TINSLEY COOLING TOWERS
The iconic Tinsley Cooling Towers
were recently successfully demolished by using controlled explosive charges
to initiate their collapse.
With the two towers standing some 75
metres high and only 17 metres from the M1 Tinsley Viaduct that lies
adjacent to Meadowhall in Sheffield
there was initially some resistance to this demolition method.
However, Vibrock Limited, as
vibration and noise consultants to the Towers’ owner, E.ON, and also to
their explosive demolition experts, Robinson & Birdsell, were an integral
part of the team that finally – our initial report into this matter was in
1995 – convinced the powers that be that this method was not only the only
viable approach but also that it was entirely safe.
Hence, at 0300 hours on Sunday 24th
August 2008, the Towers were both successfully blown down some 70 years
after their construction as part of the Blackburn Meadows Power Station
which involved the construction of a total of seven cooling towers between
1937 and 1942.
Once clearance is completed E.ON
have planning permission to develop a biomass power Station at the site
which will produce enough renewable energy to serve the needs of around
40,000 homes.
Click on the link below to see the
BBC video footage of this demolition where you can also view another recent
successful Vibrock demolition assignment, this time two high rise tower
blocks in Glasgow.
This latter project was overseen by Allan Findlay and Richard Kennedy
out of the Vibrock Scotland office located in Perth.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7579513.stm
All Pictures copyright of L.J. Dursley 2008
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