beautiful day like this and then boom take a look at our sign there's no flake like a snowflake having sunk in the mud during the heavy rain the wheels are now frozen solid but this brings some unexpected benefits when the frost comes or the temperature drops below 32 degrees fahrenheit or zero celsius uh then we're we've got instant concrete the dirt is not what really freezes it's the moisture that's in the dirt that freezes and that gives us a very strong road base but the flip side to that is when we're actually traveling up the hill we've got snow and ice that's on on the hills that we've got to get removed so we've got traction there's a growing army of spectators who've traveled from all over the province where's the prairie manitoba so how far have you come to how far away it's about 120 kilometers i think it's great i this is the best entertainment that your money could buy in case the towers fall the highway department holds back the crowds hope nothing happens what might happen i don't know it falls and falls i guess everybody's waiting for a mishap i suppose getting ready to watch it tumble like a i don't know a tree minty's installed his own early warning device what we have is a plumb bob if the elevator starts to lean to to the left hand side this will start moving out like that and it will automatically tell me the grain elevator is packed full of machinery which they do not want to dismantle but this leaves the tower top heavy and extremely unstable if the tower leans over more than nine degrees there's a real danger it will fall off its wheels okay guys there's a safety meeting plumb bobs we've got that for to tell us what what it's actually doing on the uh if it's starting to lean more than what we want it to another thing is is keep an eye on the hoses if we see any hose or any fittings to start start to leak at all everybody just yells shutter down and we stop okay let's go do it the 20-mile trek sets off at a snail's pace [Music] their top speed as they approach the road is a quarter mile a day at this rate the move will take almost three months every time there's the slightest dip in the road they must adjust the height of each wheel to ensure the tower remains vertical what's going to happen is the cylinders are all going to adjust and the load's going to change so we have to make sure that we're not going to get overextended or over balanced on any set of dollies in here because if a set of dollies fails over she goes each wheel can rise and fall by a foot to follow the contours of the road the gradient is so dangerously steep as they leave the site that they have to raise the front with blocks of wood to prevent it from leaning forward one foot here every yard they travel requires constant adjustments it's a painfully laborious process [Music] it has taken an entire day to travel just a quarter of a mile as the convoy crosses the valley it faces its first major obstacle a steep hill covered in ice the towers leave behind a gaping hole in the town its character will be changed forever it's gonna be like uh there's something missing it would be nice if it would stay so that it would hold the town more so together and not there for more business and not there because as soon as an elevator goes other people they start going away the population of neighboring town snowflake shrank from 800 to just 10 when its grain towers closed down [Music] i lived in snowflake as soon as the elevator went systematically everything started to go just it took a few years you know there was a store there was fuel tanks there and a little garage and now there's nothing left there la riviere could well become the next ghost town to haunt the prairies [Music] the next morning is the start of the day they've been dreading the long haul up the hill [Music] they brought in two more trucks to push from behind but it's still not enough even with two bulldozers pulling at full power they can still only achieve a speed of a half a mile an hour the higher they climb the steeper the road becomes rick keeps a watchful eye on the plum bob half an inch apparently the grade really picks up as we get up here towards the top so we're gonna hit more incline as we go halfway up the hill the tower starts to lean back at a dangerous angle it's approaching the 9 degree limit and this icy road is getting steeper [Music] well we're obviously swinging to the uh left here right yeah it's real steep so we got an inch on that cylinder yet or half an inch just peachy [Music] the tower is stuck in the worst possible place a snow-covered bend on the steepest part of an exposed hill if the wind picks up it could knock the tower over this is what happened to heavy haulers don weave and vern mcqueen [Music] we didn't realize how strong the wind was we should have known like minty the team were hauling a grain elevator out of a valley when a huge gust of wind roared over the mountain causing the tower to topple broke up like a loaf of bread if you if you had a loaf of sliced bread and you're just standing there and you just tip it over it falls over and breaks off in sections that's exactly what the elevator did back on the hill a blizzard is moving in the highways boss glenn chicoski decides to close the roads you and jimmy bring the bear road closed sign and barricade a head sign around okay there's probably no way we can get by the elevator [Applause] no you're toast on the edge come on around you paid by the hour okay we're gonna try and peel all the excess snow and ice off and put some sand down for traction and get them going again [Music] minty's worried he knows that if the hill gets much steeper ahead he may not have enough traction to shift the load raise it [Music] that's too much he needs to measure the gradient of the road if it's greater than ten percent he's in trouble okay how much thirty eight and a half thirty [Music] got 40 inches on 40 feet so that's uh 10 inches on 10 feet the crew raised the rear dollies as high as they will go even then the towers leading dangerously close to the 9 degree limit [Music] they will have to load up the trucks with extra weight to provide enough traction to make it over the hill well on the other truck we have a 20 000 pound counterbalance