Northampton Greyfriars bus station to be recycled

The remains of a Brutalist bus station that dominated the Northampton skyline for nearly four decades are to be recycled at the town centre site.

Dubbed the "mouth of hell", the building was reduced to about 22,000 tonnes of rubble using more than 2,000 individual explosive charges in March.

Contractors are anticipating recycling about 97% of the materials, a borough council spokesman said.

Stone, concrete and bricks will now be re-used on the site as hard-standing.

The former bus station was dubbed the "mouth of hell" by television architect Kevin McCloud

Greyfriars was costing local taxpayers £500,000 a year to maintain and would have cost £30m to refurbish

The materials will be "crushed and processed on the site" as part of the demolition, which has cost upwards of £4m, the council said.

Excess material will be removed from site and re-used within the construction industry for applications such as hard-standings, paths and roads.

The site is due to be cleared and levelled at the end of July. It is being considered for retail and leisure schemes.