A date has been set for the demolition of some of the UK's last remaining cooling towers at West Burton A power station in Nottinghamshire, prompting a campaign group to call for their preservation. The Twentieth Century Society (TCS) described the towers as 'engineering marvels' and urged that they be saved as part of the nation's industrial heritage.
West Burton A and Cottam coal-fired power stations, which dominated the landscape of north Nottinghamshire for over 60 years, closed in 2023 and 2019 respectively. The site is now scheduled to be cleared by 2028. Demolition began earlier this month with the levelling of low-rise buildings known as Precipitators 3 and 4, while the boiler house at Cottam was demolished on Thursday. The cooling towers at Cottam are due to come down next year.
The TCS noted that the 14 power stations of the River Trent's 'Megawatt Alley', built in the early 1960s, once produced about a quarter of the UK's energy needs. Now, only one remains operational—at Ratcliffe upon Soar—which is set to close in September. Oli Marshall, head of campaigns at TCS, said: 'We're in danger of wiping out an entire chapter of our industrial heritage. The cooling towers of our post-war power stations are silent sculptural giants; they're an engineering marvel unlike any other man-made structure. The Stonehenge or Avebury of the carbon age.'
TCS pointed out that in Germany and South Africa, redundant towers are being repurposed as centres for extreme sports and amusement parks. However, attempts to list the West Burton towers were blocked by a Certificate of Immunity (COI) issued in 2017 and renewed in 2022. A Historic England spokesperson said they were aware of the closure plans and had implemented a detailed recording programme, working with the Science Museum Group to ensure the selective retention of artefacts for future study.
