All language subtitles for Building Giants Series 3 Part 3 The Billion Dollar Skyscraper 1080p

Narrator: In malaysia,

A team of elite engineers

Is racing to build
a record-breaking skyscraper.

It's a giant. It is a giant.

Narrator: This mega-tall tower
will soar over 2,000 feet high

And cost more than $1 billion.

In physical terms, it's huge.

♪

Narrator:
To construct this colossus,

The team must battle
sinking foundations...

When you put more weight on it,
it's going to shrink.

Narrator:
...Torrential rain...

Oh, wow.

Narrator:
...Stifling heat...

So it's pretty hot.

Narrator: ...And deadly
lightning storms.

It's quite frightening.

[ speaking foreign language ]

Narrator: This skyscraper ranks

In a league of ambitious
new engineering wonders

That are bigger, faster,
taller, and more advanced

Than anything
ever constructed before.

This is the inside story
of the extraordinary challenge

Of building these giants.

♪

-- Captions by vitac --
www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by
discovery communications

Kuala lumpur,
capital of malaysia.

♪

This vibrant city is
a melting pot of cultures...

♪

...A growing hub for business,

And becoming renowned
for its giant skyscrapers,

Such as the famous
petronas towers.

Malaysia's largest
investment company, pnb,

Plans to build a tower

That will dwarf skyscrapers
across the world.

It will be called
the merdeka tower.

This is a major investment
to contribute

To the urban development
of kuala lumpur.

Narrator: The location
they've chosen is one

That is central
to malaysia's history.

This project is being
constructed on what's arguably

The most important
heritage site in malaysia.

♪

Narrator: 60 years ago,

At kuala lumpur's
national stadium,

The country declared
its independence.

The prime minister raised
his hands,

And the whole stadium
raised their hands,

Uttering the words, "merdeka,"

Which means "independence."

♪

Narrator: Architect karl fender
must design a building

That not only commemorates
the nation's proud past,

But is also a beacon
for its bright future.

This is a site that marks
a great change

In the history of malaysia
and the future of malaysia.

Narrator:
The merdeka tower will rise

To become
the tallest skyscraper

In all of asia.

♪

Its 118 stories will soar
over 2,000 feet into the sky.

♪

One million tons of concrete

Interweaved with over
20,000 tons of steel

Make up its intricate
geometric structure.

At the tower's base
sits its showpiece entrance,

A steel and glass atrium
rising 450 feet high.

♪

Outside,
over 36,000 panes of glass

Cover its crystalline facade.

Five miles of led lighting
runs along every edge

Of the tower's
diamond-shaped exterior,

Illuminating it
around the clock.

Lighting up the skyline,

This is a truly
revolutionary skyscraper.

♪

Project director peter ramstedt
will be in charge

Of this mammoth construction.

One of his major concerns is
the country's tropical climate.

It's gonna be a beautiful
looking building,

But working in malaysia
does have

A lot of its own
challenges with the weather.

Could be sun, heat,
thunderstorms that come through.

[ thunder crashes ]

We do have big lightning
strikes here,

And when it gets
dangerous like that,

Then obviously, we take cover.

♪

Narrator: The sheer scale
of the skyscraper

Will supersize every challenge
peter and his team face.

It will be the tallest building
in the world,

After dubai's burj khalifa.

Fender: In physical terms,
it's huge.

What goes into the construction
of a building such as this?

It is mind-boggling.

Narrator: This is the plan --

First, engineers will sink
foundation piles

200 feet into the ground,

Capping them with
a 12-foot-thick concrete raft

To support the tower.

Above ground, workers will cast
a central core

Using a huge mechanized mold.

They will surround the core

With eight super-thick
concrete support columns

And lock the whole structure
together with huge steel arms.

♪

Four giant cranes
sit on top of the tower,

Providing all the materials
the crew needs.

This includes
36,000 panels of glass

Embedded with a quarter
of a million leds.

Finally, they will bring to life
the stunning 42-story steel

And glass atrium
at the tower's base,

A showpiece to mirror
the crystalline tower.

♪

Work begins in 2014,

When diggers start excavating
over 100,000 tons of earth.

♪

In charge of all on-site
operations

Is construction manager

And ex-military man,
gary salvidge.

It's very daunting,
right from the planning stages,

To make sure that this building
can actually be built

In the location where it is.

Narrator:
The first major challenge

Is building
a strong enough foundation

When the bedrock
is inaccessible.

Ramstedt:
People traditionally think

You drill until you hit rock.

You do it until you're a couple
feet into it, then you stop.

