Demolition at power station site

A COOLING tower has been demolished at a site set to become home to a £1bn power station.

Able UK, owner of the former Thorpe Marsh plant site north of Doncaster, is in discussions with Doncaster Council about flattening the remaining five 100m high cooling towers on the premises.

The Government gave the green light for a new gas-fired power station at Thorpe Marsh last year.

Acorn Power Developments is spending £984m on the Thorpe Marsh plant, generating 800 jobs, and clearance work is underway.

Able UK said said the decision to demolish the first of the six 100 metre high towers was undertaken because of urgent safety considerations.

Able UK’s managing director, Andrew Jacques, said: “Since acquiring the Thorpe Marsh site in 1995 we have undertaken a great deal of work at the site but the main structures still remaining are the cooling towers.

“We had to take action to bring down this particular tower because of structural concerns and it gave us the opportunity to use the latest demolition techniques which avoid the use of explosives and therefore minimise noise and disturbance in the area.

“We are in discussion with the local authority on plans for the removal of the other cooling towers and are hopeful that we will be able to move ahead with further demolition in the near future.”