Richborough Towers Demolished

The Richborough cooling towers, which have been part of the East Kent skyline for more than 50 years have been demolished.

Thousands of people gathered at vantage points across Thanet on Sunday morning to watch as the three 100 metre tall towers and a chimney were blown up.

It took four big bangs and around 20 seconds for the iconic towers near Sandwich to disappear. The site, which has been disused since 1996 will now make way for a new energy park, which will be linked to the Thanet Offshore Windfarm.

Roads around the site were closed fifteen minutes before the blast, the River Stour was also blocked off at low tide and an exclusion zone put in place.

A warning siren sounded five minutes before the 9am demolition and rockets were set off to signal the start of the operation which took 18 months to plan.

Richborough Power station was built in the late 1950s and went into service in 1962. Most of the other buildings on the site have already been demolished.