Then you know
you're in bedrock, right?

Yeah, we don't have that here.

Narrator: Kuala lumpur is built
where two rivers converge,

And literally means
"muddy confluence."

The ground here is
soft sediment,

And hard bedrock can be 300 feet
or more below the surface.

Ramstedt: Most of the time,

The soil is not enough
to take the load.

You need to have the proper
engineered solution relative

To the soil that you're in,

And that gets very complex.
[ laughs ]

♪

Narrator: First trench cutters
slice a 3-foot-thick channel

To create a circle
260 feet across.

♪

Workers fill the channel
with concrete,

Creating a huge
containing wall,

And sink 137 concrete columns,
known as piles,

200 feet down into the ground,

Packed as close together
as possible for maximum support.

Next, diggers excavate down
to reveal the piles,

And iron workers
stitch them together

With 300 miles of steel rebar,

Then cover it with
45,000 tons of concrete.

♪

When dry,
this ultra-strong foundation

Should support the vast tower
above with ease.

♪

Concrete warms as it sets
and spoils if it gets too hot,

So the team has to do most of
this massive pour at night

To avoid the daytime heat.

So we're doing everything
to keep the temperature

As low as possible.

Narrator: As evening descends
on kuala lumpur,

An army of concrete trucks
invades the site.

It's a continuous process,
so starting tonight the casting

Can go right away
through the weekend.

So I should be pretty tired
at the end of it.

♪

Narrator: The team runs checks
on every truckload.

They have extreme measures
in place for any concrete batch

That arrives too warm.

If they do not meet
the correct temperature,

Then we'll inject
liquid nitrogen in there

To cool the concrete down.

Narrator: The pour begins.

♪

The giant pump arms
run around the clock,

Filling up this huge pit

With 3 1/2 million
gallons of concrete.

♪

First 24 hours done.
Another 24 more to go.

♪

Narrator: After an entire
weekend of nonstop pouring,

Rain covers are placed
on top for protection,

And the mammoth foundations
are finally finished.

♪

The crew's next challenge
is to build 118 stories

Of super-strong concrete
up into the sky

Without a single misstep.

Believe you me, it isn't
an easy concrete to chip out

If you make a mistake.

♪

♪

Narrator: In kuala lumpur,
engineers constructing

The 2,000-foot-tall
merdeka skyscraper

Get ready to cast
the tower's huge vertical core

And eight surrounding columns.

But as they add
each floor level,

They'll be confined
by a lack of space.

Salvidge: Up top you don't have
much room to work.

It would be very, very slow.

Narrator: The team needs
an innovative solution

To turbocharge their race
to the roof.

♪

To cast a single level
of a core,

Workers build a mold
from wooden panels

And fill it with concrete.

Traditionally they would
then remove the panels,

Build new scaffolding,
and lift the molds back up.

But for a building this tall,
that would take years too long.

♪

Instead, steel rails bolted
to the core support

A giant movable platform

That carries the mold sections
as it climbs the rails.

Workers lock the mold's
wooden panels together

When pouring concrete

And release them
once the concrete is set.

Then hydraulics
push the platform upwards,

Effortlessly transporting
the molds and equipment

Up the tower
to repeat the process.

This clever system means
the team can power upwards,

Adding each new level
in as little as five days.

♪

Inside the huge platform,
concrete foreman

Pari receives the green light,
and the climb begins.

♪

As the entire platform
creeps up,

There are just inches to spare.

Each worker needs to watch out
for any section of platform

Or formwork that might catch on
the newly formed concrete walls.

♪

Eventually the platform stops
at the next level.

The first climb is a success,

Proof their innovative
system works.

♪

But as pari's team adds layer
after layer of heavy concrete,

This skyscraper
will begin to sink.

One of the secrets of
building large buildings

That people don't really
talk about

Is the settlement of
the building.

A 118-story building
is quite heavy.

It's going to settle.

It naturally will.

Narrator: Every week,
at the lowest basement level,

A survey team measures
the sinking

To make sure
it matches their predictions.

The entire floor needs to sink
at the same rate,

Or the tower
will start to lean.

The sensor reads the bar code
on the staff

And automatically detects
any change in height.

The team works their way
around the basement.

Okay. Okay.

Done?

Narrator:
And the growing tower is given

The all-clear for another week.

M♪

Meanwhile, the construction team
works nonstop

And relies on a steady
stream of materials,

Including hundreds of tons
of steel each week.

Keeping this building supplied
with the steel,

With the concrete, the sand,
everything is a daily task

Of bringing materials
in to keep the building fed.

