Redcar steelworks towers at risk of 'imminent' collapse

Disused coke oven towers where two men were killed in explosions are at risk of "uncontrolled" and "imminent" collapse, a report has found.

John Mackay and Tommy Williams died in September during dismantling work at the former SSI steelworks on Teesside.

The report said it was "imperative" hazards on the South Bank site were addressed "as a matter of urgency".

"Considerable safety, health and environmental challenges" needed addressing urgently, it said. 

The report by South Tees Development Corporation (STDC) chief executive David Allison said measures had been put in place to "control the hazard and the potential for imminent collapse on to adjacent, equally hazardous, infrastructure".

Nitrogen was used on the site to "prevent the occurrence of fire from deposits spontaneously igniting on exposure to air," he said.

Safety measures were "further stretching public resources and will continue to do so potentially until October 2020, when a controlled demolition can be completed".

The measures were costing about £16m a year, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Mr Mackay and Mr Williams were half way through a contract to strip furniture from the towers to prepare them for demolition when the explosion happened in September.

This "effectively closed" a 50-acre area of the industrial site due to exclusion zones, Mr Allison's report said.

The STDC is fighting to take control of the land from three Thai banks in compulsory purchase order hearings starting next Tuesday.

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