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  • 10
    May
    2013
    1:08pm, EDT

    World Trade Center becomes tallest US building at 1776 feet

    Gary He / Insider Images via EPA

    The spire for the top of One World Trade Center is hoisted into place at the top of the building in New York City, on May 10, 2013. The spire has been put in place on One World Trade Center bringing the iconic structure to its full, symbolic height of 1776 feet.

    Anthony Quintano / NBC News

    WTC worker Tyler Brown taking in the view after the spire has been installed at the top of One World Trade Center.

    By Matt Murray and Eun Kyung Kim, TODAY

    A crane lifted the last of a 408-foot tall spire on top of One World Trade Center on Friday, a capstone to an emotional 12-year effort to replace the twin towers destroyed by terrorists.

    The 18-piece silver spire will top out the tower at a symbolic 1,776 feet, a nod to the year America signed the Declaration of Independence. The new building is just north of the original towers, now the hallowed ground known as Ground Zero. Continue reading.

    Mark Lennihan / AP

    The final piece of spire is hoisted in place on top of One World Trade Center, on May 10, 2013 in New York. The addition of the spire, and its raising of the building's height to 1,776 feet, would make One World Trade Center the tallest structure in the U.S. and third-tallest in the world.

    Lucas Jackson / Reuters

    Iron workers look at names signed inside of the final piece of the spire on top of the One World Trade Center in New York on May 10, 2013. Workers cheered and whistled as they completed the spire on New York's One World Trade Center on Friday, raising the building to its full height of 1,776 feet and helping fill a void in the skyline left by the September 11, 2001 attacks.

    Lucas Jackson / Reuters

    An iron worker takes a photograph of a crane as it places the final piece of the spire on top of the One World Trade Center in New York on May 10, 2013.

    Anthony Quintano / NBC News

    The skyline of Manhattan from the top of One World Trade Center on May 10, 2013.

    Gary He / Insider Images via EPA

    The spire for the top of One World Trade Center is hoisted into place at the top of the building in New York, on May 10, 2013. The State of Liberty is seen bottom right.

    Also on PhotoBlog:

    • World Trade Center observatory gives visitors views of NYC from 1,250 feet
    • 'Things from the heart': Workers at World Trade Center site scrawl graffiti of defiance, hope
    • Freedom Tower spire arrives in New York City

    Slideshow: The world's tallest skycrapers

    Feng Li / Getty Images

    Reaching for the sky, these buildings and towers compete for the world's attention.

    Launch slideshow

    Follow @NBCNewsPictures

     

    15 comments

    How do we get the people out if there an emergency I know I would have no desire to work above the 2nd floor. Im a chicken.

    Show more
    Explore related topics: new-york, building, construction, world-trade-center, new-york-city, wtc, us-news
  • 18
    Dec
    2012
    9:59am, EST

    'Nail grave' finally removed from construction site in China

    Jon Woo / Reuters

    Villagers carry a gravestone of an ancestral tomb away from a construction site in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, China on December 18, 2012.

    By David R Arnott, NBC News

    AP

    Workers lay the foundations for a residential complex around a solitary tomb site in Taiyuan on December 6, 2012.

    A tomb which was left standing in the middle of a Chinese construction site began to be exhumed on Tuesday.

    Helped by local villagers, family members relocated four coffins containing the remains of the deceased, Reuters reports.

    For seven months a 33-foot mound of earth containing the tomb, the sole survivor from a cemetery that had previously occupied the site, had stood at the center of a building project in the city of Taiyuan, Shanxi province.

    Grave interruption: Building around a tomb in China

    Some reports had called it a "nail grave" — a variant on the term "nail house", which describes those lone homes that stand in the way of development, like nails stuck in a board that can't be pounded down with a hammer.

    'Nail house' holds up traffic as homeowners fight local government

    According to local reports cited by Reuters, the family did not fulfill their agreement with village officers which had required them to move the tomb before December 15, saying instead that they were waiting for an auspicious date to perform the relocation. 

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    Jon Woo / Reuters

    Villagers stand around an ancestral tomb which is being relocated in Taiyuan on December 18, 2012.

    Jon Woo / Reuters

    Villagers carry coffins containing remains from an ancestral tomb in Taiyuan on December 18, 2012.

    5 comments

    I'm impressed they treated the site with so much respect. would never be allowed in the US.

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    Explore related topics: china, asia, grave, tomb, construction, cemetery, world-news, featured
  • 6
    Dec
    2012
    10:21am, EST

    Grave interruption: Building around a tomb in China

    AP

    Workers lay the foundation for a residential complex around a solitary tomb site in Taiyuan, China's Shanxi province, Dec. 6.

    AP

    Workers lay the foundation for a residential complex around a solitary tomb site in Taiyuan, China, Dec. 6.

    Jon Woo / Reuters

    An ancestral tomb, 33 feet high and about 30 square feet, on the construction site of a building in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, in China on Dec. 6.

    AP

    Workers lay the foundation for a residential complex around a solitary tomb site in Taiyuan, China, Dec. 6.

