News: Ron Hull removes landmark tower

Rotherham-based specialists, Ron Hull Demolition, has removed the landmark furnace tower on the former Outokumpu steelworks site at Stocksbridge near Sheffield.

The hundred foot high tower, the tallest building on the site, housed an annealing furnace, which was used in the production of high quality stainless steel strip.

The tower was originally constructed in 1963 at the Shepcote Lane works in Sheffield but it was dismantled and moved to Stocksbridge where it was re-erected in 1994.

Once operating at temperatures of close to a thousand degrees, the furnace has been cold since production at the works ceased two years ago. The site is now being levelled in preparation for a possible multi-million pound redevelopment and demolition work at the location is progressing on schedule.

David Wall, Commercial Director at Hull Demolition said: "At one stage we were considering an explosive demolition of the tower but the situation was complicated by the it's proximity to a railway line and the presence of utilities, water supplies and drains running through the site.

"In the end we decided to demolish it conventionally and a specialist 35 metre long-reach machine was brought in to take it down to ten metre height, at which point the job could be completed by other machines.

"The tower went gracefully. The furnace, essentially a steel vessel lined with refractory bricks, was prepped so that it folded down in three sections as the demolition progressed.

"It was all over bar the shouting in just 48 hours."

In line with modern demolition practice, almost all the materials recovered from the site are to be recycled.

The steel, iron and other metals from the structures are being removed to the firm's recycling centre in Rotherham, where it will be processed and sorted before being sold on, to the steelworks at Rotherham or Scunthorpe.

Operations Director Martin Wall added: "It has been a very green operation. Absolutely everything that could be re-used has been recovered. Virtually nothing has had to go to landfill."

Ron Hull Demolition website

Images: Ron Hull Demolition