BIG BANG AT INVERKIP POWER STATION

Last Updated on Thursday, 07 February 2013 10:56 Written by Stewart Peterson Wednesday, 06 February 2013 16:42

As part of ongoing work at Inverkip Power Station on the Inverclyde side of the firth, Scottish Power demolished the remaining boiler house building today (Wednesday) at 3pm, using controlled explosion.

The building was situated at the south side of the central control room, and was predominantly made of steel and measured approximately 57m high, 96m long and 39m wide in total.

The work was part of a two-year programme to remove equipment and structures from the site in advance of potential redevelopment.

A proposal for a mixed-use development of up to 780 housing units and a possible mixture of small business units and shops is currently being considered by Inverclyde Council.

The full demolition programme at Inverkip is set to run until this summer.

The removal of the boiler house was managed by ScottishPower’s contractor Brown and Mason.

Consent to build the oil-fired power station was granted by the Secretary of State for Scotland in March 1970, and construction on the station commenced in October that year.

The station consists of three x 676 MW units, and has a total generating capacity of 2028 MW.

The station was designed to meet peak demand and provide flexibility to the electricity supply network.

However, due to the soaring price of oil in the 1970’s the station was never commercially operated except during 1984/5 when it was required to operate.

The plant was kept as a strategic reserve until the late 1990s when itwas mothballed.

The final part of the demolition will see the removal of Inverkip’s chimney, the tallest free standing structure in Scotland and third tallest in the UK.

It is 236m (778ft) high and contains more than 1,400,000 bricks and 20,000 tonnes of concrete.

This is scheduled for late spring/early summer this year, although no date has been finalised yet.