    Developers bought a cemetery and paid villagers to relocate the remains of their loved ones. All except one. The grave has not been moved as the family is waiting for an auspicious date to do so and a reason from the developer for choosing this site, according to the owner of the tomb. The developers are now offering to pay nearly $160,000 to have it moved. The building is scheduled to be completed by April 2013, but for now, construction continues around the gravesite. Last week a home in Zhejiang province, that had been sitting in the middle of a newly built highway as the owners held out for more money, was finally demolished.

    More photos from China on PhotoBlog

    155 comments

    No O.S.H.A. in China. Notice the workers. No hard hats or safety glasses. The dirt mound is Illegally sloped. That thing could break loose and bury the guys working under it. They have no safety standards at all.

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    Explore related topics: china, asia, grave, tomb, construction, cemetery, world-news
  • 19
    Nov
    2012
    12:53am, EST

    Buildings awash with color in Norway

    Cornelius Poppe / AFP - Getty Images

    Buildings of The Barcode Project are pictured at sunset in Oslo, Norway, Nov. 18. The row of new high-rise buildings are part of a redevelopment on former dock and industrial land in central Oslo, due to be completed in 2014.

    Comment

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  • 18
    Oct
    2012
    5:41am, EDT

    Shanghai's relentless evolution

    Aly Song / Reuters

    A resident holds a spittoon as he walks in an area where old residential buildings are being demolished to make room for new skyscrapers in central Shanghai on October 17, 2012.

    Aly Song / Reuters

    A man rests on a motorcycle in front of an advertisement in central Shanghai on October 18, 2012. China likely hit the bottom of a seven-quarter long economic downturn between July and September, but the slowest three months of growth since the depths of the financial crisis and a cloudy housing market outlook make recovery prospects tepid.

    Aly Song / Reuters

    A worker holds a bucket as he builds walls at a construction site in central Shanghai on October 17, 2012.

    By David R Arnott, NBC News

    Figures released on Thursday showed China's economy growing at its slowest pace in three and a half years (still an impressive 7.4 percent), but the constant reinvention of its cities continues apace. 

    Angus Walker, China correspondent for NBC News' U.K. partner ITV News, reported last week on a Chinese family who say they were violently attacked as they tried to protect their home in an area that had been earmarked for development.

    According to Walker, Amnesty International has reported a rise in forced evictions:

    Land, especially in the central parts of China's richest cities, is in high demand. Local governments across the country can make a lot of money if they force poorer people out of their homes and sell the land to property speculators.

    Read more at ITV News and see more images and stories related to housing in China on PhotoBlog.

    Follow @NBCNewsPictures

    Sign up for the NBCNews.com Photos Newsletter

     

    7 comments

    Lived in Shanghai for a couple of years in the mid 80's, when China was just starting to open up economically.

    Show more
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  • 2
    Aug
    2012
    6:59am, EDT

    Jianan Yu / Reuters

    China's property ladder

    A laborer eats dinner in his shelter at the construction site of a residential complex in Hefei, Anhui province, on August 1, 2012.

    The average home price in China's 100 major cities edged up in July for the second straight month, Reuters reports, reinforcing signs of a recovery in the property market even as the government seeks to spur broader economic growth, a private sector survey showed on Wednesday.

    Comment

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  • 4
    Apr
    2012
    9:39am, EDT

    One worker killed in New York crane collapse

    Frank Franklin II / AP

    Fireman remove an injured man from the site of a crane collapse where construction is going on for the 7 line subway extension Tuesday, April 3, in New York. Fire officials say a crane collapse at a Manhattan construction site has injured two people.

    Frank Franklin II / AP

    Emergency personel remove an injured man from the site of a crane collapse where construction is going on for the 7 line subway extension on April 3, in New York. Fire officials say a crane collapse at a Manhattan construction site has injured two people.

     From AP:

    NEW YORK (AP) - Authorities on Wednesday were focusing on what caused a construction boom crane to crash to the ground at a Manhattan work site, killing one construction worker and seriously injuring another.

    The dead worker was identified by police as Michael Simmermeyer, 30, of Burlington, N.J. He was pronounced dead following Tuesday's accident at the No. 7 subway line extension construction site. One other person was hospitalized in serious condition and three people were treated for minor injuries.

    The crane was set up on the second of three levels on the construction site on Manhattan's West Side, city officials said. The FDNY said the boom came apart in two pieces - one 80 feet long and the other 40 feet long. Click here to read the latest on the crane collapse.

    Comment

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  • 11
    Jan
    2012
    4:21pm, EST

    Few major Haiti reconstruction projects have begun

    Dieu Nalio Chery / AP

    Workers stand at the construction site of homes being built for people displaced by the 2010 earthquake on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. As the hemisphere's poorest country marks the second anniversary of the earthquake that killed some 300,000 people, only about half of the $4.6 billion in promised aid has been spent, half a million people are still living in crowded camps and only four of the 10 largest projects funded by international donors have broken ground.

    By Rich Shulman

    I guess any progress is welcome, but I wonder if these homes are built to withstand another earthquake.

