Most Expensive Construction Mistakes In The World

Ever heard about the Shanghai apartment block which toppled over in the middle of the night? What about the London office block that accidentally transformed into a deadly heat ray? Today we’re donning our hard-hats and exploring the most expensive construction mistakes in the world.

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Imagery supplied via Getty Images

[zew]

Not construction errors, design errors.

[adonisvan]

California high speed rail deserves a spot on the top

[GB-gogp]

If there was ever a name to curse a building, it would be 'Millennium'. I was sent to "fix" the Millennium Tower in Seattle, after a window washer noticed that part of the façade under the windows in the penthouse we're about ready to pop off. That was caused when one of the header beams was installed upside-down.

(Structural steel beams are made with a camber on top, so when the walls, fixtures, etc. are placed, the beam will flatten out. Next time you see an empty flatbed trailer, notice the hump in it, which will settle when loaded)

So, instead of the header beam flattening when loaded, it was sagging enough to cause pieces to fall off. The best we could do was to jack up the upside-down beam up until it was flat, put about a million brace between it and the beam below it, and as Ironworkers like to say... "weld the 'S' out of it"

[gtw]

Burj Khalifa not being connected to the city's sewage system and having to ship out the raw sewage by truck convoys deserves a mention!

[ENGBriseB]

London's 20 Fenchurch Street. It's not called a pint class. It's "The Walkie Talkie"

[chrispaw]

Im a local Londoner and i’ve never heard anyone call 20 Fenchurch street the Pint Glass….ever.

[ben]

You should note the date of these items. When discussing “galloping girdy “ you show the current and safely built modern bridges over the Tacoma narrows giving the the viewer a real misunderstanding.

[kennygee]

“Everyone thought I was an 🤷🏽‍♂️🤷🏽‍♂️4:15 😂😂

[BukuiZhao]

The first clips in the video were intentional demolitions not unintentional mistakes leading to a collapse.

[philosophkadser]

You could do an entire video about german buildings, like Berlin airport, Stuttgart 21 and so on.

[alancarre]

You should have included Montreal's Olympic Stadium, aptly referred to as "The Big O". Oh what a disaster that was... still paying for it today.

[Fieldsonyoutube]

II always heard 20 Fenchurch street was nicknamed the "Walkie talkie" tower block, untill this video was the first I heard it as the "Pint Glass"

[b_altmann]

20 Fenchurch Street is called “the walkie talkie”

[fozzybear]

Australia is ot a young country, by the way- it is at least 40, 000 years old, and the original inhabitants- the Aborigines- have been here for all that time.

[NickCBax]

I’m pretty sure the Tacoma Narrows summary isn’t even accurate. The cause of its collapse was wind induced oscillations, it got completely redesigned, not just a stiffer road deck.

[leafii.]

Not me literally being surprised by the Sydney opera house when it was made after an orange slice-

[tomross]

The one in fenchurch street is called the wallow talkie building not the pint glass broski

[JuliusUnique]

5:02 18 inches? pls use metric units lol

[valtteripennanen]

the common term for all these construction mistakes is "faking it until making it, unless proves otherwise"

[danielpalmer]

The Chicago Tower was not originally called the Amoco building. It was named for the Standard Oil corporation. Chicagoans referred to it as "Big Stan."