Watch S1, EP6: Grounded at the Gate with Fubo for $0 Today

HDConstruction Fails1hNational Geographic

When this UK power station reached the end of the road, it took all the power with it; the crawler crane: these giants lift heavy things, but sometimes operators make errors, mistakes that can bring the mightiest crawler down to earth; landslides: whether it's the weather or just bad timing, when soil gets wet, the ground is no longer solid and everything goes downhill from there; construction tires: on axles they support mighty loads, but when axles fail, tires go rogue, and stuff gets broken.

When this UK power station reached the end of the road, it took all the power with it; the crawler crane: these giants lift heavy things, but sometimes operators make errors, mistakes that can bring the mightiest crawler down to earth; landslides: whether it's the weather or just bad timing, when soil gets wet, the ground is no longer solid and everything goes downhill from there; construction tires: on axles they support mighty loads, but when axles fail, tires go rogue, and stuff gets broken.

How to watch

More episodes

Construction Fails

S1, EP3 "Glass Half Shattered"

Glass: one of the most versatile materials in the construction world; it's both practical and beautiful, but when it fails it's not all it's cracked up to be; excavators: when what goes up must come down, these daring destroyers are the machines to get it done; Atlanta's Georgia Dome dropped like a stone, but in Detroit, the Pontiac Silverdome roof fell, but the building didn't; two cranes, fifty tons of steel, the pesky laws of gravity and one giant hole — what could go wrong? Everything.

Construction Fails

S1, EP4 "Modern Designs, Modern Problems"

Urban construction relies on two types of cranes to hoist the next high-rise, but when they fail, they make one big mess; amusement parks use intense G-forces to thrill us, but when the ride comes to a sudden stop, all that power can turn against us; hurricanes and typhoons; these ferocious winds can knock you off your feet or blow down a building; escalators are great for moving a lot of people quickly, but not so great when they move a lot of people onto a lot of people.

Construction Fails

S1, EP5 "Collapse and Control"

The construction of the Hard Rock in the Big Easy suddenly crumples, turning construction into destruction; tunnels are engineering marvels; cutting through the landscape, they create direct routes from A to B, until they cave in; a bridge construction in Miami, hailed as the first of its kind, suddenly collapses, becoming the worst of its kind; electricity is a miracle of modern science, until the power fails, and when our infrastructure fails, things go off with a bang!

Construction Fails

S1, EP6 "Grounded at the Gate"

When this UK power station reached the end of the road, it took all the power with it; the crawler crane: these giants lift heavy things, but sometimes operators make errors, mistakes that can bring the mightiest crawler down to earth; landslides: whether it's the weather or just bad timing, when soil gets wet, the ground is no longer solid and everything goes downhill from there; construction tires: on axles they support mighty loads, but when axles fail, tires go rogue, and stuff gets broken.

Construction Fails

S1, EP2 "Cathedral Catastrophe"

It's an 800-year-old icon, an irreplaceable treasure, with a state-of-the-art smoke detector; how did Notre Dame cathedral catch fire? We go up them and down them, sometimes we fall down them; no one thinks about stairs until they make us; is using our feet all in our heads? Giant smokestacks push our junk into the sky, but when they become junk themselves, they get blown to bits; when the earth quakes, even the biggest structures can fail; is there such a thing as an earthquake-proof building?

Construction Fails

S1, EP1 "Implode, Ignite, Collapse"

When a Dutch city replaces a drawbridge, a breeze turns the bridge into a giant sail and everything goes sideways; in controlled demolition, you push a button and knock it down, but why do some buildings just fail to fall? The ground beneath our feet is not as solid as it looks, especially when it's under wheels; welcome to the wonderful world of sinkholes; buildings are built to stand the test of time, but sometimes time runs out and what's supposed to be up for decades, goes down in seconds.

Using real footage and CGI, the series reveals what went wrong, why it happened, and how disasters from major collapses to costly mistakes could have been prevented.
Original Air Date: Sep 14, 2026
Playback: HD
1 seasons available on demand
Available on

More technology shows

See all

American Built

Delving into the vision, design and ingenuity behind extraordinary projects that capture the American spirit.

Modern Marvels

Celebrating ingenuity, invention and imagination on a grand scale, "Modern Marvels" tells the amazing stories of the doers, dreamers and sometime-schemers who create everyday items, technological advancements and man-made wonders. From the Statue of Liberty to distilled spirits, and canals to bridges, no subject seems out of reach. Science, technology, electronics, mechanics, engineering, architecture, industry, mass production, manufacturing, and agriculture are just some of the many topics that have been covered during the long-running series.

Tech Toys 360

Exploring the most up-to-date high-tech gadgetry, super distinct designs and revolutionary vehicles.

Ice Road Truckers

Truckers with nerves of steel take their lives in their hands driving heavily loaded vehicles across frozen lakes to deliver supplies to remote locations in Canada and Alaska. Whether they're bringing supplies to Canadian diamond mines, supplying offshore oil rigs in Alaska or even charting new territory driving over frozen swamps and rivers to bring much-needed supplies to small towns, these extreme truckers face troubles from their machines and from Mother Nature.

Explore {{ type }} on Fubo

Action

Comedy

Documentary

Drama

Family

Home/Cooking

Horror

Music

Nature

News/Talk

Reality

Romance

Science Fiction

Sports