WORK to complete clearing the collapsed Didcot Power Station site has started again after a new contractor was appointed.

It comes more than a year after four men died when the boiler house came down on February 23 last year.

A team tasked with clearing the debris started working on the site last week and could remove the remaining rubble by the end of the month.

Owners RWE had awarded the clean-up contract to Brown and Mason, which took over from Coleman and Company a year ago.

After the collapse of half of the boiler house in February 2016, in which demolition workers Mick Collings, Ken Cresswell, John Shaw and Chris Huxtable were killed, the remaining half of the structure was blown up in a controlled explosion in July.

Brown and Mason is also expected to complete the demolition of the power station’s chimney and north cooling towers, but that work is not expected to take place until summer next year.

Brown and Mason have decades of experience in the demolition industry, but the clearance will not come without challenges.

Last April Thames Valley Police, which is still investigating the cause of the tragedy, estimated there were 20,000 tonnes of rubble on-site after the disaster struck.

Officers said the pile of debris at that point was about 40m high, although it is not clear how much exactly is left for Brown and Mason to clear.

Mr Cresswell, 57, Mr Shaw, 61, Mr Collings, 53, and Mr Huxtable, 34, were employed by Coleman and Company.

It took more than six months for the men’s bodies to be recovered from the site.

The Midlands-based company withdrew from its contract in September and now workers from contractor Brown and Mason are clearing the site.

Kelly Nye, a spokeswoman for RWE Generation UK, said: “Work got started last week.

“There are no demolition dates for the three remaining cooling towers.

“Work is progressing and continues day by day.”