30.08.2007

The Titan goes

Demolition began yesterday on one of the River Clyde's most historic landmarks, the Titan Crane at Govan shipyard.

The crane, designed by Sir William Arrol, was erected in 1911, and is being dismantled piece by piece, after the owners BAE Systems obtained special planning permission to demolish the A-listed structure. The contractor expects to have the massive 52 metre high crane down within three weeks
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The Titan crane at Govern

The majority of the crane will be scrapped, while the winches will be donated to the Scottish Maritime Museum. BAE claim that the 200-tonne crane will get in the way of work on a £4billion defence contract and would cost more than £1.6 million to refurbish.

With this crane gone just four Titans will remain on the Clyde, at Finnieston, Scotstoun, Greenock and the Clydebank crane which was opened to tourists earlier this month after a complete restoration. See Tourist crane