Monster Moves

Moving can be stressful, but transporting an entire
house in one piece sounds almost impossible.
This is the kind of daunting challenge facing teams
of structural movers in the third series of Monster
Moves, which features some of the most daring
relocation projects ever undertaken. This week’s
show follows two teams of engineers as they
attempt to move two enormous homes to new
locations. In Seattle, a pair of newlyweds want to
move a period house into the city. And in Texas, a
building collector dreams of transporting a stone
mansion for his mother.

Moving can be stressful, but transporting an entire
house in one piece sounds almost impossible.
This is the kind of daunting challenge facing teams
of structural movers in the third series of Monster
Moves, which features some of the most daring
relocation projects ever undertaken. This week’s
show follows two teams of engineers as they each
attempt to move enormous historic structures to
new homes. In Iowa, a huge hall is dragged across
a city; and in Canada, an old plane has to be
moved to a museum.
In this week’s Monster Moves, two teams of
movers attempt to haul two huge historic items to
new locations. In Des Moines, Iowa, house hauler
Jeremy Patterson attempts to relocate the largest
structure to be shifted in the world this year – the
immense 700-tonne Murillo Hall. This enormous
building needs to be hauled a distance of one
kilometre – right through the middle of bustling Des Moines city.

Moving can be stressful, but transporting an entire
house in one piece sounds almost impossible.
This is the kind of daunting challenge facing teams
of structural movers in the third series of Monster
Moves, which features some of the most daring
relocation projects ever undertaken. This week’s
show follows two teams of engineers as they each
attempt to move enormous historic structures to
new homes. In Iowa, a huge hall is dragged across
a city; and in Canada, an old plane has to be
moved to a museum.
In this week’s Monster Moves, two teams of
movers attempt to haul two huge historic items to
new locations. In Des Moines, Iowa, house hauler
Jeremy Patterson attempts to relocate the largest
structure to be shifted in the world this year – the
immense 700-tonne Murillo Hall. This enormous
building needs to be hauled a distance of one
kilometre – right through the middle of bustling Des
Moines city.

Moving house can be stressful, but transporting an entire house in one piece sounds almost impossible. This is the kind of daunting challenge facing teams of structural movers in the third series of Monster Moves, which features some of the most daring relocation projects ever undertaken. In this instalment, the challenge is to transport a vintage steam locomotive 10,000 km across two continents.

This week, a team of British engineers led by expert heavy hauler and steam enthusiast Andrew Goodman heads to Bloemfontein in South Africa on a rescue mission. Their quarry is the 15F 3007 – a classic, 100-tonne steam locomotive made over 60 years ago in Glasgow. In the first half of the 20th century, the North British Locomotive Company built locomotives and shipped them all over the world –including some 2,000 to South Africa.

Moving house can be stressful, but transporting an entire house in one piece sounds almost impossible. This is the kind of daunting challenge facing teams of structural movers in the third series of Monster Moves, which features some of the most daring relocation projects ever attempted. This week, an iconic lighthouse must be shifted before it crumbles into the Atlantic Ocean. And in Sweden, an entire mining town needs to be relocated or it will be swallowed up by a mammoth sinkhole.

This season of Monster Moves follows teams of expert movers as they haul supersize structures on road, rail, sea and air journeys across Britain, America, Canada, South Africa, Egypt, Sweden and America. This year, the structures are bigger, the routes are longer and riskier –and the stakes for the haulers and owners are much higher. This week’s episode shows how Mother Nature can wreak havoc on man-made structures and force movers to race against time.

Moving house can be stressful, but transporting the entire house in one piece without it falling apart is a logistical nightmare. This is the kind of daunting challenge facing teams of structural movers in the third series of Monster Moves, which returns with some of the most daring relocation projects ever attempted. The series begins with a special programme revealing how 20 Egyptian temples were rescued from the rising waters of the River Nile in the 1960s.

Monday 19 February, 20.00–21.00 on FIVE

Imagine having to move not just the contents of a house but the whole structure – brick walls, roof and all – in one piece, without it falling apart. Or imagine having to move trains through the air in the middle of a busy city centre. These are the types of daunting challenges facing teams of experts in this fascinating series. In tonight’s programme, two teams of experts face very different challenges. In London, 20 refurbished underground-train carriages must be placed in a tunnel that is sealed at both ends. Meanwhile, deep in the Canadian hinterland, a pair of aircraft enthusiasts are desperate to raise the remains of a Fokker plane that has sat at the bottom of a lake for 75 years.

