Former paper mill chimney falls in controlled blast.
The chimney at the former Edward Thompson paper mill in Hendon, Sunderland has been demolished in a controlled explosion.
Appropriately, the demolition at the Edward Thompson stack was charged to another Thompson; demolition firm Thompsons of Prudhoe. The company’s John Thompson said the chimney had come down exactly as planned: “After weeks of very careful planning between Thompsons of Prudhoe, our client Sunderland City Council and the HSE, the chimney was brought down to ground using explosives successfully and exactly as planned. The A1018 Commercial Road was closed for approximately 15 minutes. There was around 5kg of explosives used, the chimney was 180ft high and the bricks weighed 1,390 tons.”
Thompson’s produced more than 500 tons of paper a year at the plant for more than 20 years after taking it over following the departure of Canadian firm Domtar.
