One of the more sobering statistics of recent Olympics has been the rising death toll of construction workers. There were four reported deaths from the Barcelona, Atlanta and Sydney Games combined. Beijing, amid much secrecy, has admitted to six so far, while the official death toll from the rush to finish Athens on time was 14, with unofficial estimates putting the figure as high as 40.

The world's tallest building is the Burj Dubai, according to its developers. However, because the skyscraper stands unfinished at 629m (2,060ft), the coveted title is officially held by Taipei 101, an office building that stands at 509m. According to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, the Empire State Building in New York, built in 1931, is the ninth tallest building.

The UK construction industry employs 2.1 million people and accounts for 8 per cent of GDP. ConstructionSkills, the sector skills council, estimates that the industry will have to recruit 88,400 new workers mainly from professional and technical fields every year to deliver all the projects scheduled between now and 2012.

The downturn in the housing and commercial property market is having a negative impact on the construction industry, where profits are likely to fall this year for the first time in a decade, according to a survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. The news added to fears that the Government will not meet its target of building 240,000 new homes a year by 2016.

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