EXPLOSIVE demolition is set to take place at Tilbury Power Station this week with exclusion zones put in place.

At approximately 9am on Thursday, the 14th and final explosive demolition will take place at the power station near Fort Road on the edge of the River Thames.

The controlled demolition will simultaneously bring down boiler house seven and eight. The structure is predominantly constructed of steel and is approximately 100 metres long, 30 metres wide and 60 metres high.

To protect everyone on site and in the area, an exclusion zone will be in place before, during and immediately after the explosion.

The exclusion zone is well within the power station boundary fence, and there will be no public access to the area or impact on the local road network.

Demolition teams said the explosion will be low impact; the structures will collapse may be heard off site, but any noise will be over very quickly.

Demolition of the site began in January 2016 and most of its main structures have already been demolished. No further explosive demolition events will be required.

At the peak of the works, the contractor Brown and Mason had more than 100 workers on site dedicating more than 570,000 hours to the project.

As much material as possible has been recycled from the site, including 4,800 tonnes of non-ferrous metal and 71,500 tonnes of ferrous metal, in addition to 100,000 tonnes of concrete arisings.

The work is expected to be completed in late 2019. This will include the final remediation of the area with 97 per cent of the materials recycled or reused.