Over the many thousands of years that humans have been building structures on earth, the amount of money and resources that have been used in construction projects is frankly unfathomable.

Humans have always strived for bigger and better when it comes to construction and are always looking to exceed the accomplishments of their predecessors. This means that the most expensive construction projects in history have mainly taken place in the past 100 years or so, although it is of course very difficult to compare costs with economies from hundreds or even thousands of years ago.

The construction of the Pyramids more example, is likely to have been relatively the most expensive and resource intensive construction project in history, but it is not on this list, purely because we don’t even fully understand how the pyramids were built, never mind how much they cost.

Given the tremendous amount of money involved in the modern construction world it is no surprised that construction security is now also a multi-billion pound industry and protecting these projects from criminal activity during the building process is of the upmost importance.

Here is your guide to 4 of the most expensive construction projects in recent history.

Crossrail

Crossrail is one of the largest railway infrastructure projects in European history and makes up just one section of the world famous London Underground system. This railway is only 26 miles in length but connects east and west London like never before running all the way across, or below, the city and linking an impressive 41 different stations together.

The line is now fully operational as of 2023 and cost an incredible £18.25 billion in total.

International Space Station

OK, so perhaps not your average construction project, but it certainly wasn’t cheap.

The cost of the ISS is just as out of this world as the station itself and cost a terrifying $150 billion. To date, this is the most expensive structure ever constructed to date. The ISS took over a decade to construct and over 30 different space missions to put together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDOghts5QtM&pp=ygUfc3RhbmdlIGZhY3RzIGFib3V0IGNvbnN0cnVjdGlvbg%3D%3D

California Railway

A high speed railway in California might not seem quite as exciting as the International Space Station but it is certainly challenging it in terms of price tag.

This railway, when complete, will connect 8 of the largest cities in the state with the 380 mile journey from LA to San Francisco taking just 2 hours 40 minutes. That’s if it ever actually gets up and running though, the project is far from finished and has already cost nearly $100bn.

Neom

When complete, the Neom project in Saudi Arabia will make every other project on this list seem like a bargain. Costing an estimated $500bn and funded by the Saudi PIF NEOM will include residential, leisure, and commercial sectors, all built into a mirror structure over 100 miles long.

If plans are successful the final product will allow 9 million people to live in the city which will be complete carbon neutral.