1. The construction industry is an important part of the Scottish Economy, as it employs 250,000 people and is worth approximately £10 billion to Scotland’s economy, representing around 10 per cent of Scotland’s GDP.

2. Around 420 million tonnes of materials are used by the UK construction industry each year and approximately 120 tonnes of that becomes waste.

3. The tallest building in the world is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The building reaches an amazing height of 2717 feet (828 metres).

4. The Chrysler Building in New York was built at a time when there was a strong desire to build the world’s tallest skyscraper, before being overtaken by the Empire State Building. The Chrysler Building was the world’s tallest for approximately 11 months. During the construction, floors were being completed at a staggering four per week.

5. The original word skyscraper referred to a type of sail on a sailing ship.

6.  Proving that the construction industry is definitely not just “jobs for the boys”, there are almost 200,000 women working in construction.

7. Every year the construction industry offers enough career opportunities to fill a football stadium (that is 88,000 people each year for the next 4 years).

8. The task of building the London 2012 Olympics created approximately 33,500 additional jobs over the last seven years.

9. Tall buildings will need fast elevators and now recent developments have led to elevators that can travel up to, and sometimes over, 3280 feet a minute (1000 metres a minute).

10. The London Olympic Stadium was built using almost 230,000 cubic feet (that’s over 6,500 cubic metres) of concrete which was recycled from other Olympic venues.