A brief summary of the work carried out during the construction phase of JET is first given. This period was successfully concluded due to the well timed delivery by industry of all the major parts of the machine and power supplies. This could be achieved because of the excellent technical co-operation between the JET team and the firms involved in construction work. The assembly of the JET machine started on site in January 1982 immediately after civil engineering work was completed. Great attention was devoted to the preparation of the vacuum vessel octants. After delivery, they were carefully cleaned, baked and leak tested at 500oC, and then fitted with instrumentation, electrical heater cables and thermal insulation, in view of the bake-out of the complete vessel after final assembly.