A 30-metre chimney came crashing to the ground this morning as part of the renovation of a historic Oxford hospital.
The controlled demolition went according to plan at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, in Windmill Road, Headington, at 9.15am.
The chimney had stood for 53 years as part of the hospital's old central-heating system and was felled to make way for parking spaces at the revamped hospital.
Local residents and construction workers watched on as the chimney was first weakened at its base and then pulled over by wires connected to a tractor.
John Marshall, the head of estates for the site, said: "It went absolutely perfectly.
"There was an oily mark on the ground were they said it would land and the top of the chimney has hit it spot on.
"It is the symbolic end of the last six years of development at the site and all the new buildings that have gone up.
"The chimney was part of the old boiler house which heating the whole hospital and created steam for processes like decontamination.
"The old boiler burnt heavy oil and our new chimneys are a lot smaller because we now use gas."
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