A HUGE bang could be heard for miles around Oxfordshire as a building at Didcot power station was dramatically blown up.

Demolition firm Coleman and Company carried out the explosion of the tank and bunker bay at the decommissioned Didcot A station on Saturday morning.

The company had warned local residents in advance about the blast noise, but Oxford Mail readers reported hearing it from as far away as Cowley, Southmoor and Grove as the building came down at 9.15am.

The A4130 near Southmead Industrial Estate was shut between 9am and 11am as a safety precaution and to allow for any dust to be removed from the road.

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Coleman & Company project director Kieran Conaty said, unlike the demolition of the three southern cooling towers that saw hundreds wake early to witness the historic moment they came down, the latest demolition was less of an attraction.

He added: “As the structure was set back in the exclusion zone, it was difficult to see from the approaching roads.

“We spent five months planning for this blowdown to take place. The health and safety of our colleagues and those in the surrounding community is always our number one priority.”

The boiler house still stands and will be blown up in December.

Over the next couple of months, the company will work with RWE Power to plan the demolition of the remaining three northern cooling towers.

Coleman & Company said they posed a greater challenge than Saturday’s work and the southern towers, as they are close to Didcot B Power Station, overhead pylons and the National Grid substation.

They are earmarked for demolition in September 2016.