Work starts to flatten historic iron foundry

The bulldozers have moved in to demolish a former Black Country factory, which has been part of the landscape for 79 years.

The Sigmacast Iron plant in Upper Church Lane, Tipton, is being razed to make way for houses.

The foundry closed at the end of last year after production was moved to India, with the loss of more than 160 jobs. The site's redevelopment is a slow process for owners Harrow Estates, as the their heavy duty machines navigate their way around five possible mineshafts.

Plans from the Coal Authority show five possible shafts beneath the site, which the developers now need to locate and measure.

Mark Nicholls, technical director for the project, said: "It is a large factory and there is already a chunk of it gone, but we have to be very careful.

"We can either use a Time Team-type method with physics where we would scan down, or we can try some probe drilling, which is the most common method.

"The Coal Authority has no record of these mines ever being filled in so there could be some voids, but they can also be fairly inaccurate so we really need to pin point exactly what we have got and where."

Planning permission to demolish the factory and build 440 new homes was granted last month. The 8.4-acre site is surrounded by Upper Church Lane, Alexandra Road and Locarno Road.

When it was open it attracted complaints from residents over noise, pollution and disruption. Since its closure it has become an eyesore and many people living nearby are looking forward to its transformation.

Mr Nicholls added: "We are taking it down piece by piece starting from the north of the site, there are residential properties around the Locarno Road side and we are trying to be as considerate for them as we can be. We expect to have the site cleared by mid September."