NEWS
Going , going , gone – the Redcar blast furnace has been brought down by an explosion in the latest development of the Teesworks site .
BIG BANG THEORY
Demolitions are changing Teesside skyline for good
The Redcar blast furnace , a structure which dominated the Teesside skyline for generations , has been brought down by explosive demolition to make way for multibillion-pound investments on the Teesworks site .
The blast furnace , alongside the casting houses , dust catcher and charge conveyors were some of the latest structures to be demolished as part of one of the biggest , most complex and condensed programmes the UK has ever seen .
The area previously occupied by the blast furnace will become home to Net Zero Teesside , a £ 1.5bn gas-fired power plant with carbon capture , utilisation and storage capabilities .
The project , which will help create the UK ’ s first decarbonised industrial cluster by 2024 , is expected to create up to 5,500 jobs .
All of the major former steelworks structures are due to be levelled by the end of 2022 .
The first explosive demolition of the £ 113m programme took place in March 2021 , on the old coal handling facility to the eastern area of the site .
This was followed in August by the dismantling of the blast furnace ’ s main charge conveyor , which fed the blast furnace with the materials needed to produce iron .
Work also began to knock down the first chimney stacks at the Basic Oxygen Steelmaking Plant , kicking off a 15-month schedule to strip the facility , which would eventually see the 105,000-tonne , 65m building demolished in October this year .
During that time , work ramped up right across the site .
The South Bank and Redcar coke ovens were brought down ahead of this year ’ s work , beginning with the blowdown of Junction Houses 40 and 41 within the raw materials area and the South Bank gas holder in March .
The site ’ s sinter plant , which sat close by the blast furnace , was cleared by controlled explosions across two phases ,
Demolition – the South Bank and Redcar Coke Ovens were brought down in March 2022 .
the first in June to bring down the bunker bay and the first part of the screenhouse , before it was completely levelled in August .
The Pulverised Coal Injection ( PCI ) plant , which used to blow powdered coal into the blast furnace to speed up iron production and reduce the need for coke , was also knocked down in the autumn . This was followed by the sinter chimney and culminated in the demolition of the historic Redcar blast furnace .
All of this work will result in the freeing up of 600 acres of land , paving the way for other ground-breaking initiatives such as SeAH Wind ’ s mammoth offshore wind monopile factory and Circular Fuels ’ renewable gas facility .
When taken together , these projects will create thousands of good-quality , well-paid jobs for local people and are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the huge potential of the Teesworks site .
Follow developments of the Teesworks site at teesworks . co . uk .
The voice of business in the Tees region | 61