Original subtitles

In today's impossible engineering.

This is one of the largest regeneration projects in Europe.

Engineers take on one of London's most iconic landmarks. No one has ever tried

to put any kind of lift like this within a chimney.

Attempting an epic transformation.

It is a seemingly impossible task.

Using groundbreaking innovations from the past.

It's 900.

40 degrees in here. The Rockefeller Center, the Chrysler Building, Madison

Square Garden, even the Empire State Building all included beams made here.

That made the impossible possible.

London, England.

At the heart of this. sprawling metropolis, lies one of its most

buildings,

Battersea Power Station.

Nearly 100 years old, in its prime, it supplied electricity to a fifth of homes

and businesses in the capital.

But for more than three decades, this once great cathedral of power had stood

derelict.

Battersea Power Station is a really important, iconic building, partly

of the scale and size of it, but also its location right in the centre of

and on the bank of the River Thames.

But now this legendary building is about to be reinvented, and Sarah Banham is

part of the team facing the daunting task.

I think Battersea Power Station is quite unique.

It's in a lot of films, music. It's instantly recognizable.

But it has been called the Everest of real estate.

It wouldn't have stayed empty for over 30 years if it had been a simple

solution.

The plan is to radically transform this immense 260 ,000 square foot building on

the banks of the River Thames.

On the inside, the old boiler house.

which is large enough to hold four jumbo jets, will become six floors of office

space, plus apartments and an event menu.

On either side of it, the two mammoth turbine halls will be transformed into

retail space.

Next, the two former switch houses are to be converted into over 200

apartments.

Finally, the building's four iconic chimneys will be rebuilt.

and inside one, a cutting -edge glass elevator will be installed, allowing

visitors to enjoy breathtaking views across the capital.

Today, work is nearing completion on the ambitious billion -dollar project

to turn this powerhouse of the past

into a cutting -edge centerpiece of the city.

I think it's the biggest project that I have worked on and certainly one of the

most challenging for me.

There isn't just one building that's being built here. There are effectively

eight all rolled up into one massive project.

On -site project manager Nacho O 'Leary has his hands full.

So we're now approaching the east elevation of the power station. This is

East Annex Wall.

What you can see above us is all the new resident departments.

And this is the new glazing that we're putting in for the shop front that will

be facing the phase one.

The size of the project is astronomical.

This is where the residents will be entering into, coming in through the

landscaping from the side, using the lift, and then going up to their

above.

More than 2 ,500 workers must excavate the equivalent of 60 Olympic swimming

pools worth of earth.

install over 25 ,000 tons of steel structure, and replace 1 .75

million bricks.

The redevelopment of Battersea Power Station is one of the largest projects

going on in Europe.

It's significantly complex in terms of the volume of work that we're

and the number of man hours that we're working to, but also retaining the

existing building and respecting that is a very challenging piece of work.

Many people have tried and failed to redevelop the battery power station.

I've been on here since 2013, right at the very beginning, so I know how

it is. It is seen as a very impossible project for the undertaking, especially

for those that aren't involved.

To repurpose this 20th century icon, the team is facing many extreme engineering

challenges.

How do you keep one of the world's largest brick buildings standing when

slowly turning to dust?

The replacement of the 1 .75 million brick is quite daunting.

And ensure that it doesn't simply collapse when you start repairs.

This isn't just the biggest project that I've ever had to deal with. It's the

most complicated.

How do you thread a new underground railway through one of the world's

subterranean environments?

This is one of the biggest challenges that London Underground has had for 30

years.

Finally, how do you transform a chimney into a world -class tourist attraction?

It has never been done anywhere before, certainly not at this scale, or even

attempted within a chimney like this.

The power station's four distinctive chimneys are an iconic part of the

skyline, but they're in a precarious state.

Nacho O 'Leary is responsible for finding a solution.

The chimneys at Batsi Power Station are the iconic part of the building that

people remember the most.

When I first arrived, we had large lumps of the chimneys falling down from

height at 107 meters high all the way down to ground level of where we are

So because the chimneys were in such a bad condition, there was nothing further

we could do than to take them down.

Piece by piece, the historic structures were carefully removed.

We employed a specialist steeplejack to undertake the work because the works are

happening at such height.

