The Iconic towers of Ratcliffe-On-Soar: Power, Beauty and surely there is still time to save them.

"As the River Flows, the Sculpture of Towers Stand and Watch." The photo on the left was taken in April of 2026 - for it was a sunny late Spring afternoon and here I was visiting Trent Lock, a location that could very easily be described in the following way, 

"Trent Lock, a location where Water meets, for it is here that The Erewash Canal meets The River Trent, it is a location that has a certain kind of magic to it, where history of yesteryear can still be seen and sensed, and it is also a location that has a certain photogenic quality, for it is also a location that sits close to the border with Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire - but most of all it is a location that has been shaped and forged by industry as well, passing industry and present industry, and yet there is also another element to Trent Lock that makes it a unique and interesting place, and that is the towers that rise gently like concrete giants from the other side of the water that no matter where you are within this setting seem to dominate the skyline. But for how long? Well the sad thing is, that these concrete giants may not be around for much longer and yet we, us humans could change that."

Fast forward from April of 2026 to the first week of June 2026, and  I ended up coming across an article which said the following "Notts-Based Photographer, Harvey Tomlinson is Up for a National Geographic Award for his Photograph of Ratcliffe-On-Soar Power Station." And then what happens? On Wednesday the 3rd of June 2026, 9pm on More 4, was a program with Kevin McCloud, you may or may not have seen him presenting Grand Designs, but his latest series is called quite simply - Kevin McCloud's Listed Britain, and for anyone who likes Architecture and the arts of the built environment then it might be the ideal tonic and program of escapism. But what made the episode that little bit more interesting on the 3rd of June 2026? Well, Kevin McCloud himself was visiting this site where these now defunct concrete giants stand, and they stand empty and sadly unused, unlisted as well. A Stark contrast perhaps to say the more futuristic Lloyds building in London. But that aside, what Kevin McCloud was looking at was these giant concrete giants, and a site which now sit empty and without purpose. Or do they? 

For these towers were very much alive - now though they are silent, and they are awaiting their death. But what happens if they could be saved? What happens if this landmark of industry and architecture could be used in a slightly different way - and well they can. You only have to look abroad at certain countries within Europe and beyond where Cooling Towers and industry has been preserved, a few examples of cooling towers which in Europe (and further afield) have been preserved are the following, 

1. Inota Power Plant, Hungary - Again this is a former power plant with cooling towers which is now the home to a repurposed venue for music and arts, where the cooling towers are used for projection screens. 
2. Wunderland Kalkar, Germany - A place of leisure, a place that is a theme park and in a former cooling tower what is there? Quite a large ride that forms part of the wider theme park. 
3. Pirelli Headquarters, Milan in Italy - Pirelli is of course known worldwide for the tires that they produce, but architecturally what did they do? Well for their Headquarters they used a cooling tower which was part of a former power station. 
4. Orlando Towers, Soweto in South Africa - Want to do something interesting, and use an empty space, well that is what Orlando Towers is, it is a former coal powered power station which again has cooling towers and that complex is now an extreme sports centre and hub. 

And that is just four locations that the wider public, the wider community, the wider outside of the box styles of thinking have come together and found a way in which to reuse architecture and preserve it, preserving history. Of course after the segment with Kevin McCloud visiting Ratcliffe-On-Soar, he ended up talking to someone from The 20th Centry Society, a group of people who are campaigning for outstanding buildings, and you might think that Ratcliffe-On-Soar Power Station, is not outstanding but it is. It is a place of history and of architecture that combined makes for something interesting, the person who Kevin McCloud spoke to, said something to this effect, 

"That you can actually purchase a cooling tower and that some have been for sale for the price of a house."

A quirky way perhaps to save a piece of Architecture, and it got me thinking that these iconic cooling towers and the site of Ratcliffe-On-Soar Power Station really has so much potential, the potential for it to be changed into a site for arts, a festival site perhaps? A site for arts and the artistic community perhaps? A Site of learning and science - okay, an example of that could be take a leaf from MAGNA in Sheffield, where a site of industry has once again been preserved and transformed. But all it needs to make this happen is a little bit of "outside the box thinking" and that is the key. Why in other countries are interesting industrial pieces of architecture, that includes old power plants saved? Surely here in the UK, it is time to start taking note, to look more to the future and to think more along a progressive line and see what can be done. 

And if we can do that, then surely there is still some time, a window of opportunity a case in point to save industrial artefacts, landmarks that have shaped the landscape that they exist in, to perhaps transform the land that they are on, into places of arts, places of beauty where memories from their industrial past can still be seen, memories still shared, and a place for the public to still enjoy, perhaps that is what can be done to Ratcliffe-On-Soar Power Station, and yes headlines over the past couple of days have said the following,

"Uniper signs up Erith for demolition contract at Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station."

But despite that headline, things have been done in the past, where something on the brink of demolition, where architecture that is on the cusp of being destroyed has indeed been saved, by the power of people, some of whom have links to a particular building or buildings, some of whom can see the potential for future use, from parkland and spaces that can still encompass the architecture that stands, and surely it is not too late to save the iconic structures of Ratcliffe-On-Soar Power Station, and the cooling towers that have graced the landscape for many a year, to save them it just needs some outside of the box thinking to be done.