Original subtitles

[Narrator] These are the engineering wonders

of the Nordic region.

Their secrets revealed in a way never seen before.

Nordic engineers build in extreme conditions,

creating spectacular superstructures

and frozen wonders.

They break boundaries with innovative watercraft

and wooden marvels

on a breathtaking scale.

In this series, we reveal the secrets of the engineering

that built Europe's great nations,

the wonders that shape its cities,

landscapes, and history.

We reveal the astonishing innovations

and surprising connections

that helped forge this mighty continent.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

The Nordic region is a collection of countries

located in northern Europe.

It stretches from Finland

and the Scandinavian countries in the east

to the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland to the west.

The Nordic nations are built on lands of fire and ice.

Today, engineers in this region are united in a battle

to build in extreme environments

and work with nature to forge the future.

From bridges spanning frozen fjords in Norway

to geothermal power plants on Iceland’s dramatic lava fields.

♪ ♪

For centuries, Nordic engineers have tamed

some of the world's most extreme environments

with extreme engineering.

♪ ♪

From deep fjords to snow-covered mountains,

engineers have conquered these lands with pioneering projects.

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is built

130 meters into a frozen mountain

in the outer reaches of the Arctic Circle.

It’s designed to safeguard the world’s food plants.

Engineers battled the elements to build this wind farm

on a desolate mountain range

inside the Arctic Circle in Norway.

On Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula,

a pioneering engineering project is underway

to combat an extreme threat.

♪ ♪

Iceland's volcanic landscape is dotted

with critical infrastructure,

including the world famous Blue Lagoon tourist resort

and its neighboring geothermal power station.

The power station generates electricity and hot water

for 30,000 people, and the lagoon is one of Iceland's

top tourist destinations.

♪ ♪

Engineers in monster machines are working around the clock

here to build a unique superstructure.

Colossal barriers, the height of office blocks.

The barriers perform a crucial role

protecting these vital economic cogs

from the imminent threat of volcanic eruptions.

Six volcanic systems lie across the peninsula.

They became active in 2021,

having lain dormant for the last 800 years.

Engineers immediately began a colossal

barrier-building project to divert searing hot lava flows

away from key locations.

♪ ♪

Horn Hrafnsdóttir is the driving force

behind the barrier project.

[Horn Hrafnsdóttir] What we are trying to protect

is the Blue Lagoon and the geothermal power plants

that we can see over there.

[Narrator] Horn uses state-of-the-art computer simulations

to predict the path of future lava flows,

so she knows where to build the barriers.

Now, the team is racing to raise the height

of this barrier and plug gaps along the route

before the next eruption strikes.

To do this, the team's first job is to collect

the raw material they need.

The landscape here is filled with solidified lava

from thousands of years of eruptions.

It’s perfect for building durable barriers.

So the engineers use explosives to break it up.

Giant bulldozers then scoop and fill huge dumper trucks

with the lava and soil mix and transport it to the worksite.

Here, an enormous excavator piles the tough, rocky mix

on top of the key barrier, protecting the Blue Lagoon.

The hot lava from the recent eruption

still steams on the other side of the slope.

Horn uses an aerial camera to track the team’s progress.

[speaking Icelandic]

The drone gives Horn a bird's-eye view

of the entire worksite.

The lava field from the last eruption is easy to spot,

because it’s still too hot for snow to settle on it.

[Horn] So this was the critical point, so we are closing that.

We need the slopes to be good.

So when we have earthquakes, nothing breaks away.

The barriers should work, but it’s always the question,

does Mother Nature intend to change something

and do something else?

[Narrator] Work filling the last gap in the barrier

is now almost complete.

♪ ♪

[Horn] I'm very happy with the work

that’s been done here today.

So we are trying to do our best, and we hope this will work.

[Narrator] The barrier is in good shape.

Now it's a waiting game until the next eruption

to see if their work is enough

to save these vital cogs in Iceland’s economy.

♪ ♪

Nordic engineers have a rich history of harnessing nature

in surprising ways.

Centuries ago, Icelandic builders covered houses

in thick layers of turf for insulation.

