Rugeley Power Station: Second demolition to take place next week

At around 10am on April 26 the second controlled collapse demolition will take place at the former power station.

The collapse will bring down the 'Unit 7 Precipitators', which are made of steel and are around 49m long, 16m wide and 31.5m high.

To protect everyone on site and in the local area an exclusion zone will be in place before, during and immediately after the collapse.

The exclusion zone is within the power station boundary fence and there will be no public access to the area or impact on the local road network.

Owners ENGIE have said any noise will be over quickly but the initiation and collapse may be heard off site.

The first stage of the demolition was carried out in February, and residents were warned of noise similar to a "small rumble of thunder".

The other main structures, including boiler house, chimney and cooling towers are scheduled for controlled collapse through the remainder of 2019 and 2020.

And the complete demolition of the site is expected in 2021.

The news comes after plans were announced for a mixed-use development that has the potential to include more than 2,000 homes - transforming the site into an entirely new sustainable and smart community.

Full details of the plans are yet to be revealed, but the French owners of the former coal-fired power station say they want the homes to be entirely powered by renewable energy.

Alongside the sustainable homes, ENGIE wants to build a 'substantial' number of commercial buildings on the site, creating permanent local jobs for the area.

About 30 per cent of the homes are planned to be put aside for affordable housing, while a number will be made into homes for the elderly.

ENGIE is hoping that half of the green energy powering the homes will be generated on site through solar batteries and photovoltaic solutions.

Rugeley A power station opened in 1961 while Rugeley B power station, which provided enough electricity to power around half a million homes, followed nine years later.

There were plans to convert the power station to run on biomass fuel in 2012 but they were never carried out.

The station eventually closed in June 2016 when 120 jobs were lost.