this one we didn't have bring another counterbalance with us so we improvised the local quarry was happy to lend some weight to unblock the road apply more weight over the axles and that's going to give us better traction and more power to push with there's three feet of snow forecast for tonight so the crew are desperate to get the whole convoy up the hill by the end of the day they've called in every bulldozer in the valley to haul the remaining towers to the top before [Music] well this is nightfall we want to get out of here after 20 hours of struggling through sleet and snow the crew finally reached the summit not worried for my life anymore a little load off our minds and money in the bank there we go at heathrow final preparations are underway for the move the mountains that keep this crew awake at night are less than an inch high by the time you turn oh that's okay that's just a new slab isn't it all right slight step but it's not a problem and there's a couple of new patches in here it's pavement quality will be okay oh yeah it's not a problem mike wade and his move team are scouring the route the smallest obstacles can become major hazards where it turns to kilo 23 what's kilo 23 it's 3 6 3 they need to plot the control tower's precise route [Music] they calculate it will need four major turns to complete the 3 000 yard journey so that on arrival the base of the tower will align to within a fraction of an inch of its new foundation in theory here you could start your slow turn now if i can at the end at the end of the building there see that sign in the very distance that yellow one so off to where the lack of distinct landmarks in this concrete wasteland leaves plenty of room for navigational error so mike has decided to use satellite navigation when we're in the middle of the apron here there aren't any markers so by using the gps we can actually find the points on the knight and determine where we start so we're about here now are we just a little yeah there are there abouts now which is the start of the turn and i'll go and mark okay all right it's 6 a.m and the morning of the move months of planning are about to be put to the test [Applause] the first job is to clear away all debris from the tower every loose item must be secured anything falling off could be a danger to the move crew just before the green light there's one final safety check the tower will be passing into the airport's operational zone so it will undergo the same security checks as any other cargo or passenger it's moving into a restricted area where everything has to be thoroughly checked and this is just another item although a rather large item it's got to be thoroughly checked before it goes through [Music] while spud is sniffing for explosives minnie is hunting for illegal drugs [Music] at 10 o'clock the weather is not looking good so the crew will have to wait before they can start work on the move nick is in constant contact with the weather center so the only thunderstorm is that where the baited biscuit all right spike thanks for helping cheers now bye he's saying that after 8pm 26 miles per hour gusts up to 32. my instincts are that we plow on through all of this down to that point there and that is the point where we lift and we're passing that point and then we turn yeah okay [Music] nick faces a dilemma storms are forecast to fall over london tonight raising the risk of lightning in the hope the forecast will improve later he keeps the crew on site it's now five o'clock the original plan was to take six hours rest in the afternoon if they keep going by the end of the move they will have worked 24 hours without a break nick and peter call an emergency meeting if we stand the team down pretty much straight after six o'clock and say come back at 9 30 when the storm finishes at 10 10 30 and we're confident at that are you happy then to complete the move our general feeling is um that we're not happy to do that we've had a full day that's not a very long break by the time we get back starting doing the lift in the dark we feel that that's a lot of pressure when people are going to be tired and fatigued just to let you know we're fully supportive of that guys i mean i'm obviously under quite a lot of pressure here to make a decision and as far as i'm saying this is the right decision the decision to call off the move will come as a blow to heathrow's management to reschedule to another day will be a logistics nightmare nick is not looking forward to breaking the news we've asked a direct question that i feel comfortable to continue given the amount of sleep they've had i think the view is that they don't they're just too tired on balance from a technical point of view we look to defer so i suppose the debate we're now into is to defer to when obviously from from my team's perspective we'd like to just try again tomorrow night but obviously we need to work through the business implications of that the situation is today has been weather-wise it's been an excellent day i would have thought good progress could be made but we haven't made the preparation that work has not been done the afternoon weather today was mild sunny clear excellent sorry the preparation hasn't been done because the prediction was there was going to be lightning and at the moment we've assessed those risks what are you saying tonight i mean why we're sitting here though we're sitting here because there's a chance or are we saying no no i think it's no it's not right the move is off tonight and before it can be rescheduled every airline and operator within heathrow must be alerted i mean you've got ba world cargo and ops we talked about earlier anyone else [Music] back in the prairies they are beginning the long trek across the flatlands it's taken three whole days to travel the first mile up and over the hill so now they hope to pick up some speed [Music] no time for a cigarette what those away rick smoking again this is a 20-minute journey by car but when you're driving a 160-foot tower a small kink in the road can bring the convoy to a grinding halt now we just have to dip at each dip in turn they must stop and reset the rig it can take several hours to negotiate a single pothole unchain