History of the Canvey Island chimney and its demise

In the 1970s, an oil refinery was partially built at the west end of Canvey Island. It was never finished, thanks in large part to local campaigners, and the site became derelict. Eventually, the land was bought by the retail chain Safeways, who wanted to build a new supermarket and retail park. The purchase agreement stipulated that Safeways should organise the demolition of the tanks and the large chimney that remained on the site.

 

The Canvey Island chimney had its own unique chronology of demise in 1997, comprising multiple explosions, two collapses, and four stages of concrete hitting concrete:

• On the morning of the 17th September, things started to go awry after the tendons that ran up the chimney were cut in preparation for the planned demolition at 2pm the following day.

• Without warning, there was a sudden boom and a large piece of concrete flew off the side and struck the surrounding ground, which was also concrete.

• Then there was another boom as another piece flew off the side, similarly striking the ground while Fred Dibnah and his team started running from the scene.

• The pressure inside the chimney continued to build up, until the holes that were cut into the sides towards the reinforcing metal at the base (to weaken the chimney in preparation for its demolition) began to blow in a series of explosions.

• The chimney still did not fall over, but instead fell straight down for 40 feet until it hit a ledge built for the refractory inside the chimney, and then stopped.

• The air pressure inside then built up even further until the lid on the top of the chimney (which had been installed to protect against rain) suddenly blew off and hit the ground.

• Finally, the chimney started to fall over and break apart, landing right down the middle of the oil drums that had been laid out as markers.

• In the end, the chimney had collapsed more or less as planned, just a day earlier.

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