Teesside’s skyline changed forever this afternoon as the last of the former Redcar Power Station buildings were successfully demolished.

Four blasts brought down the former gas holder, triple flare stack, de-aerator, and chimney at the power station in a matter of seconds on Thursday (29 June) after Lord Michael Heseltine pushed the demolition trigger at 1pm.

The power station provided electricity to the Redcar Steelworks. It was fuelled from by-products of the iron making process in the Blast Furnace.

Its primary function was to provide cold blast air for the blast furnace. Excess gas which came from the coke ovens and the blast furnace was used in the boiler heating process to generate more electricity.

It was Tees Valley: Opportunity Unlimited, authored by Lord Heseltine in 2016, which set out the vision and aims for the former steelworks site – including the creation of the South Tees Development Corporation in 2017.

The successful demolition bookends a programme which has taken just two years at Teesworks – and will be completed three years sooner than originally forecast.

Martin Corney, Teesworks CEO, said: “This has been one of the largest demolition programmes the UK has ever seen – and I’m very pleased with the progress we’ve made so far.

“Demolition has opened the door to enable us to start remediating hundreds of acres of land across Teesworks.

“The speed and professionalism with which the programme has been carried out by contactors has also saved the taxpayer millions of pounds.

“The hard work has only just started as we move onto the next phase of making the Teesworks vision a reality.”

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen added: “Today marks the end of an era. It’s a bittersweet day to see the former steelworks down in their entirety.

“But with the help of our Joint Venture Partners, we are creating a bright new dawn at Teesworks – attracting huge green energy projects like Net Zero Teesside and major employers like SeAH Wind.

“Bringing game-changing investors to Teesworks to create well-paid, skilled jobs for the people of Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool is what Teesworks is all about.”