Engineering is nothing if not labour intensive – from the calculations on the drawing board to tightening the screws on the final fixtures and fittings. If any single piece of machinery revolutionised the construction industry, it’s the excavator. Making light work of the hardest tasks, even the most ordinary machines can dig a hole big enough to bury a house with just 10 quick digs.

Bigger examples, like the Hitachi Ex5500, can fill four 10-ton tipper trucks with just one bucket. Specifically designed for mining and quarrying applications, the twin-engine ex5500 is heavier than a jumbo jet. With each engine measuring 50.3l, it has the combined power equivalent to 100 small family cars – and a decidedly un-nippy top speed of just 2.2kmph.

Taking the idea of mechanised digging to extremes, the Krupp Fördertechnik giant bucket wheel excavator is a wonder of modern engineering. Specially designed for open cast mining – it weighs more than 200 Challenger tanks. It has a digging height of 100m, and shifts enough earth every day to fill London’s Albert Hall twice over. Towering to a height of almost 100m and covering a length of two-and-a-half football pitches, this engineering behemoth is so huge it has to be operated by five individual drivers.