'It's magical to play music inside cooling towers'

Dr Sarah Watts played music at one of the cooling towers at the UK's last coal fired power station

"It's really sort of magical, almost a spiritual feel in there. It's a cylindrical space and there's sort of a catwalk that you walk across but then the sky is open."

Elizabeth Kelly, professor of music composition at University of Nottingham, was involved in a project to play music in a cooling tower at Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station, the UK's last coal fired power station.

Prof Kelly said herself and Dr Sarah Watts, director of performance at the University of Sheffield, were the "first to ever" play music in the power station.

She added that she could hear every sound "bouncing around the space" about 10 times and described the acoustics inside the cooling tower as "incredible".

The power station in Nottinghamshire was switched off on 30 September 2024 after generating electricity since 1968.

Plans to knock down the cooling towers, the main power station building, and other buildings on site with controlled explosives were approved in October, with the clearing of the site not expected to be complete until at least 2030.

Prof Kelly said after the power station was switched off, herself and Dr Watts contacted Uniper - which operates the site - about playing music in one of the cooling towers, which the company accepted.

"We were the first to ever play music in it. And, so we really wanted to see what was possible," Prof Kelly said.

"Then, we made recordings and videos of the pieces that we created."

The project was filmed in the cooling towers in June

Dr Watts performed a piece Prof Kelly composed titled "Cooling Cathedral", as well as her own piece "It's All I've Known".

The University of Nottingham said the compositions were dedicated to the workers of the power station, and the surrounding communities who had lived with the eight cooling towers on the skyline.

Dr Watts said: "I wanted to create music that documented the building, the acoustics, the history and the story of the cooling towers.

"I think people document places like this through photographs, interviews, film footage, but I took this as a chance to document the acoustics because they are very unique and once these have gone there is no way of getting that back."

Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station in Nottinghamshire was switched off in September 2024

The project between the two universities was filmed in June, with music videos released on 19 November.

This came after the University of Nottingham announced proposals on 6 November to suspend music courses for new students.

"We're hoping the university will continue to value music as it has in the past," Prof Kelly said.

She added that staff at the power station had always been aware of the "incredible acoustics" within the tower and told her they had plans to return with a rock band.

Prof Kelly said: "You can see the the clouds going over and of course hear the trains, traffic and airplanes going over, but that just sort of adds to the ambience of the place."