By the end of today, another significant part of Teesside’s industrial heritage will be reduced to rubble.

The steel and iron industry has changed lives, livelihoods and communities across the region for more than 170 years but change is now on the horizon.

The Northern Echo:

Seaside town Redcar has a proud industrial heritage and is synonymous with the UK’s once thriving iron and steel industries, and proved to be a boon for the area and allowed it to expand from small fishing hamlets to the large town it is today.

The town’s blast furnace on the steelworks site was the second largest in Europe when it became operational in 1979, and after contributing to the construction of worldwide landmarks such as the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Newcastle’s Tyne Bridge the emphatic “we built the world” phrase acted as a local badge of honour.

From the beach promenade, seaside caravan parks and local golf clubs the steelworks can be seen all around the town as a dominant figure on the skyline.

But come lunchtime, it will be no more.

What do locals think about it? Some are melancholic, others relieved.

For Claire Morrissey the structures are comforting. “It makes me think of home and a childhood filled joy and sadness,” she said. “Things move on however it will take a while to sink in that it's no longer there.”

John Brookes describes the site as “an epitaph to the strength the area was built on” but feels it will soon be eradicated and forgotten. Meanwhile, Lynn Watson believes it will long be etched into people’s memories but others are angered by the treatment of the town’s history.

Nick Wesson said: “I'm still really angry about how our industrial heritage has been steamrollered like this.”

Yet not everyone is rueful. Amanda Hicks said: “The whole lot should go. Horrid eyesore brings Redcar down.”

The Northern Echo:

The site, now part of Teesworks, is being cleared as part of regeneration plans by Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen and the South Tees Development Corporation to bring 20,000 new jobs - many in green industries - to the site over the next 25 years.

The future of the site had been a key part of the Tees Valley Mayoral election campaign last year, with Mr Houchen confirming the blast furnace and coke ovens on the former SSI site were among the structures to be demolished as part of a condensed £100m programme to clear and decontaminate the site.

To some, the previous and remaining structures are a harsh reminder of an industry of fatalities, function and best left in the past.

Teesside historian Tosh Warwick described the historic Steelworks facilities as “mechanisms to understand the workings of past communities, how they shaped the local area and provide much-welcomed quirks in urban centres that arrest the all too familiar monotony of off-the-shelf, drag-and-drop regeneration schemes”.

Inside Art On the Front, an art gallery and photography business on the Esplanade, photographs of the historic steelworks are plentiful. The shop’s owners Robin Harker and Simon Edwards are making a living out of capturing the local landscape and will continue to for years to come.

“People buy the pictures because they or their family worked here or they have relatives who want to be reminded of the area, Robin said. “As soon as people see the pictures they instantly recognise it as Redcar.

Local affection for the now disused facilities is put down to local pride. Robin added: “It’s sad in a way that it’s not going to be there but nothing stays the same and time moves on.”

For all the political controversy, the redevelopment of the former steelworks site is creating new jobs and breathing new life into the area so it can once again realise its potential as an industrial northern powerhouse.