Report - Willington Power Station Cooling Towers - July 2016

[tazong]

History:

RWE npower has been involved in generating power at Willington for many years.
The former, coal fired Willington A Power Station was officially opened by the Duke of Devonshire in October, 1959. Immediately after its opening, construction work began on Willington B, which started generating electricity in 1962.

Willington A and B power stations were closed in 1995 and 1999 respectively. They have since been demolished but their cooling towers, some foundation structures and other infrastructure, was retained. The proposed Willington C Power Station, if implemented, would be constructed on the site of these existing facilities.

The Explore:

I took loads of footage from this place and did a lot of running commentry from the ground but it was a very windy day and the wind blowing in the mic was terrible, i did a over dub with music but to be honest i feel the drone footage tells a thousand stories and sometimes less is more.
So for this one its just the pictures and the drone footage as i really do think anymore would have been to much.
I set off at 5am to visit this place and could see the place from miles away as i approached.
I was totally gob smacked at the size of these things and the site in general.

Some pictures i took on the day:

I took this last shot with the gate as while getting over i caught my jaffas well and truly as the weight of betty in her case pulled me over - ooohhh tummy pains lol

Finally betty flying overhead:

I tried three times to fly betty from the inside up to the top but i think the radio waves bouncing off the inside of the tower was confusing the old girl - very nearly lost it bad on last attempt so bettys saftey was always paramount but it would have been a great shot if i had pulled it off.

thanks for watching - hope you enjoy.
:-)

 

[Haifisch]

The videos and the drone footage is superb!

I did hear these were getting demolished on 1st September, has this happened with minimal press attention or has this been postponed?

 

[Decender]

They were certainly still there on 1st Sept as I was over there myself on that day. Not even any signs of demo preperation. The site was purchased by another energy company back in June of this year, and a planning application was put in for the demo of the towers as they would not be needed. The plans were apparantly approved and the demo date was rumoured to be 1st Sept. Not sure what has happened since.

 

[sparkymark7]

Just a warning for any re-visits these towers are literally falling apart, there are brick sized bits of concrete strewn all over the ground under the towers, I was there for an hour Saturday 8th October I heard two pieces fall to the ground from the adjacent towers, if one was to hit you it could cause serious injury or death.

 

[stranton]

are the cooling towers grade listed?