In Norway's Lofoten Archipelago,

engineers repurposed this island into a football ground.

Near Rovaniemi, Finland, engineers have found a way

to build with one of the most abundant resources

the Arctic has to offer.

♪ ♪

This winter wonderland is the location

of the Arctic SnowHotel.

It's a huge seasonal resort under construction,

with rooms made from snow and ice.

Once complete, this frozen wonder will feature

20 guest rooms,

an ice bar,

and even a snow chapel.

♪ ♪

Constructing the hotel's rooms from just snow and ice

is no simple task.

The team starts with the exterior walls.

They use a large excavator

to move a special wall mold into place.

The machine has a huge snow-spreading arm

to scoop and crush snow to fill the mold.

♪ ♪

Workers clamber in to compact the snow by hand.

This reduces air gaps

and increases the strength of the wall.

♪ ♪

When finished, the team removes the wall mold

and brings in another to form the interior space and ceiling.

[Narrator] The build team, led by Ville Haavikko,

are three weeks into constructing

this icy mega project.

[Ville Haavikko] Hardest part of building the SnowHotel,

mostly the pressure comes with the time and the weather.

Today, it might be really cold.

Tomorrow, it’s plus degrees.

[Narrator] The hotel is due to open just five days from now,

and Ville's 25-strong team is racing

to complete the roofs in time.

The excavator gets to work, covering the huge mold

with a layer of snow up to a meter thick.

Once finished, they compact it and leave it to set solid.

And then it’s time for the all important inspection.

[Narrator] Each of the SnowHotel's frozen rooms

must be signed off by owner Ville Haavikko

before they’re ready for guests to stay in.

[Ville] So we're going to remove this mold,

and we hope that it will stay there.

Doesn’t get broken.

Looks good.

Looks really good.

[Narrator] Success.

The snowy structure is self-supporting.

[Ville] This was the last mold filling

for building the SnowHotel.

So, really good feelings.

[Narrator] Over the next few days,

Ville's team works around the clock,

adding the finishing touches to the hotel.

They complete the other rooms,

creating unique, hand-carved snow art

and installing intricate ice sculptures.

And to top it off, there’s also a working ice sauna.

Designed for 15-minute sessions,

up to five millimeters of the internal walls melts

each time they turn up the heat,

but without compromising the structure.

Finland's frozen wonder is only open for 15 weeks

before this epic endeavor vanishes

with the arrival of the warmer weather.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Nordic engineers have built megastructures

to traverse their vast region.

The Halogaland Bridge is the longest suspension bridge

within the Arctic Circle

and spans 1,500 meters over a freezing fjord.

The eight-kilometer-long Atlantic Highway in Norway

crisscrosses some of the region’s most remote coastline.

West of Finland's Oulu city, a team of engineers is battling

Arctic temperatures to build a colossal new causeway.

♪ ♪

This winding construction site crossing the frozen Baltic Sea

is the birthplace of a vast new highway,

called the Hailuoto Causeway.

It will carry road traffic

between Finland's Hailuoto Island

and the mainland city of Oulu, a hub for high-tech industries.

♪ ♪

Today, the only way to travel between the two is by ferry.

This new 121 million-euro project will create

an audacious road link across the sea,

consisting of two huge bridges and a raised causeway

made from 1.3 million cubic meters of blasted rock.

When complete, it will be the longest causeway

in the country.

♪ ♪

Building this structure is a Herculean challenge.

The bitterly cold Arctic waters around Hailuoto Island

create a unique problem for engineers.

The causeway's two bridges will stretch

700 meters across the Baltic Sea.

When the water freezes over,

it forms a sheet of shifting sea ice up to a meter thick

that can wreak havoc with structures like bridge pillars.

To prevent this, the team must anchor massive concrete bumpers

called ice breakers into the seabed

that surround each pillar.

[ice creaking]

The bumpers' special shape forces the ice up,

so it breaks under its own weight, protecting the bridge

and its pillars in even the harshest of Arctic winters.

♪ ♪

To create a huge ice breaker,

the team needs a vast amount of concrete, around 50 truckloads.

