CHESTER COUNTY, S.C. -- Imagine the force, the roaring winds and the destruction of a Category 4 hurricane. Now, imagine all that fury happening indoors.

That's exactly what will begin happening in Chester County by next spring. Dozens of the nation's largest insurance companies are chipping in to build a $40 million research facility off Highway 99 near Richburg.

Eyewitness News first reported on the facility in October 2008. Now the Institute for Business and Home Safety is breaking ground for the facility and preparing to make a lot of noise.

At a ceremony Wednesday morning, IBHS President Julie Rochman explained what it's all about.

"What we'll do here, no one else in the world can do," Rochman said. "There isn't a region in the country where people aren't going to pay attention to what we do here."

What they'll do is build houses inside a huge, 80-foot-tall test facility and then subject them to the worst of nature's fury -- fire, hail, torrential rain and hurricane winds up to 180 mph.

Rochman once worked for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. That organization has had a dramatic impact on the safety and design of cars by coming up with its own crash tests. Millions of people watch those crash videos and check out the IIHS safety ratings on cars before they buy.

"I thought there was never a better job than crashing cars for the greater good, but crashing houses for the greater good is going to be pretty cool," Rochman said.

Tthe goal is to improve construction standards in the same way the IIHS improved car safety. Rochman said the impact could be worldwide and could help make communities everywhere safer.

"What we want to make sure of is there's no American who's buying a house that they think is well built, when in fact it's not," she said.

The IBHS research center will be loud, and that's one reason its leaders chose to put it on 100 acres in a rural part of the county.

Chester was also chosen for its distance from the coast, its proximity to Charlotte and a major airport, and its mild climate.

Chester County leaders are thrilled about what the future holds, but at first they weren't sure what they were getting into.

County Supervisor Carlisle Roddey thought the idea was nuts at first.

"I said if they're crazy enough to want to come in here and blow houses down, we're just crazy enough to let them," Roddey said.

Twenty years after Hurricane Hugo, many remember the devastation left behind.

"It tore this area up," Roddey said.

Now, technology developed at the IBHS could help protect property from a similar storm.

Hugo's wrath added up to $4.2 billion in losses -- losses that could be minimized through the efforts of the IBHS research center.

Roddey said he can only imagine what this could bring to Chester County -- hotels, spin-off businesses and more jobs, which the county sorely needs.

“How could I say 'no' to something like this? " he asked.

The IBHS research center will employ about 20 people on site but it will involve many more. The center plans to partner with colleges and universities who can get onboard with various projects. There will also be construction and manufacturing companies nationwide that have their building materials put to the test there. In fact, there's already a waiting list of companies eager to try it out.

The center is expected to open by March of next year and begin destroying buildings soon after. The blow by blow of each test will be captured on cameras and then released to the public, so everyone can see the results.