Chimney at Grain Power Station to become tallest concrete structure ever demolished next week

13:36 30 August 2016

Tom Pyman

Grain Power Station

Archant

History will be made next week when the tallest concrete structure demolition takes place in Kent.

The controlled demolition of a 244m chimney - taller than 55 double decker buses stacked on top of each other, and two-and-a-half times the height of Big Ben - at Grain A Power Station will commence next Wednesday (September 7) at 11am.

The blowing up of the power station began in April 2014, and to date, there have been five demolition events to bring down the main infrastructure of the plant.

Since the project began, more than 84,000 tonnes of material has been removed from the site to be recycled, and work is expected to continue until the end of the year.

The existing infrastructure at Grain A has been used to build a new 1,275MW gas-fired power station on the same site, owned by energy giant Uniper.

The development of Grain B Power Station means the site can continue to provide electricity to homes and businesses across the UK, and support employment in Medway.

Bill Cliff, plant manager at Uniper’s Grain B Power Station, said: “I’m sure the demolition of the chimney will be an emotional day for the people who have worked at Grain A Power Station, and for those that have become fond of seeing the chimney as a prominent feature on the Medway skyline.

“I would like to say a huge thank you to all the colleagues that have contributed to the successful running of Grain A Power Station, helping it play an important role in the UK’s energy infrastructure for more than 30 years.”

Neil Riley, head of demolition at Uniper, said: “We’ve now reached the final controlled demolition at Grain Power Station.

“As is always the case, the health and safety of the public and our colleagues is our number one priority and the blow down of the chimney is the culmination of months of detailed planning with our contractors and local stakeholders.

“The timings for the demolition have also been carefully planned to ensure any impact on the local community is kept to a minimum.”

Grain A was officially opened in 1979 and, with a capacity of up to 1320MW, it was able to produce enough electricity to power over one million homes.

The plant closed in December 2012 after the EU’s Large Combustion Plant Directive (LCPD) required such facilities to close after generating for 20,000 hours from January 1, 2008 or before the end of 2015, whichever came first.

Bosses advise those choosing to watch the detonation should do so at a safe distance and in a location that does not cause any disruption to local traffic.

Uniper says it will be unable to provide the public with access to a viewing point on site for the event due to limited space once the demolition exclusion zone is in place.

However, images from the event will be available on kentnews.co.uk and in next weekend’s Kent on Sunday.