Redcar Blast Furnace demolition: Historic moment as part of old SSI steelworks is blown up with explosives

The Redcar Blast Furnace was blown up using 175kg of explosives at 9am this morning (Wednesday).

The steelworks closed in 2015 with the loss of 2,000 jobs and a significant part of Teesside’s heritage. The site is being redeveloped as Teesworks.

As well as the blast furnace, the demolition also included the dust catcher and charge conveyor buildings.

Last month the basic oxygen and pulverised coal injection plants on the site were taken down.

In the next few weeks the four stoves that heated the blast furnace will also be demolished to make way for a new industrial zone that will focus on creating thousands of jobs in sectors including green energy. Their removals will completely change Redcar’s skyline.

In its day, the furnace, built in 1979, could prodice 10,000 tonnes of iron daily and members of its former workforce were invited to see it come down.

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said: “Our skyline has changed forever with the demolition of the Redcar Blast Furnace and we can never forget the important role it played in Teesside’s proud industrial history.

“Now, with almost all of the major iron and steelmaking structures down, a new skyline will emerge on the Teesworks site as construction ramps up on new investments like Net Zero Teesside and SeAH Wind’s offshore wind monopile facility.

“We can never understate how much the steelworks site has defined Teesside’s history and shaped our communities, but I’ve always been clear we need to look to the future to create new jobs on this site that will employ generations of local people, just as the steelworks once did. We will never forget our past – but from it we are building a new future.”

Redcar MP Jacob Young said: “I always said today would be a day of mixed emotions. But it is precisely because the blast furnace stood for so long as a symbol of our historic economic strength that it should make way for a new era of progress.”