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The challenge | The teams | The designs | The test | The demolition
This week the teams are faced with a daunting task. Using just barrels, pipes, timber and a variety of steel components, they must construct a working aqueduct 12 feet (3.65 metres) high and 60 feet (18.30 metres) long.
The structure will be tested to see if it is capable of carrying 1,321 gallons (5,000 litres) of water along its length without losing a drop. Of course, that's not all they have to achieve. After creating these 21st century versions of Roman engineering, things turn nasty. On day four the teams must try to destroy each other's hard work. The first team to wreck, smash and mangle the best efforts of the opposition, to less than one metre above the ground, wins.
Jason Daniels: Designer
Structural engineer Jason has a catalogue of projects under his belt from motorway service stations to record stores. Not just a dab hand with a pencil and ruler, he's more than happy turning his talents to construction too.
Nigel Binns: Builder
With 29 years of experience, Nigel has worked on water structures before. He's also the site agent who built the outside lifts on the Lloyds Bank building in London.
Richard Maidment: Demolition
Richard says that he's enjoyed every single day of the 22 years he's spent destroying things as his job. Outside work he's a semi-professional super middleweight boxer. Prepare for sparks to fly.
Chani Leahong: Designer
Specialising in low-energy buildings with environmentally conscious design, Chani graduated over three years ago. After a day's work (she's currently working on a university building design) she enjoys action sports like kayaking, surfing and rock climbing.
Andy Ford: Builder
With a degree in mechanical engineering, Andy is more than your average house basher. Apart from normally being Chani's boss at Fulcrum Consulting, Andy is currently working on the world's biggest statue: a 500 feet giant Mitreya Buddha in India.
Terry Quarmby: Demolition
From site labourer to company director, Terry has worked in demolition for over 33 years and gained a crop of qualifications and awards to boot. It's not all destruction though. He's built his own house so he should be extra handy for the challenge.
An aqueduct is basically a bridge built to carry water. Apart from the need to remain watertight, the structure also has to cope with the colossal weight of its liquid cargo. The Demolition Day factor adds that little extra on top: not only do the teams need to think about the physics of constructing the aqueduct, they also have to make it destruction proof.
This team goes for a traditional design with added reinforcement. Using concrete pads as a foundation, corrugated iron boxes are constructed which contain plastic pipe ties for the superstructure. Filled with sand and gravel, the foundation boxes then have oil barrels on top, fixed with cement and steel reinforcements to create columns. On top of the pillars a huge timber and corrugated iron chute is ready to channel the water.
This team starts work on a futuristic design utilising the materials that they have to hand. They uncoil massive reels of plastic water pipe and hold them spaced with huge steel reinforcing rods and additional corrugated iron sheeting. Effectively like a large spring laid on its side, this tubular support will carry the corrugated iron water chute. The structure is very strong but it's lightweight and, it has to be said, not particularly pleasing to the eye.
Judge George Ballinger is chief engineer with British Waterways and even oversaw the engineering of the magnificent millennium project Falkirk Wheel, so he knows his stuff. He's looking for clever design and also the safe transfer of 5,000 litres of water.
The test involves erecting a huge header tank at one end of the aqueduct. This contains the precious water with a 2-metre head, or height, above the chute. At the other end of the aqueduct there's a skip on the ground. The 5,000-litre volume level is marked around the sides. If the skip can be filled without the aqueduct springing a leak, the teams pass the test.
First it's the Crash Test Dummies. Things start off well, but soon a trickle appears at a join in the chute. Once the weight of water builds up, the join becomes a crack and the trickle becomes a waterfall. They fail the test.
Chani's Chain Gang watch with bated breath as their space age design is loaded with water. Not a drop escapes. They fill the skip and successfully pass the test. But which team is the judges' favourites?
In a clever tactical move Terry chooses the PD15 steel shears. He knows they're the best tool for destroying his own team's design so by picking them for himself he denies them to the opposition. Richard chooses the T-Rex-like pulverizer as the next best thing.
The claxon sounds and battle begins. Using the sheers like a grapple to push and pull, the Crash Test Dummies' water chute is smashed to the floor. While Terry directs the machine on to the pillars, Richard is busy crunching away at Chani's giant spring. Unfortunately for him, the spring is so lightweight it continues to bounce back and its skeleton design gives little to grab hold of.
One by one Terry is destroying the Crash Test Dummies' pillars by pushing them over. Richard tries a new tactic and makes his machine drive over Chani's spring from end to end. It's very close as each structure splits, cracks and smashes to smithereens. Finally, the claxon barks as Chani's Chain Gang beat the Crash Test Dummies' structure to the ground just moments ahead of the opposition.
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