In their place, four identical chimneys, built from steel and reinforced

concrete, start to take shape.

And to ensure they're indistinguishable from the originals, engineers have

replicated the construction method used in the 1930s.

Instead of using a pump, 25 ,000 wheelbarrows full of concrete are taken

160 feet in an elevator and poured into circular mold.

So once the concrete's set, we jump the shuttering.

And where that jump occurs, you can see where the horizontal lines are every

four foot.

Then nearly 400 gallons of protective paint ensures they'll last the next 100

years.

A friend of mine asked why we hadn't replaced the chimneys. He hadn't

that all four of them had been taken down and had gone back up and were

effectively the same as they were originally.

With the chimneys complete, engineers can now attempt the most ambitious part

the project.

The chimney lift is a really large passenger lift with an entirely glazed

The public will be able to come in and get an incredible view across London

the top of the most iconic chimneys in the world.

For engineer Adrian Forge, it's unknown territory.

As far as we know, no one has ever tried to put any kind of lift like this

within a chimney.

It's the chimney's unusual cylindrical shape that makes building an elevator

inside the shaft especially difficult.

So normally a lift shaft is completely straight, but you'll see the chimney

tapers. It's wider at the bottom than it is up at the top, and that's not normal

for a lift shaft. You don't want your lift rails being anything other than

completely plumb and straight, because otherwise you have problems with ride

quality.

But the biggest challenge for engineers is how to pull the elevator to the top.

Because we're trying to give people a view from the top of the chimney, we

have any of our equipment at the top getting in the way of the view.

A large motor at the top could also damage the chimney structure.

The chimneys are designed to be chimneys.

We are putting a lift inside it which is heavy.

The machines that operate it are heavy.

And what we can't do in this lift shaft is put all the weight, all the machinery

at the top.

because we know that the chimneys won't be able to cope with that.

It's a formidable problem to solve.

It has engineering challenges about every aspect of it, so it has certainly

given me sleepless nights.

To find another way of pulling this elevator to the top, engineers need to

to history's great pioneers.

To convert Battersea Power Station's iconic chimneys into one of the best

in London, engineers are turning to their predecessors.

Could the structural difficulties of adding an elevator to a restored chimney

overcome with guidance from the past?

Elevator manufacturer executive Patrick Hess is discovering the secrets behind

an engineering masterpiece located high in the Swiss mountains.

The Bürgenstock Mountain is famous for its unparalleled views and it's been

popular holiday location since 1872.

So one hotel, the Bürgenstock Hotel, wanted to provide something unique to

guests. They wanted to provide a few from the summit.

And this was the result.

This is the Hometschwand lift.

The top is 3 ,700 feet above sea level, making it the tallest

outdoor elevator in Europe.

But building an elevator on the side of a mountain presents a monumental

challenge.

At the time, all elevators have the machinery at the top.

But putting a heavy machine on top of a tall elevator shaft would make the

structure too unstable.

Who would be the engineer brave enough to tackle such a challenge?

Carl Lolle was a German bridge engineer.

But in 1905, he built one of the most astonishing elevators in the world.

What a structure.

In the 1900s, a truly remarkable undertaking and a huge engineering

The elevator shaft is a truss design.

influenced by Lole's railroad bridge background.

To attach the shaft to the mountain, no scaffolding could be brought here. So

builders had to uptail like acrobats on rope in order to drill holes to make

anchor points for the steel structure.

Miners from Italy and Austria were brought in with additional expertise

the rock needed blasting with dynamite.

The shaft needs to be straight to ensure a smooth ride.

We think Lole must have used a plumb line like this. It's a string with a

on the bottom to make the shaft perfectly straight.

Lole's outdoor elevator was a game -changing piece of engineering.

But the real brilliance of the system is in the design of the mechanism.

This is the heavy machine which pulls the car up and down.

After more than 100 years, it's now a new machine, but it's in the same place

Carlole put the machine.

It's on the bottom of the lift and not on the top.

At ground level, a large motor winds steel cables connected to a drum at the

of the shaft.

As the system turns, the car is raised and lowered as required.

This brilliant idea made the shaft more stable and is protecting the machinery

from the difficult weather conditions.

is what it was all for.

Look at this outstanding view.

