Scotland Razes Tallest Structure

Inverkip chimney was 778 feet tall
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 29, 2013 8:11 AM CDT
Scotland Razes Tallest Structure
Inverkip Power Station   (©)

Some nations spend decades building soaring structures that claim the title of tallest ... and then there's Scotland, which has just spent two years plotting how to correctly blow up its loftiest structure. A 778-foot chimney at Inverkip Power Station was Scotland's tallest freestanding structure up until yesterday, when two explosions reduced it to an earthbound pile of 1.4 million bricks and more than 20 tons of concrete, the BBC reports.

Says one entirely-too-excited Scottish Power rep, "The demolition team have been working towards this day for two years, and it was fantastic to see all of our detailed preparations and calculations culminate in such a dramatic event. It is quite a feat to achieve a demolition on this scale." The demolition was an ignoble end for an oil-fired facility that never performed at its capacity; Utility Week explains that oil prices skyrocketed soon after construction began in the 1970s, and it only operated commercially during a 1984-1985 coal miners' strike. Scotland's new tallest structure is—wait for it—another power station chimney, this one 600 feet tall. (On a similar note: Meet the world's tallest abandoned structure.)

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