Our planet's polar regions are among the most remote and hostile environments known to humankind.
But while these worlds may feel detached from our everyday lives what happens here, in fact, affects us all.
For more than a century, research teams have studied these environments to learn more about our planet as a whole and to monitor how it is responding to man-made climate change.
Now, to ensure that it remains at the cutting edge of research, the British Antarctic Survey have partnered with specialist contractor BAM and UK engineering firm Ramboll to upgrade a number of the survey sites in Antarctica.
Five hours by plane from the nearest town in temperatures that barely peak above freezing during the summer and contending with some remarkable challenges, this is the world's most extreme construction site.
The need to visit the world's most hostile continent is driven by our desire to learn more about our planet and understand how it is responding to a rapidly changing climate.
What happens in Antarctica has a significant effect on the wider world and its ocean systems and its four-kilometre-thick ice sheet contains a unique record of the Earth's climate over the past million years.
To ensure that the UK remains at the forefront of climate, biodiversity and oceanographic research, the country's Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) has invested more than 300 million pounds over a seven-year period to upgrade and modernize facilities across the British Antarctic Survey's network of sites on the continent.
Many of these upgrades revolve around the Sir David Attenborough research vessel due to launch in 2020. Measuring 30 metres longer than its predecessor, the James Clark Ross, wharf facilities at Rothera and other research sites across the Southern Ocean need to be expanded in order for the ship to dock and unload supplies efficiently.
The British Antarctic Survey is responsible for delivering science in the polar regions.
