YOU MIGHT have seen Daniel Ashville popping up here and there at celebrity events such as the recent GRM Gala in London and wondered, who is that guy?
If you’re not into all things buildings, heavy machinery and engineering, you will be forgiven for not being au fait.
But that’s all set to change as the businessman hosts the National Geographic’s flagship new series Building Impossible with Daniel Ashville.
Kicking off this month, the six-part series takes viewers on a unique exploration of the world’s most extraordinary and precarious builds.
The show pushes the boundaries of what is considered achievable, showcasing architectural marvels that defy imagination.
From the construction of the world’s largest ocean-going cruise liner, The Icon of the Seas, in Finland, to the ground-breaking Brenner Tunnel beneath the Alps on the Italy-Austria border, to the construction of one of the South Africa’s longest cable-stayed bridges, spanning the awe-inspiring Msikaba Gorge, each episode showcases architectural marvels that push the boundaries of possibility.
No stranger to being on camera, Ashville started the ad hoc filming of content surrounding his own business six years ago.
Starting out with a video entitled ‘New Mini Grab Loader – The Team’s “Baby Grab”’, 453K subscribers and 239 videos later, the entrepreneur has come a long way.
In fact, he’s been on a remarkable 17-year journey. From flipping houses to establishing The Ashville Group, comprising Ashville Construction for design and build residential projects, Ashville Aggregates and Concrete for aggregates supply and waste management services, and Ashville Plant Hire for equipment and machinery hire, the former model has cemented his position as one of the country’s top experts in his field.
In his spare time, of which he admits there is little, he does gym and likes a bit of boxing, but nothing gets him going like a conversation about engineering and all things construction.
With the beginning of the show fast approaching, it’s all happening for Ashville, a situation he’s adjusting to.
“I’m still getting used to it,” he admits.
“The filming process when it all happened, that’s what I do on a daily basis anyway, because as you know, I keep up with my own content and I continue to make my own videos, so when I was filming it was pretty normal, but I think when it first hit me was when the adverts started running on television and my mum saw the advert.
“I got the phone call and that when I had to take a seat and exhale.”
He added: “When you work day in and day out and you’re facing challenges and you’re overcoming them, the wins are so small, that you never really enjoy anything. You’re like, ‘I got to get up tomorrow, I got to go to work, I haven’t got time for all of this’.
“But when it first went on television, I sat down for a minute and just … It was a good feeling, a very good feeling and not one I have had many times before.”
Speaking on securing Ashville as host for the show, Commissioning Editor at National Geographic, Simon Raikes, said: “Daniel Ashville’s passion, expertise, and hands-on approach make him the perfect guide for this awe-inspiring journey.
“We are proud to bring this extraordinary series to our viewers, as it exemplifies National Geographic’s commitment to exploration, innovation, and storytelling that inspires us to see the world in a new light.”
Elaborating on where his love for construction came from, Ashville, who turned his back on a potential career in sports science, said: “I was the guy who would look at how everything was built.
“My mum will tell you I wanted Lego, I wanted train sets, I need to look at what the dustcart was doing, I need to see what the trucks are doing.
“In St Lucia, my uncle used to run trucks, so I might not be able to fix them, but I would lie underneath the truck with him just so I got dirty and would look like I was involved.
“I started my construction company a long time ago and as the company grew, I diversified to provide services for other construction companies.
“In 2020, I started making videos (regularly). I wanted to share what I was doing because when I wanted to learn, I couldn’t get answers out of anyone.
“The majority of my competition are third and fourth generation and they can do things I can’t do, so I thought I have to work to my strengths, I’m just a guy in a yard with a couple of lorries, I need people to know what I am doing. So I started to share my experiences.”
It proved a shrewd move for Ashville. His content was brought to the attention of National Geographic following a conversation he’d had with producers who had seen his online presence and shared a desire to create a programme like Building Impossible with Daniel Ashville.
Viewers will see Ashville’s hands-on approach as he collaborates with teams tackling awe-inspiring engineering challenges, demonstrating that the impossible can indeed become possible.
“What I hope people take from this, when they see these large buildings, I feel that I’ve asked the questions that I wanted to know and I broke it down in a way that people can understand,” Ashville said.
“So when you see a massive ship, for example, you can say that it’s built it like this and they did it like that.
“Hopefully, I’ve broken it down so that the mass build projects of buildings and bridges that people see, that they too can understand it and they too can be a part of the journey when they are walking, looking around a building.”
Building Impossible with Daniel Ashville, premieres on National Geographic at 8pm on September 14.
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