Super Skyscrapers, C5

[droopsnoot]

Anyone else seen this? Last night was about the Shanghai tower, though it wasn't finished at the time of filming so a bit of a poor ending. Also had the usual false jeopardy, will they finish the section of outer skin before the typhoon season starts and rips it all off the side of the building?

If (like me) you don't like heights, there's plenty of down-shots from cameras at the top, plenty of people standing on edge of the incomplete framework to guide windows into position. The worst part for me is close to the end, where they show how the tower cranes on the top of the building are raised. Each has two brackets, at the centre and the bottom, and they add one at the top, slide the crane upwards, then remove the lower one. Before the slide, though, some poor guy has to climb down the centre of the crane tower, climb out onto the most rickety bit of scaffolding you've ever seen, clamber around the struts, then test to see if the welded joints that he's now standing on, are up to the job. Then climb back in. All 550m+ up from the ground. There isn't enough money in the world that would persuade me to do that.

It's here: http://www.channel5.com/shows/super-skyscrapers/ep... - looks live I've missed one about the WTC.

[droopsnoot]

Cheers for the link. I had a look through that thinking it looked pretty good, nothing too bad except for that final ladder being a bit rickety, but it's inside the building, all harnessed in place, I could probably do that. Then from around 2m40 I had trouble watching the video, never mind actually being there. Nutter.

I'd really like to get the photos he got, though.

[droopsnoot]

I'd say so, quite interesting but obviously quite light on substance to fit into 45 minutes. I only caught the last half of the one about the Cheesegrater.