The end of an era: Tinsley Towers fall
Sunday August 24: 3am GMT: the two former cooling towers at Tinsley, an iconic image of Sheffield's industrial past have fallen.
Often referred to as the 'Tinsley towers', the 250ft high structures stand approx 17 metres away from the M1 viaduct, and were previously dubbed the 'gateway to the North' by some and were generally thought of as landmarks by the locals. 
But it was E.ON UK who owned the two cooling towers at the Blackburn Meadows site in Sheffield, and who sought the demolition to make way for the site to be regenerated.
E.ON* plans to build a £60m new biomass power station that will generate enough electricity for around 40,000 homes and its planning application was approved by Sheffield City Council earlier this year.
The locals protested the proposed action so much that a trust was set up to preserve the towers. On the website of the Tinsley Towers Trust*, it reads: "English Heritage wrote that the Towers, built in 1938, are the oldest surviving hyperbolic Cooling Towers in the UK and that their prominence provides a visual indication of the former scale and importance of Sheffield’s steel industry."
The Trust's website also quotes a BBC online poll established whose results said that three quarters of the public want to see the two towers saved. According to the poll, this figure equated to more than half a million supporters in Sheffield and Rotherham alone.
When I first arrived in Sheffield I thought of the two towers as eyesores over the landscape near to Meadowhall, the large shopping centre that I made a point in not visiting. But over time, and many trips to Sheffield and back in the car, the two towers start to grow on you and when you see them from the M1, you know that you're back in Sheffield.
The worry for the Trust and local residents is that the loss of the Towers will result in a loss of identity for the city and that the new proposed biomass plant will not create enough jobs for the area. Sheffield will rise again but its two towers have fallen, and now motorists will have to pay extra attention when they approach the city to make sure they take the correct exit!
BBC Article (plus demolition video): click here *
Further photos from the demolition: click here *
Labels: Current Affairs
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