Monuments to man

People walk, ride and drive on it. They land their aircraft on it. Almost everything we need is built with it. This program is a study of the impact and influence of concrete on civilisation. The Romans discovered it by mixing volcanic ash, sand, water and crushed coral. They called it ‘concretus’, for a ‘coming together’. Concrete is so common that we tend to think it has always been around. But when visually examined, its history is dynamic, informative and, for the viewer, highly entertaining. The documentary covers the absorbing history of concrete from its discovery, its disappearance for 15 centuries and its re-emergence to become the most obliging and most effective of all building materials. It is an integral part of our life style - not only in practical terms but also aesthetic. Great designers such as Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright and the errant Spanish genius Antonio Gaudi, have used concrete as a sculptor would to form great masterpieces.