Narrator: And the only way to
get all these materials

To the teams up top

Is by lifting them with the help
of these mammoth cranes,

Situated on top of
the building.

Ramstedt: The tower cranes for
any kind of high-rise

Are like the lifeblood
of the building.

The tower cranes is what gets
the material up

To the highest parts
of the building.

Narrator:
Fed by the busy cranes,

The construction team
hits their groove

And the skyscraper soars
upwards.

Salvidge: Now we're achieving
the five-day cycle,

It's very good.

One of the things that will be
slowing us down now

Is actually raising
the tower cranes fast enough

So the core can go up quicker.

Narrator: This is a problem
they must solve, and quickly.

If the cranes stay fixed
in place,

They'll block the tower
from rising any further.

♪

♪

Narrator: In kuala lumpur,

As the central core of
the merdeka tower

Climbs higher,

Its path is blocked
by the four giant tower cranes.

Two tower cranes on the outside
of the building

That are capable
of picking up 65 tons,

So, you know, these aren't
small plan equipment.

Narrator: Yet the cranes
have a clever design feature

That allows them to stay one
step above the rising concrete.

Each tower crane
can jump itself,

So it only needs itself
to move itself up the building.

♪

Narrator: The skyscraper's
cranes are attached to

Its concrete core
with two giant steel brackets.

♪

But as crews build the core
higher and higher,

The cranes have to move up,

Otherwise,
they'll impede progress.

First, engineers install a third
bracket higher up the tower

That supports
a pair of narrow metal ladders.

With these in place, engineers
move the crane's metal feet

Onto this super-strong ladder.

A hydraulic press raises
the crane up.

When it reaches the rung above,

A second set of feet catch
onto the ladder.

The hydraulic piston resets
and pushes off again.

By climbing up each
two-foot-high rung at a time,

The cranes stay ahead
of the crews below.

♪

[ speaking foreign language ]

Narrator: Today's crane jump
is led by sankaran kanan.

He's head of safety
for all equipment on site,

Including the giant
tower cranes.

[ speaking foreign language ]

♪

Narrator: The team begins by
detaching the bolts

That keep this 220-ton monster
locked in place.

[ speaking foreign language ]

Narrator: Sankaran sends
his men into the tower crane

Support column.

With a 600-foot drop
below them,

The team and the huge crane

Begin to climb,

Suspended on nothing
but two narrow strips of steel.

♪

The hydraulics powering
the crane lift

Are under huge pressure

And must be controlled
precisely.

♪

The crane's steel feet catch
each rung

One thunderous bang
after another.

[ thud ]

It takes three hours for
the climbing crane

To reach the safety
of the next bracket.

♪

The workers lock the crane
back into position,

Ready to return to action
the next day.

Poof, we are done.

♪

Narrator: But the higher
the tower cranes

Climb into the sky,

The closer they get
to malaysia's

Potentially deadly
thunderstorms.

When a storm hits,
the cranes stop

And the workers seek cover

With four notable exceptions --

The crane operators.

Salvidge:
They stay in the cabs.

The safest place to be
is in the cab

Because it's all isolated.

But it's quite frightening.

Those crane operators bring
their own change of underwear

Up the top there as well,
you know.

Narrator: A lightning strike
can still knock out

The crane's electrical system,
so the worse the storm gets,

The bigger the impact
on gary's schedule and budget.

Salvidge:
They're very expensive.

They need to be in operation
all the time.

They say time is money,
and they've got to be working.

They've got to be
earning their money.

♪

♪

Narrator:
In tropical malaysia,

A thunderous storm
halts construction

Of the record-breaking
2,000-foot-tall merdeka tower.

♪

Once the storm finally clears,

Sankaran and his team
check for damage.

The tower cranes creak
back into action.

The team building
the tallest tower in asia

Is almost a third
of a way to the top.

But as they approach
the 40th floor,

They face a new challenge.

They must tie the central core
to the eight giant

Concrete support columns
that surround it.

These type of buildings,
very tall buildings,

These mega-high-rises
naturally want to twist,

Want to torque, want to lean.

Narrator:
The core and the mega-columns

Have only the thin floor levels
to connect them

And could start to move
independently.

To secure them, engineers
insert giant pieces of steel

Into the concrete columns at
three key levels up the tower.

They connect them to the core

With enormous diagonal arms
called outriggers.

These tie the columns
and the core together,

Allowing them to support
each other and move as one.

For extra stability,

Engineers encircle
the same levels with huge steel

Trusses that grip the tower
like a series of belts,

Making it strong enough
to extend high into the clouds.

