Should the blast furnace be saved?

People said pull down the Royal Exchange it is a soot stained eyesore and with no economic use. Tear down Middlesbrough's first house on West Street why preserve a slum. There is nothing to be gained from preserving the derelict Victorian buildings near the railway station, we need access to unfurl the potential for industry along the Tees. Build the A66.
Then ever since every time I help put together a local history month I have to field a load of abuse from people saying why are we so short sighted in destroying our heritage.
You can make progress, help attract industry by retaining the identity of your town or area.
Look at the popularity of posters, tshirts etc of Teesside showing images of the Transporter, Dorman Long tower, Redcar Blast Furnace, ICI Billingham tower - it takes time and familiarity to get on a tshirt. One day maybe people will feel pride in Redcar Beacon. But once things are gone they are gone for good.
 
bear66 said:
True. One has historical meaning. The other is a rusty hulk.
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Historical? Come off it.
As historical as me ( only Im older).
Rob, the loss of the exchange, as well as numerous other fine victorian buildings were a crime ( literally in a few cases) , industrial facilities are a blight , replicated around the world ,your being silly comparing the two.
 
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rob_fmttm said:
People said pull down the Royal Exchange it is a soot stained eyesore and with no economic use. Tear down Middlesbrough's first house on West Street why preserve a slum. There is nothing to be gained from preserving the derelict Victorian buildings near the railway station, we need access to unfurl the potential for industry along the Tees. Build the A66.
Then ever since every time I help put together a local history month I have to field a load of abuse from people saying why are we so short sighted in destroying our heritage.
You can make progress, help attract industry by retaining the identity of your town or area.
Look at the popularity of posters, tshirts etc of Teesside showing images of the Transporter, Dorman Long tower, Redcar Blast Furnace, ICI Billingham tower - it takes time and familiarity to get on a tshirt. One day maybe people will feel pride in Redcar Beacon. But once things are gone they are gone for good.
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I think there is a slight difference between the Royal Exchange and Redcar Blast Furnace. One could have been tidied up and put to good use, the other one wouldn't look tidy if you shot millions at it and painted bright colours every year. No one looks at the Blast and think 'oh, I'm home' like you do when you see the Transporter, Dorman Long Tower, etc.

I fully understand the argument regarding the need to preserve our heritage, but that would take millions of pounds that could be spent on community centres or building amenities that the area needs.
 
A smaller monument of the blast furnace in Middlesbrough town centre would be a better idea.

Use some of the money saved by demolishing the actual blast furnace to get the rusty trolly out of the water on the way to the South Gare.
 
TheLodger said:
They are only talking about keeping the blast furnace, a tiny building that will be self sufficient and no way will it be a detriment of the area. We have a proud history, we should try keep a little bit of it.
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But in the centre of an industrial site? Look at Wilton across the road. Can you imagine a tourist attraction on that site?
 
Knock it down. Hated working on it and it looks an eyesore.
 
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It's not even that old. There was no uproar when the furnaces were taken down at South Bank. There are plenty of momentous that can be used to display around the area as a memory of why Middlesbrough and the surrounding area came into existence. It's time to move on. It's not a iconic building but a blot on the skyline. A memorial of those who lost their lives in BSC would also be a fitting reminder.
 
Norfolkred1 said:
It's not even that old. There was no uproar when the furnaces were taken down at South Bank. There are plenty of momentous that can be used to display around the area as a memory of why Middlesbrough and the surrounding area came into existence. It's time to move on. It's not a iconic building but a blot on the skyline. A memorial of those who lost their lives in BSC would also be a fitting reminder.
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Like I said above we have the Sydney Harbour Bridge and even the Tyne Bridge in UK . Not to mention loads of others as a testament to our heritage .
 
Carlos Fandango said:
This represents the BOS plant. Something of a similar size would be adequate. You could have several dotted around the area,
The idea of keeping the original structure is just crazy.
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All around the area but nothing in the Town. I love what Stockton has done with the High Street train which gets a lot of people to stop and watch. There must be something we could use from the Steel industry, not a torpedo vessel though.
 
If we want to just dwell on the steel itself there’s the One World Trade Centre built with Teesside steel and a much better Appearance than the blast furnace .
 
The Liverpool docks have World Heritage Site status. We are asking for the equivalent of preserving one dock. Why such hostility to the idea? The very idea of heritage seems to induce collective self-loathing on here, whereas Liverpool's regeneration has had a lot a public funding (plus the largesse of the Duke of Westminster) and they aren't complaining.
Teesside was in the same league as far as heavy steel products was concerned. They are ubiquitous to this day. The India Building in Liverpool, just behind the Liver, was built around Dormans' sections, to name but one of a very long list.
If only one or two original structures are preserved, then people will have an indication of the sheer scale of the industry on Teesside, if not the sounds and smells. If you just have some half-hearted miniature conversation piece, then future generations will think of Teesside as the saucepan-opolis, or as a satellite of Sheffield or Newcastle. That is, if they have any awareness at all.
 
being from Redcar I always looked upon the blast furnace as an annoyingly ugly thing, especially from Redcar beach.

Only today on Look North there was a long zoom camera shot from Saltburn looking up the coast to this ugly looking industrial structure which looked like it was actually built on Redcar beach.

It provided employment for nearly fifty years, bless it, but it’s time has gone.
 
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