    AP reports: PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The billions of dollars in aid that flowed into Haiti after its shattering earthquake were meant to build a new nation with thriving farms, apparel factories, modern hospitals and paved roads in the countryside.

    Ambitious plans call for $500 million to build 50 new grade schools, $200 million to give Port-au-Prince its first wastewater treatment plant, and $224 million to create an industrial park for 65,000 garment industry workers — all aimed at laying the groundwork for a new Haiti.

    But as the hemisphere's poorest country marks the second anniversary of the earthquake that killed some 300,000 people, only about half of the $4.6 billion in promised aid has been spent. Half a million people are still living in crowded camps. And only four of the 10 largest projects funded by international donors have broken ground.

    Dieu Nalio Chery / AP

    Jenry Del Rosario, 30, an electrician, checks electric cables on iron rods being used to build homes for people who were displaced by the 2010 earthquake on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

    Dieu Nalio Chery / AP

    A woman sweeps the road near new homes being built for people displaced by the 2010 earthquake in Zoranje, Haiti.

     

    Follow @msnbc_pictures

    Comment

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    Explore related topics: haiti, anniversary, construction, world-news
  • 26
    Dec
    2011
    10:57am, EST

    A building "boom" in China

    Chinafotopress / Getty Images

    An old 80 metre high office building of Kunming municipal government is demolished in directional blasting on Dec. 25, in Kunming, Yunnan Province of China.

    Chinafotopress / Getty Images

    Dust rises as an old office building of Kunming municipal government is demolished in directional blasting on Dec. 25, in Kunming, Yunnan Province of China. The area will become a business center after directional blasting.

    Chinafotopress / Getty Images

    People walk past the debris after an old office building of Kunming municipal government was demolished in directional blasting on Dec. 25, in Kunming, Yunnan Province of China.

     

    Comment

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  • 18
    Nov
    2011
    3:48pm, EST

    Hazir Reka / Reuters

    A worker walks in a construction site of a new shopping center in Pristina, Kosovo on Nov. 17, 2011. Experts say the forecasted growth for 2012 will not be sufficient to substantially reduce the 45% unemployment rate in Kosovo, which is one of Europe's poorest countries.

    Kosovo struggles under a 45% unemployment rate

    .

    1 comment

    Why bother to build expensive hotels and shopping centers when Unemployment rate is 45%? Spend money wisely on incubators, schools, universities, infrastructure, etc to attract investiment and future. Challenges are everywhere you turn.

    Show more
    Explore related topics: business, economy, kosovo, construction, world-news, pristina
  • 2
    Sep
    2011
    9:40am, EDT

    Catwalks set the stage for installation of suspension cables on new Bay Bridge

    By Rich Shulman

    I can't help but think of Rachel Maddow's "big things" spot when I look at these images of the new Bay Bridge. This is pretty darned big.

    Ironworkers will climb a 35-degree slope on the 1060-foot catwalks to install four suspension cables in 2012, according to a San Francisco Chronicle story. The bridge has been under construction since 2002 with an estimated price tag of $6.3 billion and will have the world's tallest self-anchored suspension (SAS) tower once completed.

    Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

    Members of the media walk on the deck of the newly constructed eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge during a media tour of the self-anchored suspension span tower on August 29 in Oakland, California. Construction crews have erected twelve foot wide catwalks that connect to the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge self-anchored suspension span's tower and crews will begin to lay the nearly one mile of main cable beginning in early 2012. The bridge has been under construction since 2002 with an estimated price tag of $6.3 billion and will have the world's tallest self-anchored suspension (SAS) tower once completed.

    Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

    Catwalks hang over a section of the newly constructed eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge during a media tour of the self-anchored suspension span tower on August 29 in Oakland, California.

    Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

    A worker stands on the bottom of a 1,060-foot catwalk that hangs over the newly constructed eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge during a media tour of the self-anchored suspension span tower on August 29 in Oakland, California.

    View more videos at: http://nbcbayarea.com.

    Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

    A model of the eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge self-anchored suspension span tower is on display inside the CalTrans public information office on August 29 in Oakland, California.

    Check out a previous post on the Bay Bridge.

    14 comments

    no david seaman you don't get it: this is a federally funded project, payed for by taxing people and then redistributing the money , or wealth as you might like to say, your hard earned tax dollars, to be spent on public infrastructure. this is your federal tax dollars at work. if we waited for the  …

    Show more
    Explore related topics: oakland, california, construction, san-francisco, infrastructure, bay-bridge
  • 14
    Jun
    2011
    11:34am, EDT

    Building collapse in Nairobi kills two construction workers

    Sayyid Azim / AP

    Spectators view a six story building under construction, which collapsed in Nairobi, Kenya, Tuesday June 14, killing at least two people and leaving 14 missing according to officials. The collapsed building is on Nairobi's outskirts, near the international airport.

    Sayyid Azim / AP

    A six-story building under construction in Kenya's capital collapsed on Tuesday, killing at least two people and leaving 14 missing, officials said. The Red Cross dispatched people to the scene.

     

    Comment

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