For the past 120 years, the Hamachfond elevator has provided one of the most

scenic views of the Alps.

Karl Löhle, he was an engineering pioneer.

He has made the impossible possible.

And he has inspired elevator engineers around the world.

At the Battersea Power Station in London, engineer Adrian Forge and the

have taken Lole's strategy to jaw -dropping new heights.

So we can just get ourselves into the lift shaft now.

Lift shafts are normally very protected spaces. Not many people get to go

inside.

So we're right at the bottom of the chimney now.

So the machine is...

I would say the biggest lift motor you can buy. It weighs just over seven tons.

It produces 23 ,000 newton meters of torque.

This chimney lift is absolutely enormous, and that's why we need some

equipment to get it moving.

Just like at the Hummich Fund lift, this monster machine is at the base of the

elevator shaft instead of the top.

By keeping all the equipment at the bottom of the chimney, it means there's

nothing up the top that allows us to bring the lift right out of the top of

chimney. It gives people an amazing view across London from the top of the

chimney itself.

The elevator is pulled up by cables attached to a massive steel ring at the

of the chimney.

Cables run down to the motor at the bottom, back up to the top, and down to

counterweight. It's known as an underslung elevator.

But as the chimney gets narrower towards the top, engineers have also had to

devise an innovative way to ensure the rails inside stay straight.

So these are the rails that the lift car is going to run onto.

We know that this chimney isn't completely straight all the way up, so

going to use these brackets, which are adjustable, to make sure that we can

this rail really straight so that we can give a really good ride quality as

people move up to the top of the chimney.

To get people from the ground to the top of the chimney, engineers have designed

a unique glass car with capacity for 30 people.

A ride to the top of the 350 -foot chimney will take just 26 seconds.

The chimneys are iconic, and what we are trying to create here is a truly unique

experience.

I know that I am going to have been part of something incredibly special.

I think we are going to, at the end of this, be looking on this as an

wonderful feat of engineering.

Engineers may have found a way to retain the power station's iconic chimneys,

but now they face a more fundamental problem.

The power station when we arrived on site was sterile.

The largest space between the four chimneys was entirely empty.

We needed to start putting in floors.

To solve it, the team will have to turn to the great innovators of the past.

To construct a super tall tower, engineers would need super strong steel

In London, the Battersea Power Station redevelopment is one of the most

astonishing construction projects on the planet.

This enormous industrial icon covers an area over 260 ,000 square feet,

equivalent to 96 tennis courts.

Its steel frame consists of 8 ,000 individual sections.

Around that, six million bricks formed the walls of the structure, making it

of the largest brick buildings in the world.

But having had its roof and floors removed over 30 years ago,

engineers now face the task of finding a way to divide this empty shell of a

building into homes, offices, retail, and event space.

It's the biggest engineering challenge Michael Brooks has ever faced.

So, the power station when we arrived on site was derelict.

Lots of the floors were missing.

The largest space between the four chimneys was entirely emptied.

150 meters by 150 meters by 60 meters tall.

The volume of space that needed filling. We needed to start putting in floors.

The team plans to install 14 new floors.

The problem they face is that, unlike the office and residential spaces at the

top of the building, which can be supported with columns, the retail and

space below must remain open, forcing engineers to find another solution.

We've got a retail mall, we've got office space, we've got an event space,

all of these different uses have different structural needs.

We can have columns within an office space, but we don't want to have columns

an event space.

How do we overcome that challenge?

It is a seemingly impossible task.

To achieve strength on such an enormous scale, engineers will need inspiration

from history's great pioneers.

Urban planner Cara Michelle is in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, uncovering a

revelation that is behind New York's biggest skyscrapers.

In the 19th century, Manhattan's population was booming.

And the only way to accommodate everyone was to build higher.

By that time, buildings were already starting to get taller, but they were

typically limited to about 20 stories.

To construct a super tall tower, engineers would need super strong steel

Luckily, one man was working on a solution.

In the late 1890s, English engineer Henry Gray patented a new method for

creating steel beams that were much stronger than those that currently

It was an innovation that would change skylines around the world.

And it all started here.

This is the former Bethlehem Steelworks, known as the place that built America.

The Rockefeller Center, the Chrysler Building, Madison Square Garden, even

Empire State Building all included beams made here.

