About Voyages of Construction

From nuclear submarines and jumbo jet engines to war machinery that helps to keep our troops safe during combat, this series tells the story of how these incredible feats of engineering are made.

Voyages of Construction

In this fascinating three-part series, Britain's iconic and 'secretive' engineering companies reveal how they build the world's most amazing machines. From nuclear submarines and jumbo jet engines to war machinery that helps to keep our troops safe during combat, this series tells the story of how these incredible feats of engineering are made.

Nuclear submarine

From interviews with the people who designed them through to the people that bring to life blueprints, Voyages Of Construction uncovers the ultimate engineering stories.

Fourteen years to design and build and costing around a billion pounds, nuclear submarine the Astute is one of the most technologically advanced and controversial machines in the world. Following this, we then delve into the jumbo jet engine. As Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner makes its inaugural flight, Rolls-Royce engineers celebrate the performance of its revolutionary Trent 1000 jet engines. They're the latest in a family of sophisticated aero engines that have driven Rolls-Royce to become world leaders in the market for jumbo jet engines.

Finally, if you need to build a 'top-secret' piece of equipment in the UK, there's one place many people choose to go: defence contractor QinetiQ. We follow workers at this leading British company on a global journey, as it reveals a handful of their secretive projects.