Two Explosive Demolitions Take Place At Teesworks to Clear Path for Investors

Two controlled explosive demolitions of major structures have today (16 March) taken place across the Teesworks site.

The blowdowns formed part of the ramped-up demolition programme to clear and remediate hundreds of acres of land to make it investor-ready for companies coming to the site, such as Net Zero Teesside Power and SeAH Wind Ltd, with projects that will create thousands of jobs for local people.

At approximately 11.45am, Junction Houses 40 and 41 were brought down within the Raw Materials Area of the former Redcar steelworks. The junction houses formed part of the network of high-level conveyors that moved the raw materials from their stock grounds to bunkers, ready to be used as part of the iron and steel making process.

Shortly after that, at 1.00pm, the last major structure within the South Bank Zone, the South Bank gas holder, was blown down by explosives. The tall structure previously contained gas produced by the coke ovens which was used to power other plants across the site.

A temporary exclusion zone and small road closures were in place around Smith’s Dock Road and South Bank railway station while the gas holder demolition took place. Both were carried out by demolition experts and confined to the Teesworks site.

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said: “I keep saying 2022 is our year of construction across Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool. But to be able to build up the Teesworks site, move forward with the investors that are lining up and get spades in the ground for their transformative projects, we first have to knock things down.

“With the demolition of the gas holder, we’ve cleared the South Bank site of all its biggest assets, paving the way to become the UK’s premier location for offshore wind. As our heavy-lift quay is going up at pace, the final structure came down, meaning there’s nothing stopping further development. Taking down the Junction Boxes too will help to unlock further land on the Raw Materials Area of the site and drive regeneration.

“As ever, I’d like to thank local people and businesses for their patience while we’re carrying out one of the biggest, most complex and condensed demolition programmes to ever take place in the UK. Rest assured, this will be rewarded as thousands of good-quality, well-paid jobs in the cleaner, safer and healthier industries of the future start to rise from this rubble.”