The fourteenth and final demolition of Tilbury power station took place this morning on the bank of the River Thames in Essex.
Footage shows the exact moment that a loud bang and bright explosive flashes brought the two remaining boiler houses tumbling down building tumbling in a huge cloud of thick grey smoke.
The noise of the explosion of the and falling debris could be heard in parts of Tilbury, and neighbouring Kent.
This is the moment that the fourteenth and final demolition at Tilbury power station brought down boiler houses 7 and 8 at the site on the bank of the River Thames in Essex. The structures came down in a thick cloud of dust and debris, which cleared to leave a pile of rubble
Before the moment of detonation, seagulls could be seen flying around, and they flew up and away in fright when the explosion came.
After the dust cloud had blown away, a pile of metal and rubble was all that was left of boiler houses seven and eight of the station.
The structure was 100 metres long, 30 metres wide and 60 metres high.
The dust took less than two minutes to settle, leaving a mound of metal and concrete in its place. Work on the demolition of the station began in January 2016, and this was the last explosion
This morning’s demolition was the last in a long line of other detonations since the site was closed in August 2013, bringing the loss of 220 jobs.
The first of 14 demolitions began in January 2016, with the first explosion bringing down a coal junction tower and its connected conveyor.
At the peak of the works, there were more than 100 workers on the site, dedicating 570,000 hours to the project.
Tilbury power station’s chimneys were demolished in September 2017 with spectators gathering to watch the spectacle
More than 4,800 tonnes of non-ferrous metal – without iron – and 71,500 of ferrous metal was recycled from the site, as well as 100,000 tonnes of concrete, RWE said.
In June 2017, three structures known as precipitators, which remove fine particles like dust and smoke, were also destroyed.
However, the most significant other demolition came in September 2017 with the bringing down of two 170ft high chimneys which had dominated the skyline for 50 years.
Other structures, such as the coal bunker houses, were demolished in 2018.
The power station was originally operational until 2011, when owner energy company RWE was granted permission to convert the plant to a biomass station.
The power station was originally operational until 2011, when owner energy company RWE was granted permission to convert the plant to a biomass station. It suffered a major fire after its reopening in 2012 and was finally closed for goot in August 2013
It re-opened in 2012 but suffered a major fire months later.
More than 120 firefighters battles the blaze after between 4,000 and 6,000 tonnes of fuel went up in smoke.
A year later it was reported that the station was to close and it generated its final unit of electricity on August 13, 2013.
In 2016 RWE sold part of the site for redevelopment and hired contractor Brown and Mason to begin demolishing the power station buildings on the land it still owned.
The company said in August last year it had taken ‘initial planning steps’ towards turning the old site into a gas-fired power station and a battery storage facility.
The plan would require the construction of a three-kilometre gas pipeline to connect the plant to the transmission network.
However, the proposals were shelved in November last year because of costs.
Tilbury, its official name Tilbury B, was opened in 1967 and was powered with both coal and biomass.
Tilbury A, an oil-fired station, opened in 1956 was mothballed in 1981.