♪

The outriggers are so large,

The team has to crane them up
in separate pieces

And weld them together
after they've been installed.

The strength provided by
the three levels of outriggers

Will be crucial
to the entire building.

Salvidge: The boys here need
to keep this clear.

Narrator: So gary oversees this
first level personally.

We look for the most
experienced guys to do this.

This isn't an easy job.

Narrator: The welding crew uses
powerful induction heaters

To warm the steel
outriggers to 175 degrees.

If the steel was cold,

You wouldn't get
the good conductivity

Between the weld and the plate
that you're welding.

♪

Narrator:
This is a massive undertaking.

Each outrigger level has over
40 huge joints,

And it takes a team
of welders 100 hours

To complete each joint.

You look at the joint itself
it's, you know, fillet weld.

It's big.

In fact, it's just like the v
in my hands here, you know.

It's over 300 passes
all the way around.

It's a big chunk of weld.

Narrator: Any moisture could
fatally weaken the weld,

So the team shields
their handiwork from the rain

And works in shifts to complete
the join as fast as possible.

♪

♪

After four days,
this final weld is finished

And ready for inspection.

This weld has to be a solid
piece of metal, just like this.

You don't want no cracks
in the armor, you know.

It's a beautiful building,
and we want to keep it that way.

♪

The metal is so thick the crew
needs to use ultrasound

To search for any defects
hidden below the surface.

♪

The join checks out,

And gary signs off
on the first outrigger level.

All the welds have all passed
their tests.

We're happy with that.

We only want the best here,
obviously.

Narrator: The first third of
the tower holds strong,

And the crew
just needs to repeat

The process twice more
to reach full height.

♪

As the merdeka tower
grows higher,

Gary's workforce
grows ever bigger.

♪

This is one of the biggest job
sites in kuala at the moment.

We have over
3,000 workers on here.

Narrator: But not everyone
works above ground.

♪

In the four huge basement
levels, engineers are installing

The mechanical, electrical,

And plumbing systems,
known as mep.

♪

Mep can touch the life
for every person.

Narrator: Abbas alizzi is in
charge of all the systems

Needed to make
the finished building habitable.

Abbas leads a small team
of engineers

Responsible for a enough wiring

And plumbing to serve
an entire city district.

Narrator: Each day,
abbas and his deputy, johnny,

Prowl the basement levels
checking up

On all the installation teams.

Their greatest challenge

Is to install the enormous
air conditioning system.

And in this tropical climate,
that's no easy task.

♪

♪

Narrator:
In tropical kuala lumpur,

Where a team is building
the enormous merdeka tower,

The temperature is a humid
80-plus degrees all year-round

So keeping the building cool
will be a huge job.

You don't want to see a/c units

Hanging off the outside
of the building, you know.

This is a smart building.

This is a modern building,
you know, it's like...

Narrator: This gargantuan
network of pipes

Is part of a monster
cooling system

Designed to combat malaysia's
tropical temperatures.

♪

The operation to cool the tower
begins deep underground.

♪

First digger excavate
a giant water tank

Big enough to fill
14 olympic swimming pools.

Beneath the building,

Giant chiller units will cool
the water down to 40 degrees.

Nine enormous 100-kilowatt
motors spin pumps

That force the cold water
up the tower

Where it cools air
on each floor.

Higher up the tower, extra pumps
keep the cold water

Moving all the way to the top.

This vast network will circulate
10,000 gallons of water

Every minute
to keep the tower cool

Despite the tropical heat.

For abbas' installation crew,

Squeezing
the cooling system's machinery

Into an increasingly crowded
basement is no simple task.

Today the crew is installing

The last
of the nine giant motors

That sit on top of
each water pump.

These drive the entire
cooling system.

They lift the 5,500-pound motor

And gently rotate it
to the correct angle.

The motor is a precise
piece of engineering

And the crew can't afford to get
any bumps or scrapes on it

As they begin the installation.

But they soon run into trouble.

The forklift can't lift

The motor high enough
to put it into place.

The crew needs to install
the motor today

To stay on schedule.

They have no option
but to remove an overhead cable

Tray to make more headroom
for the forklift.

With the extra space,
the crew takes a second shot.

♪

The forklift creeps forward
with millimeters to spare.

♪

[ shouting indistinctly ]

♪

Narrator:
The motor finally touches down,

And the giant cooling system
is complete.

Alizzi: Of course there is

A lot of surprises
during the construction.

Cannot be 100%, but we
try to make it 99%, 99.9.