Every day, more than three million people pile onto the biggest metro network in the world – the London Underground – so it is not surprising that it sometimes requires attention. After a five-month overhaul, the Waterloo & City Line is almost ready to re-open; all it needs are the trains. The problem is, this particular line runs along a tunnel that is sealed at both ends. The fact that neither Bank nor Waterloo has an easily accessible depot means that the carriages must be fed into the tunnel through a narrow hole in the street. “It’s 15 metres into the depot, and we’ve got to land the train onto rails which are only 7 centimetres wide,” says site manager John Chenery. “There is only one piece of machinery we can use in a situation like this and that’s a crane.”

Monday 12 February: 20.00–21.00

Imagine having to move not just the contents of a house but the whole structure – brick walls, roof and all – in one piece, without it falling apart. This is the type of daunting challenge facing teams of experts in this fascinating series. Tonight’s episode sees the ‘monster movers’ take on the seemingly impossible task of moving enough buildings to house entire communities. One visionary developer must transport a flotilla of fully built luxury mansions from the construction site to his marina village, while a property tycoon creates the first-ever house factory, capable of producing entire streets.

In Victoria, Canada, developer Mark Lindholm has spent years planning the construction of Westbay Marine Village, a collection of houses that will float together in ‘streets’ on the water. “Anything’s possible,” he says. “You can put elevators in… Anything you would do on land.” Prospective buyers such as Ken and Deanna Stratford want to move in six months and describe his plans as “everything we would be looking for” – but how can Mark’s team of construction workers build the aquatic town, without disturbing the local community, in limited time?

Monday 5 February: 20.00–21.00

For some people, moving house does not mean packing belongings and hiring a van – sometimes it means lifting a building off the ground and placing it on a different plot. In this continuing documentary series, we meet the people who make this seemingly impossible task happen. In some cases buildings are moved just metres away from their original position so that a new road can be built; while in others, owners might love their property but no longer like the area and decide to relocate the hard way. In this new edition, the focus turns to two churches – in Iowa and Florida respectively – that, for two very different reasons, need to be raised from their foundations and given a new home.

On Florida’s gulf coast in the town of Sarasota, Crocker Church is due to be moved across town as its location is considered prime real estate. Ironically, the area used to be undesirable before the church was built over a century ago, but its presence proved to be a positive influence in the community and helped to make it into the thriving area it is today. The church is a listed building and cannot be demolished – but there is nothing to stop it being moved. Like most old buildings, it is stable enough while entrenched in its foundations, but when moved, it will become structurally fragile.

Monday 29 January: 20.00–21.00

Imagine having to move not just the contents of a house but the whole structure – brick walls, roof and all – in one piece, without it falling apart. This is the type of daunting challenge facing teams of building-movers in this fascinating returning series.

There are all kinds of reasons why someone might choose to have their entire house moved to a different location. Often it is because the property holds sentimental value. In the first of four programmes we meet Rose, whose house on the outskirts of St Louis, Missouri, has been in her family for more than 100 years. “It’s very much more than just a piece of property,” she says tearfully. “It’s family.”

In 1959 a highway was built across Rose’s farm, turning the land into prime real estate. For three decades she has been fighting off developers who want to demolish her property to make way for a shopping centre. In a final bid to persuade her, developers have said they will move her whole farmstead half a mile to the east. Rose has agreed – on the strict understanding that every single historic feature, including the outbuildings and the 130- year-old fence, will be moved in order to recreate the exact layout of the original house. This programme follows every nailbiting step of the move, which will cost more than £500,000.

Coming soon...
This fascinating series tells the stories of people for whom moving home is several times more stressful than the average. Imagine having to move not just the contents of a house but the whole thing – brick walls, roof and all – in one piece, without it falling apart. This is the kind of daunting challenge facing teams of building movers in Monster Moves.

In the first of four programmes we meet Rose, whose house on the outskirts of St Louis, Missouri, has been in her family for more than 100 years. In 1959 a highway was built across her farm, turning the land into prime real estate. For three decades Rose has been fighting off developers who want to demolish her property to make way for a shopping centre. In a final bid to persuade her, developers have said they will move her whole farmstead half a mile to the east. Rose has agreed – on the strict understanding that every single historic feature, including the outbuildings and the 130-year-old fence, will be moved in order to recreate the exact layout of the original house. This programme follows every nailbiting step of the move, which will cost more than £500,000.