Industrial Designing and Construction

When you think of industrial construction, don’t think of building a new house up to my driveway, or my roof or even the road. To have a big thought. Think extensively. Think industrial shapes like the big cans of tomato juice at Costco. Industrial construction businesses design, install and maintain Titanic structures, including power plants, skyscrapers, warehouses, factories, and other large-to-life projects [IDS]. The work to be done on a bridge, dam or oil refinery can be equally diverse.

Industrial construction is a typical form of building requiring specialist training and highly experienced workers who can perform multi-tasks. Many industrial construction companies are large, multi-national firms. The projects are run by the BV of managers, engineers and architects.

To get a better idea of what the workers of this industry do, let’s travel to the Jubail Industrial City of Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest industrial construction project. Located in the eastern part of the country, the Jubail project began in 1975, as the Saudis sought to expand their petrochemical industry [source: Bechtel].

Workers not only built petrochemical and fertilizer plants, an industrial port and a steel work, they also built homes and shops for more than 100,000 people. Jubail City consists of two dozen schools, 14 shopping centers and a golf course. At the peak, the workforce reached 50,000 at a cost of more than $ 40 billion [source: Bettchal]. And it is growing up. Currently, the second phase of the project, Jubail II, is under construction. Workers are building 22 new industrial sites, including the world’s largest desalination facility. They are also expanding road construction, wastewater treatment plants and King Fahd Industrial Port. The total cost of the second phase of the project is $ 3.8 billion [source: Betchtel].

Let me say it again – Industrial construction means arrogant. And nothing is more extreme than the devices they use. For some projects, some lucky drivers get an all-around motor in a 45,500-tonne excavation, the largest in the world. This child can literally move mountains [source: Technology Digest]. If you loved playing with Tonka trucks in the sandbox as a child (I certainly did) then you would love the T-22, the largest dump truck on the planet. Empty, the T-282 weighs 465,000 pounds (210,920.42 kg) and is 24 feet (7.32 m) tall. It can carry 400 tons of material. Drivers often compare trucks to drive to a four-bedroom house [source: History Channel].

Most of us, however, have very little contact with industrial construction projects. Residential construction projects are another matter.