page_title: Richborough Power Station
section_title: Demolition
hierarchical_section_title: Richborough Power Station / Demolition
caption_attribution_description: English: A view up one of three cooling towers at Richborough Power Station, prior to their demolition
context_page_description: Richborough power station was a 336 MW power station close to the mouth of the River Stour near Sandwich, on the east coast of Kent. It was built on land within the Port of Richborough but being on the northern edge its site lies mostly within the neighbouring parish of Minster, Kent. It operated from 1962 to 1996; the towers were demolished on 11 March 2012. BFL Management Ltd, the current owners of the site plan to bring it back into use as the £750 million Richborough Energy Park.
context_section_description: Following the plant closure, the majority of the equipment was removed during a strip out programme, which also saw the demolition of a number of the buildings, leaving only a few outbuildings, the office block and the landmark cooling towers and chimney standing.
  In controlled blasts, the three 97m cooling towers and a single 127m chimney stack were demolished at 9:07 am on 11 March 2012. Some locals had campaigned to keep the towers, saying they formed part of the historical landscape and were used as a navigation point by boats wanting to enter the mouth of the River Stour, known to have a narrow channel of useful depth. The turbine hall was the last part of the power station to be demolished in 2016.
caption: View inside one of the cooling towers
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