Church survives a ‘demolition sandwich’

A church in Dundee, Scotland, was the meat in a 'demolition-sandwich' when two neighbouring tower blocks were blown down.

St Martin's Episcopal Church is situated just metres from Butterburn and Bucklemucker Court multi-storeys, which have been razed to the ground.

The congregation was decanted elsewhere for their Sunday worship, where prayers were said for the church to survive intact.

The Bishop of Brechin, the Right Reverend Dr Nigel Peyton, told Sky News before the demolition: 'We'll be praying for everyone involved in the whole day, really.

'There'll be a lot of other neighbours anxious about their properties and we'll be praying for them. We are confident that the blow down of the 'multis' will go well.

'We've made our preparations, we've talked to the contractors and have a lot of confidence in them and we've certainly told our insurers!'

Preparations for the plume of dust included sealing the church organ in plastic, removing valuable items from the premises and taping up exterior doors.

The demolition of the 25-storey blocks removed two landmarks that have been prominent on the Dundee skyline since 1971.

The 374 flats were demolished by explosives placed strategically in the structure of the buildings.

More than 10,000 detonators were used by the contractors SAFEDEM, which has worked on the tower blocks for several months, removing internal fittings and weakening support walls prior to the final 'blow down'.

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Church survives a 'demolition sandwich'