Bethlehem Steel owners took a risk.

Henry Gray steel mills were new and different, and almost no one else was

them. But they bought the patent anyway, and they began manufacturing.

Gray steel rolling mill could make beams stronger than had ever been achieved

before.

So what made these beams so resistant to bending?

When a beam has weight on it, The top is in compression, pushing the steel, and

the bottom is in tension, pulling the steel.

By changing the shape of the beam, more steel is at the top and the bottom where

it's needed most.

I've got two beams here.

They're both the same weight.

The only difference between the two of them is their shape.

This one is a straight beam, while this one is a wide -flanged beam.

So we're going to put these two beams to the test to see which one is more

resistant to bending.

First, the straight beam.

Already, I'm hardly putting any weight on it, and I can feel it bending

underneath me. It is so flexible.

I don't necessarily know if this is what I would want to have holding up my

floor.

Now, the wide -flanged beam.

Already I can really feel the difference.

And I don't feel that same amount of give underneath me.

Actually, this is pretty impressive.

Bethlehem Steel's gamble had paid off.

By the 1920s, its beams were part of 80 % of New York's iconic skyscrapers.

Henry Gray was able to produce the wide flange beam better than anyone else had

achieved.

His bend -resistant beams made it possible to build tall, multi -story

buildings, changing skylines all across America.

Back at Battersea Power Station.

Engineers are using bend -resistant steel beams to make 14 new floors.

And one in particular needs to be able to take the weight of eight new stories

by itself.

This gigantic beam is almost 90 feet long and weighs a whopping 68 ton.

It's one of the largest pieces of steel ever made in the UK.

Gray's historic wide -flanged beam made this remarkable piece of engineering a

key component in Battersea Power Station's redesign.

But now the team is faced with another massive challenge, installation.

We had to run tests with lorries with brooms and ladders out the back just to

make sure that we could actually navigate the length of the beam through

site.

In the restoration and renovation of London's historic Battersea Power

engineer Michael Brooks was charged with one of the most difficult parts of the

entire process, delivering and installing a record -breaking wide

that will support 14 new floors.

It was picked up by the second -largest crane in Europe with a capacity just

enough to pick up this beam and install it in place.

It was a very significant and obvious milestone for us.

So here is the 62 -ton beam.

It is a supersized I -beam.

We have huge amounts of area of steel at the top and at the bottom, and not so

much in the middle, and that gives us a high bending resistance.

Located on the building's fifth floor, the gigantic beam supports the weight of

the eight stories above.

leaving the event space below column free.

Then, by adding two vast steel trees, engineers are able to create floors for

offices above, maximizing the space.

These are the structural transfer trees.

We have one column underneath, what we call the trunk, and sprouting out of it

are four branches that then divide again further up into eight branches, and it

travels all the way up to the underside of the level five, which is where we

have the office space above.

Each of these trees...

supports six office columns.

And by taking six columns above and pulling all of the load down into one

central megacolumn below, what we've been able to do is create this grand

as people walk into the retail mall and yet allow us to maximize the space for

the office above.

The power station redevelopment is well underway.

But with no direct underground rail link to the site, the team still needs to

find a way for people to get here.

So with the regeneration of the area, there's going to be around 20 ,000 new

jobs created, which will mean that we need a transport hub to bring people in

and out.

For Jonathan Cooper, it will require some of the most complex engineering on

project. We are going to build a new underground tube station at Battersea

Station. This is one of the biggest challenges that London Underground has

for 30 years.

Engineers have formed an ambitious plan to dig a pair of tunnels almost two

miles long, connecting the site with the existing northern line.

And where the old and new sections of tunnel meet, junctions will need to be

created to accommodate the additional section of track.

We've got to connect the existing northern line, which is around 100 years

into the new tunnel. This is really difficult because... The tunnel that

connecting into has to remain operational at all times.

The process starts with two 700 -ton tunnel boring machines being lowered 85

feet underground.

Watch the step here.

So this is where the tunnel boring machines were brought down in 20 -metre

sections. They were put together and pushed into the launch tunnels.

Moving at two inches a minute, they grind through the London clay.

Behind the boring machine, the freshly excavated tunnel is sprayed with

to create a reinforced lining.

It is very dark down here.

