Brent Charlie Recycling Milestones: Flare Stack Pull & South Cantilever Blowdown

Written By Chris Mackinlay

ABLE has recently delivered two major milestones in the 31,000te Shell Brent Charlie recycling project — showcasing precision engineering, structural expertise, and safe execution.

Flare Stack Cut & Pull
Standing 143 metres tall (93m structure mounted 50m above ground), the 260-tonne Flare Stack was safely removed following a meticulously planned operation:

  • Dual wire pulling ropes were attached

  • The base was pre-weakened with hinging tags to control collapse

  • Shims were used to manage compression and load transfer

Topman teams executed the final cuts on the main legs and safely exited the topside before two 90te excavators brought the structure down within the Designed Exclusion Zone — exactly as planned.

South Cantilever Blowdown
On Saturday 19th July, the 6000-tonne South Cantilever structure was successfully dropped at Able UK:

  • The MSF frame was pre-weakened using step cuts, castle cuts, tags, and shims

  • 70kg of explosive cutting charges were installed by Precision Demolition Company (PDC) Ltd

  • The top chord was severed using explosives after a 12-day preparation phase

Engineering design was completed in-house by ABLE and independently verified through Category 3 checks by Robert Clarke Engineering.

Huge credit to all teams involved for delivering these complex operations safely and successfully.

Chris Mackinlay
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