People have been building things for a long, long time. A lot of mind-blowing records have been set and strange and amusing schemes carried out over the thousands of years that we’ve been engaged in construction. To brighten up your Wednesday, we have put together a list of ten things that have happened in this industry. Enjoy reading!

  1. A 57-story skyscraper was built in China in just 19 days. CLICK HERE to see the video!
  2. Robots are building a 3D printed bridge all by themselves.
  3. The famous 1932 photo of “Lunch Atop a Skyscraper” was taken on the 69th floor by Charles Ebbets, just months before construction of the building was completed. This photo was made into a highly commercialized poster and shows 11 men sitting on a beam of the GE building eating lunch.
  4. The Great Pyramid of Giza was the tallest building in the world for over 3,800 years and one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
  5. The average age of a construction employee is 40. An increase in training is needed across the industry.
  6. The forecast spend on all construction for the three years to the end of 2017 is $106 billion….!
  7. In 2011 – 2013, China used more cement than the US had done in a century, a total of 6.6 billion tons of cement. To get an understanding on how much that is, it’s the same as building a parking lot on Hawaii which would cover the whole island. One reason for this is that China is urbanizing at a historic rate, much faster than the US. More than 20 million Chinese people move to cities each year.
  8. The largest building in the world by volume is the Boeing Factory in Everett, Washington. It has a floor area of 4.3 million square feet and a volume of 472 million cubic feet.
  9. The Statue of Liberty’s full name is Liberty Enlightening the World.

What are your thoughts? Feel free to email me here – admin@tradextra.co.nz – if you have any further interesting facts about the Construction Industry!