♪ ♪

Engineers here are now five hours into

a backbreaking 12-hour operation to pour concrete

into this ice breaker's huge pyramid-shaped mold.

Jukka Pakkila oversees this enormous engineering operation.

[Jukka Pakkila] There’s a load every 10 to 15 minutes.

This is a process that keeps going on about 12 hours.

So it’s basically a ballet.

[Narrator] A fleet of trucks empty concrete

into a huge mobile pump.

A giant hose channels it into a mold.

Once empty, each truck heads back to refill,

while another takes its place.

♪ ♪

Pouring this much concrete in one go

creates a surprising problem:

heat.

[Narrator] The more concrete the team

at the Hailuoto Causeway project pours,

the more a peculiar quirk of chemistry

makes their job even harder.

A chemical reaction occurs when concrete begins to set.

It generates heat, which workers must control

to ensure the concrete sets without cracks.

The team pumps liquid coolant through a network of tubes

installed inside the mold

to keep the concrete cool while it hardens.

As day turns to night, the team empties

their final truckload of concrete into the mold.

And workers smooth the surface.

[Narrator] The team will leave the ice breaker to cool

and set solid for five days, then remove the mold.

Over the coming months,

the team must construct the bridges,

finish the rocky causeway, and pave the roadways

before this new highway is due to open in a year’s time.

♪ ♪

For centuries, Nordic engineers have not only mastered

extreme engineering projects,

they have also pioneered the construction

of incredible marine marvels.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Nordic engineers are experts at constructing innovative ways

to traverse the waters that crisscross their lands.

Viking longships were designed for speed and agility,

with a shallow draught that allowed them to navigate

both open seas and rivers.

And in the 17th century, the Kalmar Nyckel helped establish

the first Swedish colony in the United States,

crossing the Atlantic an astonishing eight times.

In Stockholm, Sweden,

a revolutionary new type of electric ferry

is pushing the limits of traveling on water.

This record-breaking all-electric vessel

transports commuters from a nearby island to the city

in half the time of a regular diesel craft.

The vessel resembles a traditional passenger ferry

close to land,

but it undergoes an amazing transformation

when it reaches deeper water.

♪ ♪

It appears to fly,

skimming over the waves like a magic carpet.

This astonishing sailing technique greatly reduces drag,

which increases battery life and minimizes wake.

It allows the ferry to travel much faster

than traditional vessels of a similar size.

The secret to gliding above the waves

lies in ingenious hidden technology.

Two pods extend down from the stern.

Their twin screws can spin up to 3,500 RPM

to accelerate the boat up to 25 knots.

At the bow, a hydrofoil shaped like an aircraft wing,

pushes the ferry up until it’s flying above the waves.

A ring of sensors constantly monitors its position,

and a computer adjusts the hydrofoil 100 times a second,

to give passengers the ultimate smooth ride.

♪ ♪

These groundbreaking electric vessels are being manufactured

in this facility just outside Stockholm.

The craft are so successful that workers here are building

many more for customers around the globe.

Alex Kiviorg oversees production

of around 25 vessels a year.

[Alex Kiviorg] This is the P-12 hull mold.

What's gonna happen today is we're going to open up the mold

and de-mold the hull that’s inside.

[Narrator] Workers use carbon fiber to build

the ferry's hull and superstructure.

This material is both lightweight

and incredibly strong.

They place the fibrous fabric material

into a hull-shaped mold.

They then infuse it with a special glue called an epoxy

and leave it to harden for up to two days.

Once the hull is set solid, it’s time to break it out.

[Alex] There’s going to be a lot of action.

They're going to put in some wedges to push the sides open

and to pop out the hull from the mold.

[Narrator] It's a delicate operation to remove the mold

without damaging the brand new hull inside.

♪ ♪

It takes some good old-fashioned brute force

to drive in the wedges.

After 10 minutes of banging...

[worker groans]

...the hull finally starts to separate from the mold,

and the team prizes the wall panels free.

It’s the moment of truth.

Is the hull in one piece?

[Narrator] The team must now examine the new shell

to ensure there’s no damage to the electric ferry.

