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Time ticks by for Tinsley towers Tinsley towers come crashing down
(about 5 hours later)
The cooling towers at Tinsley viaduct in South Yorkshire have only hours remaining before they are demolished in the early hours of Sunday. A controlled blast has failed to demolish a large part of one of two landmark concrete cooling towers in South Yorkshire.
The towering sentinels have stood at the gateway to Sheffield for decades and been a familiar sight to millions of motorists on the M1 motorway. The towers at Tinsley viaduct stood at the gateway to Sheffield for decades and were a familiar sight to millions of drivers on the M1 motorway.
But at 0300 BST on Sunday the so-called "salt and pepper pots" will be demolished in a controlled blast. At 0300 BST the blast to reduce the so-called "salt and pepper pots" to rubble left part of the north tower standing.
The M1 will be closed from midnight on Saturday between junctions 32 and 35. The leader of Sheffield council said something had "clearly gone wrong".
The towers stand only feet away from the twin-deck Tinsley viaduct which carries the motorway on the top deck and the A631 on its lower deck. The blast was watched by several thousand people and the M1 motorway had to be closed from midnight on Saturday between junctions 32 and 35. It may not reopen for some time.
Despite campaigns to save the 250ft (76m) towers, which are the only remnants of the Blackburn Meadows power station, energy firm E.ON which owns the towers has said they are unsafe and have to come down. The towers stood only feet away from the twin-deck Tinsley viaduct which carries the motorway on the top deck and the A631 on its lower deck.
Despite campaigns to save the 250ft (76m) towers, which were the only remnants of the Blackburn Meadows power station, energy firm E.ON said the 70-year-old structures had deteriorated.
Nowhere else in the world has anyone sought to bring down similar structures that sit so close to a major highway viaduct Arthur Ashburner, Highways Agency The firm has been given permission to build a £60m biomass power station at the site.Nowhere else in the world has anyone sought to bring down similar structures that sit so close to a major highway viaduct Arthur Ashburner, Highways Agency The firm has been given permission to build a £60m biomass power station at the site.
A viewing area is available at the nearby Meadowhall shopping centre car park for anyone wanting to watch the 70-year-old towers come down. Emily Highmore, from E.ON, said preserving the towers would have been very expensive.
Arthur Ashburner, from the Highways Agency, said: "This demolition is a unique situation and as far as we are aware, nowhere else in the world has anyone sought to bring down similar structures that sit so close to a major highway viaduct. "They would require a very, very significant investment and fundamentally speaking we are an energy company and our job is to keep people's lights on."
"Our priority is for the safety of road users and, given the close proximity of the towers to the southbound carriageway of the M1, these closures are essential. Arthur Ashburner, from the Highways Agency, said: "This demolition is a unique situation and as far as we are aware, nowhere else in the world has anyone sought to bring down similar structures that sit so close to a major highway viaduct."
"Once the demolition has taken place, we will carry out a series of checks to ensure that there has been no damage to the viaduct, which in itself may take several hours. He said the M1 would not reopen immediately after the demolition.
"We will carry out a series of checks to ensure that there has been no damage to the viaduct, which in itself may take several hours.
"We will reopen the road only when we are entirely satisfied that it is safe to do so.""We will reopen the road only when we are entirely satisfied that it is safe to do so."
Emily Highmore, from E.ON, said preserving the towers would have been very expensive as they had been deteriorating. Some locals had tried to save the cooling towers and have them turned into art.
She said the responsible decision was to bring the towers down. Campaigner Tom Keeley said: "You see very few cooling towers that are in quite such a visible position, they're 12 metres from the M1, and they kind of they symbolise not only a gateway to Sheffield and Yorkshire but they also symbolise a gateway to the North."
"They would require a very, very significant investment and fundamentally speaking we are an energy company and our job is to keep people's lights on.
"We also have a responsibility to keep people's bills as affordable as we can, you know, we simply need to be making investments into doing that."