Safety first

The Tinsley cooling towers stand next to the M1 in Sheffield. They were once part of the Blackburn Meadows Power Station and the motorway was built around them when the power station was still operational in the 1960s.

When the station was demolished in the 1980s, the towers were left standing as engineers at the time did not have the expertise to bring them down safely without compromising the integrity of the M1 viaduct.

The future of the towers has been regularly considered over a number of years. In the past, we have tried to project adverts onto them but the Highways Agency has always blocked such moves because they were afraid drivers would be distracted by the images. We were happy to support this decision.

Now, however, the reinforced concrete structures, which are almost 70 years old, have begun to seriously deteriorate.

Based on specialist engineering data collected over 30 years, and supported by the results of a recent structural survey, E.ON engineers have taken the decision to demolish the towers for safety reasons.

With advancements in controlled demolition, and after the recent strengthening of the viaduct, we are now confident that the demolition will not affect the motorway’s integrity.

Discussions with the Highways Agency continue, and we are working together to identify a suitable date for the demolition.

The future for the site

The towers came to the end of their useful lives decades ago, and we believe the best way forward is to bring them down and to redevelop the land to bring new jobs to the area.

The site on which the towers stand has been earmarked for employment opportunities in Sheffield City Council’s Urban Development Plan. This means the area could be developed for various new business opportunities, such as manufacturing or warehousing. It also means that the land cannot be developed for residential or retail uses.

In a recent Ipsos MORI poll we commissioned, 52% of the local people who were questioned felt that demolishing the towers to bring new jobs to the area was the best possible outcome for the site.

We believe the area has a positive future and we are already in discussion with the council to identify new opportunities that will fit with the area’s regeneration plans.

We’re committed to working with the community and with local partners to identify positive future opportunities for the site.

Sheffield people have their say

To some people, the Tinsley cooling towers have become a local landmark. To others they are an eyesore.

At E.ON, safety is our first priority and it is essential that the towers do come down in a safe and controlled manner. There is no other viable option for the towers.

But we also wanted to get a better understanding of exactly how local people felt about the towers and the future of the site, so we commissioned Ipsos MORI to carry out a survey on our behalf earlier this year.

The survey was carried out over the summer and 501 residents of Sheffield aged 16 and over were interviewed.

The results revealed that the towers provoked a mixed response from local residents:

• 52% of people who responded said they’d like to see the towers come down to allow the area to be redeveloped to provide new jobs to the area, with 34% strongly supporting that option;
• 46% agreed the towers were important to the people of Sheffield, yet almost two-thirds (64%) said they had no personal attachment to the towers

The survey showed that the people of Sheffield are split over the towers – for everyone who wants to see them stay, someone else wants to see them come down. We therefore concluded that, considering the deteriorating condition of the towers, our best option is to safely demolish them.*

The History of the Tinsley Towers

The Blackburn Meadows Power Station was built between 1937 and 1942. The two Tinsley cooling towers are numbered 6 and 7 and were two of seven cooling towers that stood on the site. The towers weigh about 3,074 and 2,019 tonnes respectively.

In addition to Blackburn Meadows Power Station, two older coal-fired power stations built in the 1900s once stood on the site and generated electricity.

In the late 1960s, the M1 was built around the cooling towers while the power station was still operational. The two remaining towers, which are 250ft high, stand around 17 metres away from the motorway.

The main power station was demolished in the 1980s. The cooling towers remained standing as engineers did not have the expertise to bring them down safely without compromising the integrity of the motorway.

Now, 30 years on, the Highways Agency has reinforced the motorway and demolition specialists have developed the necessary experience and expertise to bring them down in a safe and controlled manner.

* = The survey took place between August 29 and September 4 2006. Only those aware of the Tinsley towers were included in the research.