it all stick in some blocks chain it all up get to the other side unchain it all they come with a 180 wheeled convoy the chance of flat tires is high oh tires spun and ripped the valve stem out just a minor inconvenience they've been working 16-hour days to keep the show on the road we've been on this job so long and on the road for so long now we've got pigeons riding with us this is our good luck bird here now phil it's his home away from home it's a mobile home as far as he's concerned [Music] to keep things rolling an advanced party goes ahead to make sure there's nothing blocking their path well you can't get around it really like there's no no road without signs but some obstacles make even minty's men stop in their tracks [Music] minty's hopes of reaching somerset by the weekend could be scuppered by these high voltage power lines it's take two for the heathrow move despite the forecast of more unsettled weather the control tower is ready for liftoff there still is a moderate chance of lightning today that's the forecast but we expect it to be over by about lunchtime this time they're prepared for lightning they've installed a temporary grounding wire if we do experience a lightning storm when we've backed off and we're sitting waiting for the go tonight it means if we do get struck by lightning it'll come through here rather than damaging the trailers with a tower grounded it's safe to lift the building off its foundation one thousand tons of glass and steel are now in roberto's hands [Music] they wait for clear skies and at 10 o'clock receive the green light to go prepare to invite [Music] there's no turning back now they need to reach the runway by 11 o'clock it's vital that roberto is not distracted he needs 100 concentration no one else is allowed to walk alongside the rest of the moving team must keep their distance [Music] where's it going it's a disconcerting spectacle for the towers design team it's the first time i've seen one of my buildings disappearing off into the distance like that and just watching those transporters go off down that ramp there the front ones pick up the rear ones come down it just keeps the entire mast vertical [Music] wonderful bit of technology fabulous stuff [Music] [Music] they make it to the runway on time only to discover there are more planes waiting to take off there's a qantas aircraft blocking their path peter calls air traffic control parked up on the stand waiting for permission to cross the runway current information that will be about 11 ish they know that if the tower is not cleared across the runway soon the first flights the next morning could be delayed about five and a half hours time will be back up to peak flow again and literally one plane per minute will be going at the airport so we certainly don't want to be leaving this thing anywhere near the runway tonight not if i want a job tomorrow anyway at 11 15 they finally get the all cleared across the runway [Music] a team of spotters march behind the tower armed with brushes and trash cans they're on the lookout for any debris that might fall off the tower a stray screw could cause devastating damage to a plane on takeoff [Music] by midnight the tower completes its graceful glide across the runway now it must make three precision turns to ensure perfect docking with its new foundation it must be about another 50 yards 70 yards after three hours of careful maneuvering roberto steers the tower into its new position near terminal [Music] three amazingly after traveling over a mile its final resting position is accurate to within a tenth of an inch we just moved 1000 ton objects within two or three mil fantastic what else can you ask for apparently they've just been lucky three two one [Applause] after a photocall the team are ready to celebrate we might try and get one last cool lager just to send ourselves to sleep nicely tonight looking forward to a good night's sleep actually i can rest easy this is one move that will benefit millions of people [Music] minty's convoy has ground to a halt those are big power lines that feed the us they happen to be in our way the nerve of them these 230 thousand volt power lines can't be raised high enough for the towers to pass underneath minty has some ingenious ways of dealing with obstacles like this what's fun about this is that we can do this and get away with it with a temperature approaching -20 minty thinks it will be safe to drive over these cables if they can be buried in the frozen road the beauty of working in the winter [Music] one by one the wheels cross over this final hurdle [Music] with the last of the major obstacles overcome the end of this epic road trip is in sight it's a surreal start to the day for the inhabitants of somerset these giants cast frightening shadows through bedroom windows as they lumber through town they're big aren't they the prospect of new jobs mean the towers receive a triumphant welcome we're here [Music] see this is like a big sleeping giant coming through a small little quiet town it's awesome the arrival of the towers is a huge relief to the new owner dan stevens it's an awesome project after seven days on the road the grain farm finally reaches its new home for minty and his gang it's payoff time it's just good to get it over with so we can pack up our stuff and go home and go to the bank i got a delivery here for you yeah you do yeah brought it all the way in from laraveer what do you got for me today i think i got a little elevator here that you might want to use i don't think that's the right the one i ordered out of the catalog oh i think it is i think i want you to bring that back okay take it back there bring me the right one okay i'll try and do that [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Spark

Views: 265,310

Keywords: Airport Infrastructure, Aviation, Cliff Edge, Construction Challenges, Farming, Farming Equipment, Frozen, HugeMoves, International, Massive Structures, Moving Challenges, Moving Process, Rollercoaster Ride, Rural Development, Spark, Tech, Technology, Tower Construction, Tower Erection, Tower Maintenance, Tower Operations

Id: 37QA7TnrQEA

Length: 49min 3sec (2943 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 25 2020