No matter whether you’re a PAT tester, a labourer, an architect, a project manager or a groundworker, there’s a huge amount of pride you can take from seeing a building you’ve been working on finished and open to the public.
Sometimes, that pride can come from small projects like making sure an elderly citizen has a working hot water and heating system, or building affordable homes to help young couples make their first step onto the property ladder.
Other times, it’s rewarding to work on a bigger project that leaves a mark on the landscape of a town or city and in the history books. Big infrastructure projects and high-profile public buildings garner a lot of attention and are something you are likely to be reminded of regularly as you pass them by for years after you’ve finished working on them.
So whether you’re involved in construction already or you are considering taking it up as a career, here are some of the most prestigious projects you can be involved in.
Casinos
Over the last 20 years or so, the casino industry has been turned on its head. Online operators have made table games and slots far more accessible, allowing players to enjoy them from home or anywhere else with an internet connection. The competition among these online casinos is strong, leading to many running promotions for free spins and other bonuses as part of their marketing efforts.
Despite the growth of online offerings, integrated resorts such as those in cities like Las Vegas, Macau, and Atlantic City continue to be both popular and profitable. These facilities often offer much more than just a large gaming floor with retail units, restaurants, bars, cinemas, roller coasters, art galleries, swimming pools and more all under the same roof.
Designing or building a casino is a highlight to any construction professional’s career as it will leave a unique mark on the landscape for decades to come.
The Bellagio in Las Vegas is a famous example of this. This luxury resort, located on the Vegas strip, was only opened in 1998 but has captured the hearts and minds of people from all around the world with its majestic dancing fountains and opulent architecture. Others in the city, such as The Strat and the Mandalay Bay, pierce the skyline and can be visible from most of the city.
Municipal Buildings
Some of the most famous buildings in the world are used to house governments, heads of state, and the other state apparatus required to run a country or region. This includes Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament, the White House, the US Capitol, the Kremlin, the Reichstag, and the Élysée Palace.
Even if you think about your local town or city, government buildings are often some of the grandest.
These structures are often designed to be impressive, projecting power and status, and to stand the test of time, acting as a metaphor for the institutions they house.
Some take on extra functions too, becoming the focal point of public events or even being featured in Hollywood movies. For example, Liverpool’s St George’s Hall was originally built as a public hospital but has also functioned as a concert hall and provides office space for some of Liverpool City Council’s functions.
It’s also been used to film scenes in Harry Potter, The Batman and Creed, and the outside is often the start or endpoint of parades and marches.
Having been finished in 1854, the building has outlived all of the people who worked on it and several generations after them. And with Grade I listed status, St George’s Hall will continue to be an important part of Liverpool city centre for generations to come.
Tunnels and Bridges
Humans have always tried to adapt their surroundings to help them live more comfortably. One way to do this is to reduce the amount of time we have to spend travelling, building bridges or digging tunnels to help connect communities and boost trade.
Primitive bridges were just spans of wood or other materials and weren’t typically very long. However, as time has gone on, our understanding of physics has grown stronger and our engineering techniques have improved, allowing us to bridge wider and wider gaps and connect more people.
Some of the most impressive and iconic examples of this from the past include the Channel Tunnel, which physically connected the United Kingdom to continental Europe for the first time since Doggerland was flooded around 8,000 years ago, and the Golden Gate Bridge that links the two landmasses on either side of San Francisco Bay, making journeys last just 20 minutes instead of several hours.
Hospitals
Hospitals may not be as glamorous as a tunnel that connects two continents, or a Las Vegas casino that gets featured in hundreds of Hollywood movies, but they serve a vital function in society. They help bring us into the world and they provide care when we’re in need for the rest of our lives.
Working on buildings that play such key roles in society is something you can definitely be proud of.
From a technical standpoint, hospitals are actually marvels of engineering too. They’re not just large brick shells filled with rows of beds, the mechanical and electrical installations are extensive. Most wards require piped oxygen to each bed, which throws up technical and safety challenges.
Most also require ventilation systems that keep out dust and dirt, resulting in miles and miles of pipework. Additionally, the sheer volume of electrical appliances involved can mean that PAT testing becomes a full-time job akin to painting the Forth Bridge when checking each device every 12 months.
Like municipal buildings, hospitals often stand for a long time, so working on their construction will mean you have a lasting reminder of the hard work and effort you put in to improve the lives of your community.
In Conclusion
Construction projects big and small always have the potential to leave us with a warm tingly feeling of pride and a sense of accomplishment. Whether it’s on a micro-level of helping one person improve their living conditions or on the much bigger scale of providing facilities for an entire town, being involved in and completing a construction project is immensely rewarding.
