Throng

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?

The answer lies in a construction site 150 miles north of Victoria, where the 30 houses are built to a unique but untested design, with polystyrene-filled foundations. If the houses stay afloat, they must then make an epic journey back, towed by tugboat through the most dangerous straits off Vancouver Island. Once the fully built homes have been successfully transported back over the rough seas, manoeuvring them into neat streets on the marina also proves a logistical nightmare, requiring a 150- tonne crane and creating nail-biting tension amongst the dockside onlookers.

“That’s a little too close for comfort,” says Deanna, as her new home drifts rapidly towards a neighbour’s flagpole. Will a combination of teamwork and innovative technology be enough to keep the floating homes from sinking?

Another property developer, Colorado tycoon David Cohen, hopes to pull off a construction feat that could change housing development forever. His current project is the creation of a production line that builds a new house every week – from start to finish. Streets are mapped out over a plot of land, and the factory temporarily erected at its centre. Here, the walls, floors and roof of each house are put together before plumbing and wiring are installed, while windows, a bathroom and a lick of paint complete the process.

The factory, says Cohen, is unique: “We can build full-sized, traditional houses in a controlled environment, and get them to their foundation without the impediments that would normally make that impossible.” As a result of the expedited process, however, the team are faced with the challenge of hauling more than 200 houses onto their foundations around the factory, against the clock and in the face of adverse weather conditions. Two feet of snow and some bumpy pavements conspire against them, but a bit of teamwork and a lot of bulldozer help smooth the way. Will they achieve their goal and make Newbridge, Colorado the fastest town in the West?