The final four cooling towers at the former Eggborough Power Station have been demolished.
The skyline-changing spectacle, completed on Sunday, was the latest milestone in the redevelopment of the location – with the brownfield site earmarked for mixed use regeneration.
The ‘blowdown’ implosion took place at 9am within an exclusion zone with a 350m diameter.
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More than 50 crew implemented road closures, supported by North Yorkshire Police, with state-of-the art surveillance equipment deployed – including heat-seeking drones to ensure the zone was clear.
It was completed by DSM Demolition, a sister company to West Midlands developer St Francis Group, a business in a joint venture with Marshall Commercial Development Projects.
DSM project manager, James Fincham, said: “18 months of planning and work on site to achieve what has been accomplished is a testament to the demolition team on site and all involved with the project. Plans and preparation are now well underway for the further demolition works to be undertaken in 2022.”
The company worked closely with Northern Gas networks and National Grid to ensure uninterrupted supplies to the area. The 90m high towers were only 60m from the National Grid sub-station open switch gear and overhead lines – a “challenging aspect of the job and meticulous planning and protective measures were required to ensure that our works did not impact on their continuing operations,” Mr Fincham said.
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Coal-fired Eggborough closed in September 2018, having operated since the late Sixties. It had been owend by National Power, EDF and finally Czech-entiy EPH. The first four cooling towers were demolished on August 1.
St Francis Group’s director of operations, Simon Dale, said: “On behalf of St Francis Group and Marshall CDP, I would like to thank the DSM team for their successful and safe implementation of our second explosive event at the former Eggborough Power Station plant.
“The team have worked diligently over the past few months to ensure the event was planned, co-ordinated and implemented safely. The removal of all eight cooling towers is a significant milestone for the development, and we look forward to working further with DSM and others to regenerate this site and create economic development for the region.”
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