All fall down – demolition of power station cooling towers pulls crowds
HUNDREDS OF spectators travelled to the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution to look on as the cooling towers at Ironbridge Power Station were blown up, while millions more viewers watched as its demolition was live-streamed online.
The four 400ft high towers collapsed in just four seconds in a cloud of dust at 11am yesterday.
Ironbridge, in Shropshire, which burnt coal for most of its operating life, before switching to biomass in 2012, was forced to close under an EU directive, which required polluting plants to install emissions abatement equipment to tackle acid rain.
Those that failed to do so – such as Ironbridge, where it was decided it would not be economically viable – had to shut.
It is the latest coal-fired power station to have succumbed to sweeping changes in energy production, after owner E.On shut the plant four years ago.
In October, four more cooling towers at the redundant Ferrybridge power station in West Yorkshire, which is owned by SSE, were reduced to rubble.
Former Ironbridge Power Station worker Andy Holden, of Shrewsbury, was invited to watch but declined.
He said: “I spent nearly 40 years maintaining the place, running the place, looking after it, doing my job as best that I could.
“The power station has been part of my life, it was nearly 40 years. It’s helped me raise my children, it’s helped me pay off my mortgage and it’s gone now and I do miss the place, I miss the camaraderie and the work.”
I do miss the place, I miss the camaraderie and the work.
Former Ironbridge Power Station worker Andy Holden.