The story
Replacing an ageing 27000 tonne, 50 metre high tower is not for the faint-hearted! Qualter Hall was given the task to do just exactly that at Cleveland Potash's Boulby Mine in North Yorkshire. Using a highly specialised fast-build procedure, involving jacking and then sliding out the old structure on stainless steel slide paths, the tower was moved initally 25 metres south and then a further 50 metres east away from the shaft, where it was successfully demolished. The new headgear was then moved into position.
The video
Thankfully our job was a little easier and involved the filming of the final moving into place of the headgear. This took place over a ten day period which we carried out using our Canon 5D MKII and GoPro cameras, capturing some great time-lapse sequences along the way, culminating in the spectacular demolition of the old tower.
