Up close with one of the most complex and challenging deconstruction tasks we have ever seen.
On 31 July 2014, a fire broke out in the FGD4 absorption unit at the 2,000 MW Ferrybridge ‘C’ power station in West Yorkshire sending plumes of black smoke billowing into the sky. It took 75 firefighters to bring the fire under control. When the smoke subsided, it was clear that the damage to the 40 metre tall steel tower was catastrophic.
Temperatures within the rubber-lined FGD4 vessel had approached the melting point of steel, causing the structure to buckle under its own weight and to subside non symmetrically overall though the tower by approximately six metres (15 percent). That partial collapse had twisted, bent and broken a number of the pipes, ducts and access walkways leading to the absorber.
The fire had also dislodged much of the external cladding which was now being blown loose by the high winds experienced in this exposed location.
“The absorber looked like a giant Coca Cola can that God had stamped on,” recalls J. Bryan (Victoria) Ltd managing director Mark Bryan. “It was clear that FGD4 had partially collapsed but it was impossible to tell what was holding it up or in which direction the structure was collapsing.”
We will be covering this complex job in a forthcoming edition of the Demolition magazine. But, in the meantime, check out this superb “trailer” video that not only demonstrates the skill and ingenuity of the J. Bryan (Victoria) Ltd team but also the skill of the demolition world’s best video team, Django.
