Scottish multistory felled by explosives

The Scottish city of Glasgow built numerous multistory blocks of flats to provide housing for those displaced during urban redevelopment in the city during the 1960s.

These buildings have now reached the end of their useful life and a number have already been brought down and their sites cleared.

Another iconic tower has now been brought down by UK contractor Safedem as part of its ongoing collaboration with the Glasgow Housing Agency.

The first of eight Red Road towers to be demolished by 2017 was imploded on 10th June 2012 at 12.45pm.

A total of 275 kg (605 lb) of explosives were used to bring the triple block tower down. More than 2000 people were evacuated from the exclusion zone established for the blast.

As a result of the nature of the tower's steel frame construction, the bottom storeys remain standing as planned after the blowdown.

These will subsequently be demolished using demolition excavators.

The clearance of the site should be completed by the end of this year, with all steel debris recycled and the concrete and brick debris crushed and used as fill for new roads and other construction projects.

A video of the blast can be seen here