DSM Demolition successfully demolished on Sunday morning the last four cooling towers at the former Eggborough power station plant in Goole, North Yorkshire.

The landscape changing demolition was the next key milestone in the redevelopment of the site, earmarked for mixed-use regeneration in a joint venture between St Francis Group and Marshall Commercial Development Projects.

The implosion took place at 9am within the perimeter of a secured 350m diameter exclusion zone to safeguard the public.

Over 50 DSM staff implemented the localised road closures and the exclusion zone employing heat-seeking drones to ensure the zone was completely clear in advance of the works.

The 90m high towers were only 60m from the National Grid sub-station open switch gear and overhead lines, this was a challenging aspect of the job and meticulous planning and protective measures were required to ensure that works did not impact on their continuing operations

DSM Project Manager, James Fincham said: “18-months of planning and work on site to achieve what has been accomplished on Sunday is a testament to the demolition team on site and all involved with the project.

“Plans and preparation are now well underway for the further demolition works to be undertaken in 2022.”

St Francis Group Director of Operations, Simon Dale said: “The team have worked diligently over the past few months to ensure the event was planned, co-ordinated and implemented safely.

“The removal of all eight cooling towers is a significant milestone for the development, and we look forward to working further with DSM and others to regenerate this site and create economic development for the region.”

Agreement has been reached for the sale of the last of four stalled Elliot Group schemes after the developer collapsed into administration following the arrest of founder Elliot Lawless.

Administrators for the company’s £70m hotel scheme on Norfolk Street in Liverpool’s Baltic tech district have exchanged contracts with the scheme’s original investors.

HBG Insolvency Ltd will now put the sale proposal before the High Court for final ratification.

The 306-bedroom property had secured planning permission and construction had commenced, before ceasing when investors decided not to continue funding the project following Lawless’s arrest in December 2019.

Lawless said: “When my schemes were placed in administration I made a promise that I would work ceaselessly to help secure each site’s sale and protect the interests of investors, so I am delighted that my final stalled scheme is to be acquired by its original investors.

“The process, as with the other administrations, has been handled by a third party under strict rules and I sympathise with investors whose bids for The Residence and Infinity weren’t successful.

“It has not been easy but with flexibility and good will on all sides the administrators have been able to ensure that all of my stalled projects will now be placed in the hands of new owners and move forward to completion.

“What this latest deal reinforces is that my projects were always very good schemes in prime locations.  I’ll take considerable satisfaction from seeing them completed.  If you take a look at the outstanding job done by the investors who bought Aura in Liverpool, for example, you can see that the original vision for each project can still be delivered in the right hands.”

No charges have ever been brought against Lawless and he says he “looks forward to Merseyside Police concluding their investigation.”

Kier has bounced back with a winning streak of contract wins after getting its finances back on track.

The firm top September’s contracts league with a haul of 22 project wins, including the £200m Liverpool Bixteth Place office scheme for its in-house property division and a £66m project for Thames Water to modernise Mogden Sewage Treatment Works in Isleworth.

The surge of projects last month also lifted Kier from sixth to second place in the 12-month rolling league table of secured work just behind league leader Morgan Sindall.

Click for full tables

According to data collected by information specialist Barbour ABI, other big project wins included Buckingham Group securing a major warehouse deal for Trixtax at Symmetry Park near Kettering, south of junction 9 of the A14.

Infrastructure works will be completed early next year allowinbg new logistics buildings of up to 1.3 million sq ft to be delivered by late 2023.

The firm also bagged a £45m warehouse job for Prologis at Pineham Buisness Park in Northamptonshire, due to start towards of the  end of this year.

Two new warehouses will be built on cleared land at Pineham business park

Among the other big wins Vinci secured a major near £80m deal for student accommodation for the University of the West of England at its Frenchay Campus in Bristol.

Design for UWE blocks which will be the largest Passivhaus student scheme in the country

Phase one of the £200m scheme will initially involve demolishing the existing Carroll Court buildings and constructing 900-bed spaces across three buildings rising to six-storeys.

ISGbagged Millennium Bridge House redevelopment in London

On the civil side Bam Nuttall signed an ECI deal to deliver detailed design and advance works for the £118m Cross Tay Link Road in Scotland.

The new road north of Perth will connect the A9 to the A93 and A94 north of Scone.

 

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