Roughly halfway along the route, engineers face the most precarious part

process,

tunneling just six feet below the existing Victoria Line.

While we were tunneling through this area, the operational service continued

whole time, and no one even knew that we were tunneling under here.

We're so close to the Victoria Line train here that you can actually hear

trains going above us when they pass.

Right there.

After tunneling for nine months, the team eventually reaches the site of the

existing Northern Line.

But there's one final problem to overcome.

In order to tie the old line to the new one, engineers must connect the two with

a junction.

To do this, they dig a larger tunnel around the old one, revealing the

cast iron tube that dates back over 100 years.

Next, a prototype machine lines the new larger tunnel.

Meanwhile, inside the existing tube, trains continue to run.

Then, with the services halted for the weekend, the old section of cast -iron

tunnel is removed and the two underground lines are connected.

This is where the new tunnel joins with the old tunnel.

It's really awesome to see a train running in the underground because it's

restricted area, and normally you can't see this.

This has been the biggest project I've ever been involved in.

I'm really excited about seeing it complete.

Back on site, the team still faces one of the biggest challenges of the

Battersea Power Station project.

We think we need an order of 1 .75 million for it.

To tackle this 21st century problem, engineers will need to look to the past.

You can totally see it's glowing almost bright white.

In the heart of London,

Battersea Power Station, once an essential piece of infrastructure that

electricity to the capital, is being reborn.

After laying derelict for more than 30 years, today engineers are converting

this iconic structure into a brand new neighborhood.

where future generations will live, work, and play.

So far, the structure's four famous chimneys have been rebuilt, with one of

transformed into a unique glass elevator that will offer visitors stunning views

across the city.

27 ,000 tons of steel has helped to construct 14 new floors.

And the London Underground has been extended by nearly two miles, giving

Battersea its own station.

But on site... We've just got a ramp here.

Be careful here.

Project manager Nacho O 'Leary still has one final, crucial problem to crack.

Battersea Power Station is one of the biggest brick buildings in Europe.

Over a number of years, the bricks have been exposed to the elements of water

and also to wind.

A number of the bricks that you can see have already defaced, just purely down

to the lack of maintenance that happened for about 30 years whilst the building

laid open.

In total, over 6 million bricks were laid by hand when the structure was

originally constructed back in 1929.

But more than nine decades later, this aging brickwork is presenting a problem

for Nacho and the team.

Where we've had the water ingress come through, some of the damage has meant

that a lot of the bricks are actually unstable.

This is a prime example.

It's got a lot of mortar around it, and this crumbles away quite easily.

The mortar is actually not holding the bricks in at heights of 56, 58 meters

high. We're having to take out the unsafe structure to make sure that

damage to the builders below.

With the crumbling, weathered bricks and mortar in the process of being removed,

Engineers will need to replace them with new materials. But this presents a huge

problem. We think we need in the order of 1 .75 million bricks just for

replacement. So that's not including the new walls that have gone up. That's

just replacing bricks that have been exposed over time to the elements.

But making 1 .75 million new bricks that match the original is a huge challenge.

Engineers will need to look back to the 19th century for the solution.

Archaeologist Kathy Newland is in Gloucester, England, exploring how an

brick production technique could help make millions of bricks for Battersea.

Bricks are absolutely essential in the Industrial Revolution.

You've got all these infrastructure projects. You've got canals, you've got

bridges, you've got housing, you've got factories.

All those things absolutely depend on bricks.

The problem was that brickwork simply couldn't keep up with the enormous

Making bricks is actually quite a fine art.

You've got to heat it up really slowly, really gently, hold it at firing

temperature for a perfect amount of time, and then cool it just as gently.

If you do it right, you get something like this.

If you do it wrong...

You're going to get this.

Boldy, cracky, not fired properly, not structurally sound, absolutely no good

for engineering.

And it's a process you just can't rush.

Fortunately, in 1858, German engineer Friedrich Hoffmann invented a system

would revolutionize production.

Rather than using separate ovens to fire bricks, Hoffman's innovation used

multiple interconnected chambers that allowed heat to pass between them,

a vast number of bricks at the same time.

At the Northcott Brickworks, their gigantic Hoffman kiln measures 130 feet

64 feet long, and is capable of holding up to 264 ,000 bricks.

