Three boiler houses at the defunct Grain Power Station were blown up yesterday morning.

Experts carried out a controlled explosion to demolish the three boiler houses and accompanying boilers at Grain Power Station.

The boiler houses contained three of the five oil-fired boilers which were once integral to generating electricity at the plant, which was capable of providing enough electricity to power more than one million homes.

During the explosion about 20,000 tonnes of steel was brought down to the ground which will be one of three demolition milestones at Grain before the 244m chimney is demolished during 2016.

Mike Cooper, Head of Demolition at E.ON, said: “This demolition was quite significant in scale due to the size of the buildings involved.

“Following this, we’ll be working to safely remove the debris and prepare the site for future works which will include the demolition of the remaining boiler houses and the plant’s chimney.

"The material from the chimney will then be used to resurface the site and we hope to have completed the whole demolition project by the end of 2016.”

The power station was officially closed in December 2012.