[Alex] What we see here is the black is the hull itself now,

and the light blue is the mold,

and now you can see how beautifully the mold released.

♪ ♪

[Narrator] They use a chain winch

mounted on a large steel frame to lift and maneuver

the huge hull across the workshop.

♪ ♪

[Alex] It looks great.

I mean, I’m very happy with how it’s gone today.

[Narrator] The birth of a new hull is cause for celebration.

[Worker] Ready? Cheese.

[All] Cheese!

[Narrator] Over the next seven months,

Alex's team sand and paint the hull,

attach its superstructure, and install the batteries

and the all important hydrofoil wing.

Hydrofoil technology has existed for over a century,

but this modern, fully electric vessel

revolutionizes the concept.

Once complete, the team will ship this craft

to the Middle East, where it will transport passengers

to and from a luxury resort,

with a range of over 70 kilometers per charge,

setting a new standard for travel on water.

♪ ♪

Engineers across the Nordic nations have pioneered

innovative ways to build crossings

over the region’s waterways.

The world famous Oresund Bridge

that connects Denmark and Sweden

has an awe-inspiring design

where the road traffic travels above the railway.

In Norway, the Hardanger suspension bridge helps connect

the country with a span longer than the Golden Gate Bridge.

Outside Copenhagen in Denmark,

one epic bridge project is set

to transform road and rail connections across the region.

♪ ♪

This colossal construction is the new Storstrom Bridge.

At almost four kilometers long,

it will be one of the longest bridges in the country.

Once complete, this 4.1 billion-kroner project

will form a vital artery in the trading route

between Copenhagen and Germany.

Construction on the project begins in 2018.

First, engineers build and install

40 concrete bridge supports

and the huge central pillar on the seabed.

A barge hauls 4,000-ton sections of bridge deck

out to sea, where four enormous winches lift them into place.

♪ ♪

The team is now seven years into this mega project,

and are undertaking one of the final critical stages

of the build:

mounting the bridge’s giant stay cables.

Design manager Barbara Macauley has been involved

with the bridge from the beginning.

[Barbara Macaulay] Today, we're installing the strands

inside the cable stay.

The strands are very important to the structure,

and it's very important they're installed correctly.

They are what is holding the main span of the bridge.

[Narrator] The team must secure a total of 36

super-strong stay cables to ensure the huge central pillar

supports the main span of the bridge.

But installing a stay cable is no easy task.

Each cable is enormous and made up of a series

of smaller individual wires called strands.

♪ ♪

[Barbara] We have anywhere from 60 individual strands

inside one cable stay, up to 103.

So it's essentially lots and lots of parallel wires

making up one cable stay.

[Narrator] To create a single giant cable,

the team's first job is to feed the smaller strands

up to the top of the bridge one by one,

where workers must lock them into place.

Engineers inside the bridge use a winch

to pull each strand up to the top.

[radio chatter]

[speaking foreign language]

[Narrator] Once the strand arrives, the team use

a special cone-shaped wedge to anchor it into the bridge.

[Worker] Okay, now we can put this down.

[Narrator] Now, they must lock the other end of the strand

into the road deck below.

[Worker] Okay, passing wire down.

[Narrator] Another wedge secures the base of the strand.

Next, they use a huge hydraulic jack

to lock the strand into the bridge and pull it tight.

♪ ♪

A computer ensures the jack applies

exactly the right amount of tension to the strand.

♪ ♪

[Worker] Okay.

[Barbara] That was another one of the strands of the 103

for the stay cable successfully installed.

[Narrator] The team must secure more than 2,800 strands

to complete work on the 36 cables

that hold up this pioneering crossing.

The Storstrom Bridge is due to open to vehicles

in less than a year, marking a new chapter

in Denmark's drive to conquer the water

that surrounds this small Nordic nation.

♪ ♪

Nordic engineers have not only pioneered the creation

of innovative marine marvels,

they have also pushed the limits of design

and construction to create awe-inspiring architecture.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Nordic innovators harnessed timber from their vast forests

to build extraordinary wooden wonders over the centuries.

In Norway, medieval architects built

colorful timber structures to create the Bryggen wharf.

