On Saturday 1st October 2022 Thompsons of Prudhoe successfully completed the explosive blowdown of the Basic Oxygen Steelmaking (BOS) Plant at the former steelworks site in Teesside.
Thompsons Director of Operations Tom Koerner stated “We were delighted to be awarded the BOS Plant demolition contract last year as part of the Teesworks demolition framework. This award allowed us to use our knowledge and experience to deliver one of Europe’s largest demolition schemes to date. The successful blowdown on Saturday was a significant landmark in the project which now allows us to progress with the demolition of the remainder of the structure. The success of this very technically challenging blowdown is testament to our team’s hard work and dedication throughout the planning and operational stages of the job.”
Thompsons used 1.6 tonnes of explosives to bring down the 65m structure and estimate that a total weight of 105,000 tonnes of scrap metal will be recovered. This event was thought to be the largest explosive demolition in the UK for over 75 years. Thompsons are on track to hand the project back to the client ahead of schedule next year. Thompsons are also progressing with the delivery of the Redcar Coke Ovens, PCI Plant and Redcar Blast Furnace projects for Teesworks and will be conducting further explosive blowdown events on site over the coming months.