If we look in the ceiling, we can see feed holes. This is where the fuel comes

in. Right at the beginning, in the 1850s, this would all have been coal

down around the bricks.

And if we look down in the corner, down here, there's a second set of holes

really low down. These are called the trace holes. And they are kind of the

genius bit of Hoffman's invention.

They allow you to use the hot gases from the combustion chambers, draw it

through all of your other chambers to preheat those bricks.

And that's why Hoffman design is so cutting edge. It saves you time, because

they're already preheated, and it saves you money that you're not spending on

coal.

When one set of bricks is being fired, the chambers near it warm up too.

So when the next chamber is fired, the bricks are already preheated.

And when bricks are finished, they're kept warm, allowing them to cool slowly.

That's the first chamber, and that's being set.

The second chamber here, bricks are all in there. There's something like 16 ,000

bricks packed into that little space.

And then you brick it off with these bricks, which is what you call the door.

And then we go down to the third chamber where the bricks have been sealed.

You've had this sort of clay mixture put on it to keep all the air out to make a

decent seal.

And then round here is where it gets really hot.

Now this is all ready to go and it is being fired.

It's 940 degrees in here and it will be kept to that temperature for another six

hours.

And it's really throwing out some heat.

Now coming round this corner, this one's cooling down, making sure those bricks

come out perfectly.

It takes about three days to get from a freshly fired chamber to cool enough to

deal with.

Having a Hoffman kiln could increase a factory's production from 2 million

bricks a year to 20 million.

Thanks to Hoffman and his innovative kiln, enough bricks could finally be

produced to meet the demands of the Industrial Revolution.

And because of the savings in time and in fuel, two Hoffman kilns were being

built all over the world.

Hoffman's pioneering kiln proved so effective and durable, some are still in

today. And Battersea Power Station's engineers... This kiln is so good that

is as efficient as a modern -day kiln.

...will put one in particular to good use.

To meet their need for over a million new bricks, the engineers at Battersea

Power Station... have turned to this historic Hoffman Kiln at Northcott

Brickworks.

The very same one that the original bricks for the building were fired in

in 1929.

Overseeing the massive undertaking, Dale Moss is confident that Friedrich

Hoffman's innovation will deliver.

The Hoffman Kiln is vital.

It gives you variation.

It enables the beauty of the brick to be achieved.

Unbelievably, most of the 1 .3 million bricks are being made by hand.

And Dale has an innovative technique to ensure the new bricks precisely match

their 95 -year -old counterparts.

We've developed our own weathering antiquing process where... We can age

bricks to match old buildings.

So we weather them by putting them into water, into weathering fluids for

various times.

The new bricks blend seamlessly with the originals.

Personally, making the bricks the Battersea Power Station is my biggest

achievement.

Back on site.

Bricklayers are painstakingly laying new bricks to carefully match the original

pattern.

There are over seven different types of brick and 20 different types of mortar.

This mammoth task will take around five years to complete.

But at the top of the building, project manager Nacho O 'Leary faces another

problem.

Over 160 feet in the air, here it's too difficult, dangerous, and time

-consuming for workers to lay individual bricks by hand.

This is the east wall of the boiler house.

We've had to replace the bricks that were originally here.

There's about 750 ,000 bricks in this facade alone.

So, to speed things up, the team created giant 13 -foot square brick panels.

that can be lifted into place quickly and safely by a crane.

By using panels, not only was it easier for us to install and had less impact on

other works going on, but it was a lot quicker way for us to actually mount the

volume of bricks we had to the wall to form the wall itself.

That reduces risk on site, and that's a massively significant point to flag when

using panels.

This historic power station that stood derelict for decades

has been transformed.

I'm very proud to save this wonderful historic building.

Battersea Power Station is without doubt the most exciting engineering project I

have ever.

been involved in.

It's been a privilege to work on one of the largest brick buildings in the

world.

And it's a very proud project for me to be involved with.

The thing that I think we like most about it is the challenge.

The engineering skill behind it has been tremendous.

Inspired by the innovators of the past.

By adapting their ideas.

and refining their design.

I'm really excited about the opportunity to be a part of this project that will

push the boundaries of structural engineering.

Engineers have breathed new life into this iconic structure.

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