A SPECTACULAR controlled explosion brought down the boilerhouse building at Inverkip Power Station this afternoon - as our footage below shows..

The noise of the blast, carried out at 3pm, could be heard for miles around.

Loud warning alarms were set off before the building was blown up, while police set up a 'rolling roadblock' on the A78 in order to prevent motorists from becoming distracted.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtnGuxYZrxA The steel structure - approximately 57m high, 60m long and 39m wide - vanished in seconds, with a huge plume of dust thrown up into the air.

One onlooker who watched the demolition told the Tele: "The sound of the explosion was absolutely deafening."

The demolition represents a key stage in the clearance process which has been under way at the sprawling site for two years, with the defunct power station land earmarked for a major residential development.

The full demolition programme is set to run until next summer, with its iconic 778ft-tall chimney - the tallest free-standing structure in Scotland and third tallest in the UK - also to be brought down.