And across the country, workers build spectacular

timber hideaways high in the treetops.

A pioneering construction in Stockholm, Sweden,

will soon be the biggest timber construction

the city has ever seen.

♪ ♪

This mammoth construction site is Wood City.

The build team here is just eight months

into an innovative 15-year mega redevelopment project

to construct the world’s largest wooden city.

[Narrator] Stockholm's Wood City will transform

this old industrial area.

2,000 homes, 7,000 offices,

a quarter of a million square meters

of living and working space,

with its own school and restaurants

all built from wood.

This huge sustainable project

is estimated to cost one billion euros.

Building timber structures is no simple task,

and with such a vast project,

the team must work fast to keep the build on schedule.

[Narrator] Building with wood is faster and uses far less carbon

than steel and concrete.

It's also a natural insulator,

which will help to make the city cheaper to heat.

Project manager Hakan Hyllengren oversees

construction on this groundbreaking

timber metropolis.

[Hakan Hyllengren] So today it’s a big day.

We got almost 20 wall panels

we’re gonna lift onto the second floor.

[Narrator] Workers erect each of Wood City's 25 blocks

from bespoke prefabricated wooden panels.

The walls, joints, and upper floors

of these apartment buildings are made entirely from timber.

The biggest advantage of using prefabricated wooden panels

is speed.

Hakan’s team can complete an entire floor in just one week.

♪ ♪

[Hakan] It’s a fast build.

Almost two hours of working,

we already got all the outside walls up and ready.

♪ ♪

[Narrator] The secret to building tall timber structures

lies in how the wooden panels are crafted.

The walls are made from layers of wood,

carefully glued together, rather than a single block.

This ingenious building material

is called cross-laminated timber.

[Hakan] Here you can see the cross-laminated timber.

So you have five layers, and they're all glued together

in different direction, and that's where you get

the strength that can compete with steel and concrete.

♪ ♪

[Narrator] By midafternoon, the build team gears up

to install their final wall panel.

They carefully slot the panel into the gap

and lock it into place.

[Hakan] It’s gone really well, we completed almost 20 panels.

So, job well done.

Really successful day.

[Narrator] The team is set to finish work on Wood City's

residential blocks in a little over a year.

Once the project is complete, the entire wooden city

will totally transform this part of Stockholm,

setting a new standard

for sustainable building with timber.

♪ ♪

Nordic architects have long reached for the stars

with innovative tall structures.

In Sweden, the Turning Torso was the world's first

twisting skyscraper, rotating a full 90 degrees

as it soars 190 meters into the air.

And Copenhagen's Kaktus Towers prick the sky

with their razor-sharp design.

One new structure outside Helsinki, Finland,

is redrawing the country’s skyline.

♪ ♪

Soaring 185 meters into the air,

this enormous edifice is the Prysmian Tower.

When complete, it will become

the tallest building in Finland.

But this is no ordinary skyscraper.

It’s an astonishing vertical factory.

The titanic tower will be used to manufacture

highly-specialized extra-high-voltage

undersea power cables.

The tower is a supercharged cable-coating machine.

At the top, the bare conductor wire

at the heart of an undersea cable

runs into a special machine that coats it

in a thick, protective layer of polyethylene.

In a horizontal factory, the hot molten plastic

could droop and deform, spoiling the sensitive cable.

So this production line is vertical.

In this tower, even the thickest cable

remains perfectly straight.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Construction work begins in 2023.

It takes 24 months to erect the cylindrical structure

floor by floor.

As the building grows taller,

the site's tower crane must grow with it,

jumping up several floors at a time to allow work to continue.

♪ ♪

Now, engineers are racing to complete the tower

by installing huge window panels

on the outer edge of the top floor.

At this height, strong winds can wreak havoc with the build

and make the installation work a monumental challenge.

Site supervisor Ville Hakala is in charge of the operation.

[Ville Hakala] The weather defines

how many windows we can get.

It's one of the biggest and most challenging phases

on this project.

[Narrator] The team uses a special

remote-controlled crane, fitted with suction pads.

They carefully maneuver the giant 400-kilogram window

across the construction floor to the outer rim of the tower.

