real time web analytics
Report - - Redcar Blast Furnace - December 2015 | Industrial Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Redcar Blast Furnace - December 2015

Hide this ad by donating or subscribing !

Exploring with Andy

Behind Closed Doors
Staff member
Moderator
Yep, more reports from Redcar. Here's my take on the blast furnace.....
Visited with @SpiderMonkey and Jamie_P

Still need to have a look around Lackenby Works.
Have a look at the power station if you haven't already ;)

873c82dcd82bcf816f50a153b443cd0e.jpg

1. The Blast Furnace​

History

Following the Second World War industries such as steel making were being nationalised under the Labour Party, and as such Teesside Steel was incorporated into British Steel Corporation. This remained until 1988 when Margaret Thatcher privatised the industry to form British Steel PLC.

The British government invested £1,000 Million into British Steel to establish an integrated plant at Redcar capable of producing 12 million tonnes of steel annually. Opening in 1979, the blast furnace was the largest in the UK and the second largest in Europe. It is capable of producing 10,000 tonnes of steel per day.

In 1999 the company merged with the Dutch firm Koninklijke Hoogovens to form Corus Group. Corus was subsequently bought by Tata Steel in 2007 but only managed two years of production before mothballing the site following the termination of a large contract.

Sahaviriya Steel Industries (SSI) purchased the dormant steelworks in 2011 and reopened the site the following year. By 2015 international market conditions forced the closure of the site once again, and SSI went into liquidation. The coke ovens were extinguished, essentially spelling the end of steel production at the site, 98 years after the works were founded.

Starting at the beginning...

1d209873380afb9057a64fa367b6bbc0.jpg

2. Welcome!

68b23e37d50fbe87df0dee4bd0cbca7d.jpg

3. Base of the blast furnace

75417045c9080f158fa0ecaef089aa2b.jpg

4. Close up

f418e8e84daaf33bffda6df5389f5f86.jpg

5. The brain

476921d9c927ff4902459a5866a5a48c.jpg

6. The brain

071850559e0b0f94eacdccfe6f3a0f07.jpg

7. Surgery

4bf6a8da5a343185b41577bbe7ef4fa8.jpg

8. Venturing inside

320074b68502eb77c4d1463c6c6ea064.jpg

9. Walkways and pipes

4511e79ce479a2403facce5600290227.jpg

10. Taphole area

2334d9085e527fafa10e3d014c51ced0.jpg

11. Taphole area control booth

234c21ebc5c1b9301ce7e2bd1803e570.jpg

12. Wider view​

Heading upwards.....


8bd8f0d140af0233e8b533df261a86d5.jpg

13. View up the chimneys

198a37203024d5c6c62e708e95f7447d.jpg

14. Up the blast furnace

4bfce7a4aa2ccd2b9c217bfeddcd807d.jpg

15. Spider

118a0b8f1b7ec9fd9965ba9c3f65b91f.jpg

16. Silos

a0d08358605287dbd092d66166075969.jpg

17. View over the blast furnace

f5a2531357c214b3bb595b98d32a23d6.jpg

18. Looking down​

And finally into the offices and control room

449f825550af5fb0e9ba8aaeea80af55.jpg

19. Signing-in room

6b93f6e8ea5b470cbcb4a77fb11bb1a2.jpg

20. Office corridor

4ed30bd3f2081d61c226234a06ed1142.jpg

21. These offices were still in use

2d505f71313f3a1c4caaa964b000645b.jpg

22. As close to the control room as we could manage​
 

Maniac

rebmeM LD82
Regular User
Nice once Andy, good to see some new bits here. I'm sure there's still way more to come out of this site, if I lived closer I'd be pushing further and further into some of the more obscure buildings around the edge of the place. :thumb
 

Exploring with Andy

Behind Closed Doors
Staff member
Moderator
Few new bits. Keep at it. Every visit will bring more if people look further than what's been seen already.

Nice once Andy, good to see some new bits here. I'm sure there's still way more to come out of this site, if I lived closer I'd be pushing further and further into some of the more obscure buildings around the edge of the place. :thumb

It's a good 2.5 hours from me, but that's still close enough to have a few more visits and do exactly that. When I look at a map and see how much of the place I actually covered, it's minuscule! There is definitely a lot more there to be found.
 

Speed

Got Epic?
Regular User
To be fair the vast majority of the process plant has been done now. It's the workshops and amenities that are outstanding. It's just a bit live in those parts still! Sat watching about 6 workers have a pizza delivered then go back inside the blast furnace workshops when I was there last week. Was a little unnerving as that was where I was just about to go check out as it looked dead!
 

Rik UE

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Cracking photographs, especially that first shot, stunning shot!

Cracking stuff.
 

Exploring with Andy

Behind Closed Doors
Staff member
Moderator
To be fair the vast majority of the process plant has been done now. It's the workshops and amenities that are outstanding. It's just a bit live in those parts still! Sat watching about 6 workers have a pizza delivered then go back inside the blast furnace workshops when I was there last week. Was a little unnerving as that was where I was just about to go check out as it looked dead!

Dress as a pizza delivery man ;)
 
Top