A GIGANTIC 24,000 tonne megastructure from the early days of Britain’s oil and gas industry has arrived in the North-East.

An ambitious project to decommission a field of oil rigs in the North Sea has seen the extraction of the Brent Delta platform from its concrete legs that have stood 115 miles east of Shetland since 1976.

The 130m-high “topside” structure from the Shell UK-operated oilfield was transported to Hartlepool before moving on to the River Tees to be recycled at Able UK.

Only an equally enormous feat of engineering was deemed capable of lifting the rig platform in one piece with the world’s largest ship – the £2.5bn Pioneering Spirit – taking on the task.

The 1,253 metre-long vessel designed specifically for single-lift installation and removal of large oil and gas platforms arrived at a point six miles off the coast of Hartlepool.

Brent Delta’s topside was then transferred to another impressive Allseas barge, the Iron Lady, where it is being transported into the River Tees and and to Able Seaton Port to be decommissioned.