[Ville] Some people don't want to go on the outer rim at all,

but most of my team is okay with it.

Just don’t look down.

[Narrator] To install the windows at the top

of Finland's tallest tower,

engineers must delicately thread the glass panel

through a web of steel beams.

[Narrator] Once in position, they must perfectly align it

to ensure there are no air gaps.

Then lock it into the skeleton of the building.

Success.

The tower’s final huge exterior window locks into place.

[Ville] It feels very nice that now the job is done.

[Narrator] With their new super tower, the plant will be able

to manufacture up to one kilometer

of extra-high-voltage undersea cables every day.

From here, the cable will travel

to another part of the factory

where machines will wind steel wire armor around it.

♪ ♪

And add a final exterior coating.

It won't be long before undersea cables

manufactured in Finland's tallest tower

are delivering electricity to countries across the globe.

♪ ♪

For centuries, Nordic engineers have been world leaders

in constructing breathtaking wooden wonders

that were built to last.

Urnes Stave Church in Norway is the oldest preserved

wooden building in the country,

dating back to 1130.

Borgund Stave Church features some of the most magnificent

timber carvings of any wooden place of worship.

Inland from the port city of Bergen,

a team of specialists is working to preserve

an historic marvel of Norwegian engineering.

♪ ♪

These soaring mountains and deep fjords

were once home to the fearsome Vikings.

Their marauding came to an end over 900 years ago,

but their mastery of building with wood was preserved.

Their ancestors harnessed these skills to build

this stunning banqueting hall over 700 years ago.

And it stands today as the oldest secular wooden building

in Norway.

[Narrator] A team of architects and researchers

led by Bjorg Agasoster is part of a long-running

research project to record the structure and others like it

for study and preservation.

The team uses a state-of-the-art 3D scanner

to digitally map the entire structure.

[Bjorg Agasoster] We are scanning this building

to understand it more.

It is a very unique building in Norwegian history.

It’s actually one of its kind.

[Narrator] The 3D scanner uses precision laser beams to record

the structure with millimeter accuracy,

creating a digital twin.

Bjorg uses a drone to capture high-resolution images

of the building from above.

[Bjorg] You ready? [Operator] Yeah.

[Bjorg] Shall we take the drone up?

[Operator] Sure.

[Narrator] The aerial images, combined with a 3D scan,

will produce a highly accurate computer-generated model

of the ancient hall.

The team will then use this digital twin as a reference,

comparing future scans to investigate

if the wet and humid climate here

has any deteriorating effect.

[Bjorg] With the climate change,

it’s probably going to rain even more.

So that makes it even more important to document it

and see, after five years, has there been any change?

How has the rain affected it?

[Narrator] Inside the structure, the main banqueting hall

showcases remarkable ancient construction techniques.

The medieval craftsmen used thick wooden posts

to mark out the corners of the room.

They then slotted planks into the posts

to form the sturdy frame, floor, and ceiling.

These techniques hark back to the age of the Vikings.

800 years ago, while the rest of Europe was building

stone cathedrals, the Nordic people used similar technology

to build their mighty stave churches out of wood.

Huge timber posts form a sturdy backbone

with wooden arches for extra strength,

and a ceiling like an upturned Viking longboat

all built without a single metal nail or screw.

Bjorg finds echoes of these historic techniques

in the banqueting hall.

[Bjorg] Here you see one of the staves,

and you have one in each corner,

and they’re all connected by these massive beams.

You can see how the carpenter who did it used his axe,

and it’s quite beautiful.

[Narrator] Once the scanning is complete,

Bjorg feeds the information into a computer

to generate the 3D model.

[Bjorg] Here we have the model,

and so far, it looks really great.

This 3D model will help us to monitor the building

in case something happened.

[Narrator] Thanks to this modern technology,

Bjorg and her team should be able to preserve the building

for generations to come,

no matter what the future brings.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

The Nordic nations are pioneers

of building in extreme landscapes.

Today, their engineers continue to push boundaries,

building in increasingly hostile environments,

while continuing to work with nature

to forge the future of northern Europe.

♪ ♪