History (copied from my previous report)
Construction of the first power station at Ironbridge began in 1929 and when completed contained four 50MW turbines manufactured by British Thomson Houston. This became know as ‘Ironbridge A’ when construction of a second, much larger station began in 1963. Due to faults with the machinery in the new station, Ironbridge ‘A’ continued to produce electricity well after the ‘B’ station was completed, finally shutting down in 1978 and demolished shortly after, despite attempts to preserve the complex as an industrial museum.
Ironbridge ‘B’ was one of the many large stations commissioned by the CEGB in the 1960s at a time when electricity demand was dramatically increasing and was to be equipped with two 500MW units. Due to delays in construction, the new power station didn’t reach full capacity until the second unit went online in February 1970. The building is a near identical copy of its slightly earlier ‘parent’ station at Eggborough, although half the size and built in a much more challenging landscape. A considerable amount of care was taken in the design process to ensure the new buildings enhanced its fine natural surroundings, most notably of which is the cooling towers to which a red pigment was added to match the colour of the local soil. The power station opted out of the Large Combustion Plant Directive in 2008, forcing it to close by the end of 2015, or after 20,000 hours of generation. In 2012 the station was modified to run on 100% biomass, resulting in the replacement of most of the pulverising fuel mills and reduced the total capacity by around 260MW. In February 2014 a fire seriously damaged unit 1 generator, caused by one of the turbine blades failing, instantly stopping the turbine running 3,000rpm. Thankfully no one was injured but it was decided the damage would not be repaired and the station closed on 20th November 2015. Despite much local support, English Heritage shamefully refused to have the unique cooling towers listed and they were demolished on Friday 7th December 2019. What really pisses me off is how English Heritage also refused to give listed status to Didcot A, citing better examples of power station buildings and settings elsewhere. Yet fuck-all post-war power stations have been listed, none of which could have been more suitable then Ironbridge.
The explore
Visited with prettyvacant. I was really keen to visit Ironbridge to watch the demolition of the cooling towers. I was initially worried I may not be able to make it as the announcement for demolition was originally only going to be two days before, but thankfully they changed the announcement to a week in advance. We were really lucky with the weather at the time of demolition as it had been rather wet earlier in the day. Talking to some of the crowd, they all said they were sad to see such iconic buildings reduced to rubble and its such a shame more wasn't done to get at least one of the cooling towers saved. It wouldn't have been so bad had other examples power station and their cooling towers been preserved elsewhere, but by the time we begin to appreciate these incredible pieces of engineering, there will be nothing left to save.
The following day we explored the main building, where demolition is also now well underway in the turbine hall, with many of the ancillary building already demolished. While inside we had to take cover for about an hour while two guys, both in plain clothes and without any form of PPE strolled around the turbine hall, talking loudly. Yet again I wasted a fair bit of daylight taking a nap but i still managed to cover most of the building.
The Cooling Towers (March 2019)
It would be rude to not include a few more photos of the fine set of cooling towers from earlier in the year
Demolition of the Cooling Towers (Friday 6th December at 11am)
We arrived at dawn and spent a while walking around the fields searching for the best viewpoint
People gathered along the footpath, 40 minutes before demolition
The main building looking very lonely with the cooling towers gone
Construction of the first power station at Ironbridge began in 1929 and when completed contained four 50MW turbines manufactured by British Thomson Houston. This became know as ‘Ironbridge A’ when construction of a second, much larger station began in 1963. Due to faults with the machinery in the new station, Ironbridge ‘A’ continued to produce electricity well after the ‘B’ station was completed, finally shutting down in 1978 and demolished shortly after, despite attempts to preserve the complex as an industrial museum.
Ironbridge ‘B’ was one of the many large stations commissioned by the CEGB in the 1960s at a time when electricity demand was dramatically increasing and was to be equipped with two 500MW units. Due to delays in construction, the new power station didn’t reach full capacity until the second unit went online in February 1970. The building is a near identical copy of its slightly earlier ‘parent’ station at Eggborough, although half the size and built in a much more challenging landscape. A considerable amount of care was taken in the design process to ensure the new buildings enhanced its fine natural surroundings, most notably of which is the cooling towers to which a red pigment was added to match the colour of the local soil. The power station opted out of the Large Combustion Plant Directive in 2008, forcing it to close by the end of 2015, or after 20,000 hours of generation. In 2012 the station was modified to run on 100% biomass, resulting in the replacement of most of the pulverising fuel mills and reduced the total capacity by around 260MW. In February 2014 a fire seriously damaged unit 1 generator, caused by one of the turbine blades failing, instantly stopping the turbine running 3,000rpm. Thankfully no one was injured but it was decided the damage would not be repaired and the station closed on 20th November 2015. Despite much local support, English Heritage shamefully refused to have the unique cooling towers listed and they were demolished on Friday 7th December 2019. What really pisses me off is how English Heritage also refused to give listed status to Didcot A, citing better examples of power station buildings and settings elsewhere. Yet fuck-all post-war power stations have been listed, none of which could have been more suitable then Ironbridge.
The explore
Visited with prettyvacant. I was really keen to visit Ironbridge to watch the demolition of the cooling towers. I was initially worried I may not be able to make it as the announcement for demolition was originally only going to be two days before, but thankfully they changed the announcement to a week in advance. We were really lucky with the weather at the time of demolition as it had been rather wet earlier in the day. Talking to some of the crowd, they all said they were sad to see such iconic buildings reduced to rubble and its such a shame more wasn't done to get at least one of the cooling towers saved. It wouldn't have been so bad had other examples power station and their cooling towers been preserved elsewhere, but by the time we begin to appreciate these incredible pieces of engineering, there will be nothing left to save.
The following day we explored the main building, where demolition is also now well underway in the turbine hall, with many of the ancillary building already demolished. While inside we had to take cover for about an hour while two guys, both in plain clothes and without any form of PPE strolled around the turbine hall, talking loudly. Yet again I wasted a fair bit of daylight taking a nap but i still managed to cover most of the building.
The Cooling Towers (March 2019)
It would be rude to not include a few more photos of the fine set of cooling towers from earlier in the year
Demolition of the Cooling Towers (Friday 6th December at 11am)
We arrived at dawn and spent a while walking around the fields searching for the best viewpoint
People gathered along the footpath, 40 minutes before demolition
The main building looking very lonely with the cooling towers gone
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nice one
