On the 28th July 2026, it will be thirty years since the demolition of Ravenscraig’s three cooling towers and two gas holders – a moment etched into the memory of Motherwell and Wishaw. Their collapse into twisted steel and dust was more than the loss of landmarks: it marked the final end of an industry, a community, and a way of life. Ravenscraig – “the Craig” as it was known locally – was once the largest hot strip steel mill in Western Europe.

At its peak, the integrated steelworks employed 13,000 people and defined the identity of the towns. When the plant closed in 1992, livelihoods were lost, but it was the demolition of the towers in 1996 that delivered the symbolic final blow. For the first time in generations, the horizon was empty.

Today, the Ravenscraig site is almost unrecognisable. Despite long-discussed plans for housing and industry, much of its 1,200 acres remains scarred by abandonment or reclaimed by nature. Slag heaps and foundations form new, strange landscapes, while the circular bases of the cooling towers – the last foundations of what once stood here – remain as silent witnesses to a vanished world.

To mark the 30th anniversary of this pivotal moment, documentary photographer and filmmaker Chris Leslie will liaise with former workers and the local community to produce The Last Foundations – a multimedia project that documents both the physical site and the surrounding community 30 years on from the demolition of the cooling towers.