Children destroy flats in controlled explosion

Three children have demolished a tower block in a controlled explosion after winning a competition.

Hexham House in Walker, Newcastle, came down at about 11:30 GMT on Saturday as part of regeneration work.

The youngsters pressed the button to detonate the explosives, with the site being cleared for new homes.

It was the first demolition using explosives in Newcastle for 16 years and was delayed by 20 minutes by the final residents leaving the block.

Thompsons of Prudhoe (Thompsons) were appointed to carry out the work by Newcastle City Council.

Project Manager Paul Tirbitt said there was a "little issue" early on as "some residents who didn't want to leave their properties".

"People's safety is our number one priority," he added.

The 15-storey building was a former residential tower block

Three primary school children from the area won competitions to be the team that pressed the demolition button.

Frankie, six, won her contest by making a cardboard model of the tower painted with rainbows.

Emily-Jane, nine and Aidan, 10, wrote poems about life in Walker.

After the event, they were presented with certificates from the council and a cake featuring an image of the building.

Three primary school children pressed the demolition button

Reporting from the scene

The countdown was met with the enthusiasm you'd expect for the first controlled explosion on Tyneside in more than a decade.

All day members of the public repeated to each other: "This is the biggest thing to happen in Walker in years."

We hit zero, and three local Primary School children pressed the button.

For two of them they were about to dramatically change the view out of their own bedroom windows.

The pause was unexpectedly long.

The sequential nature of the explosions meant the "bang" wasn't a deafening clap, but the shock wave that hit moments after penetrated deep into chests.

A cloud of dust very quickly obscured the building.

But after a couple of minutes the air had cleared and a flat-topped mound of rubble and concrete shards, about 15m (50ft) high, now lay in its place.