[ laughs ]

♪

[ thunder crashes ]

Narrator:
But the tower's cooling system

Is no help to
the construction crews

Currently working in malaysia's
tropical climate.

We have two seasons here --
it's hot,

Or it's raining.

That's it.

There ain't nothing else.
[ laughs ]

Narrator: Rest breaks are
crucial in the oppressive heat,

But even when the sun sets
another danger remains --

Disease-carrying mosquitoes.

♪

Pest control teams need to
fumigate the site every night.

♪

If a single case of
dengue fever is reported,

The ministry of health

Would quarantine
the entire site for two weeks.

Well, you can imagine
how that would affect

The schedule of this project,

And especially being
a multi-billion dollar job,

You know,
there's big money involved.

Narrator: Daily spraying
with insecticide

Keeps workers safe
and the site running smoothly.

♪

Gary needs the tower schedule
to stay on track.

That's because he's gearing up

For the biggest single operation
of the entire construction --

Lifting the 60-ton keystone
for the enormous atrium.

[ indistinct conversations ]

This is the biggest lift
of the project.

Narrator:
The steel installation team

Will need all the help
they can get

Because on this build,
you can never be too careful.

♪

♪

Narrator: The merdeka skyscraper
is rising fast.

♪

Crews are installing
the giant window panels...

[ indistinct conversations ]

Narrator: ...And testing
the led lighting

That will be one of
the tower's signature features.

♪

But one major showpiece
of the tower's design

Is still to be built --

The atrium,
an enormous structure

At the building's entrance.

The volume of the atrium

Is to do with the scale
of the building.

We're standing underneath one of
the tallest buildings

In the world.

It's appropriate to have
an atrium, an entry experience,

A start to the building

Which is equally wondrous
as the tower itself.

♪

Narrator:
This will be a 450-foot-high

Hollow shell of
steel and glass.

[ speaking foreign language ]

It's a huge space.

As you walk into the entrance
of the building,

You can look
all the way up 44 floors.

Narrator: Assembling this giant
steel frame in midair

Is a precarious job,

And the team has reached
a crucial stage.

They're installing the central
piece of the atrium's framework,

Called the node.

It's the heaviest single segment
of steel on the entire project.

♪

This will be the biggest lift
of the build,

And it's got gary worried.

-Quite heavy.
-Quite heavy, yes.

♪

Narrator:
This 120,000-pound block

Of precisely engineered steel

Is the most important part
of the tower's vast atrium.

The team must lift the node
at exactly the right angle

So it fits onto
its supports perfectly.

To do that,
they use two cranes --

One to hold the bottom
end clear of the ground,

And the other larger crane
to rotate it.

Once it is at the right angle,

The main crane lifts
it up the tower,

And the workers on the atrium's
colossal steel beams

Carefully guide the node
into position.

They must get the placement
of this behemoth perfect

Because it alone will hold
the entire

42-story atrium together.

♪

The two cranes quickly rotate
the node to the correct angle.

[ whistle blows ]

♪

Workers detach
the smaller crane,

And the bigger crane
begins the main lift.

♪

But bad weather
is on the horizon.

[ thunder crashes ]

Narrator: And before long,
a storm is right on top of them.

♪

The risk of a lightning strike
is too great.

The crew is forced
to halt the operation.

We're lowering it back down.

And we'll start again later.

Narrator: And the alarm goes off
to evacuate the site.

[ whistle blows ]

♪

The next morning,

The crew raises the node back up
as quickly as possible.

♪

But they can't rush
the final placement

Because there's no room
for error.

Salvidge: You have to get it
in the right position.

You have to maybe
tilt it to the left,

Tilt it to the right.

If it's out by one degree,

It's not gonna meet up
with that mega-column.

♪

Narrator: Manipulating 120,000
pounds of steel is hard work.

[ speaking indistinctly ]

♪

Narrator: But finally the node
is in position.

Fantastic. Good job.

-Well done.
-Thank you, sir.

All right. Good.

Narrator: Now the rest of
the giant atrium

Can rise up safely.

Now that that's in,
we can just carry on

And fly straight up
the sides of the building now

With the rest of the steel.

♪

Narrator: This
crystalline-shaped skyscraper

Climbs to the clouds.

And asia's tallest tower
becomes a new jewel in the crown

For malaysia's skyscraper city.

It's iconic because of what
it represents --

To come together
and bring progress,

Not only for our current
generation,

But for future generations.

Part of the success of all
major buildings

Is the fact that they work
on people's imaginations.

That sort of symbolism is what
makes these sort of buildings

Legends within a city.

♪