A new exhibition is almost ready to open its doors, marking 30 years since one of the most symbolic moments in Scottish industrial history — the demolition of Ravenscraig’s cooling towers and gas holders in July 1996.
The project, called The Last Foundations: The Demolition of Ravenscraig – 30 Years On, is the work of documentary photographer and filmmaker Chris Leslie, who has spent years capturing the stories and landscapes tied to Scotland’s industrial past.
Ravenscraig, once the largest hot strip steel mill in Western Europe, dominated the Lanarkshire skyline for decades. At its peak it employed thousands of workers and was the beating heart of communities across Motherwell and the surrounding area. When the steelworks finally closed in 1992, it sent shockwaves through the region. But it was the demolition of the iconic towers four years later that many locals say truly drew a line under an era.
For a lot of people who grew up in that part of Scotland, those towers were just always there. They were part of the landscape, part of the identity of the place. Watching them come down was something that stuck with folk for a long time.
Leslie’s work has long focused on deindustrialisation and the communities left to rebuild in its wake. His documentary photography has taken him across Scotland and beyond, but Ravenscraig holds a particular weight in that story. The steelworks closure is widely seen as one of the most devastating blows to Scottish industrial employment in the 20th century, and its legacy continues to shape conversations about economic regeneration, community identity, and what happens when a town loses its main reason for existing.
The exhibition brings together photography, documentary material, and archive content to tell the story of those final years and the demolition itself. It aims to do more than just look back though. Leslie has spoken about wanting the project to capture how communities processed that loss and what came after — the grief, the adaptation, and in some cases the quiet resilience that followed.
The Ravenscraig site itself has gone through various stages of redevelopment over the past three decades. Plans have come and gone, and while some progress has been made, large parts of the land took years to be brought back into use. For many in Motherwell, the slow pace of regeneration added another layer of frustration on top of the original loss of jobs and community infrastructure.
Chris Leslie is no stranger to this kind of storytelling. His previous work has examined similar themes of industrial decline across Scotland, and he has built a reputation for approaching these subjects with sensitivity and depth rather than nostalgia alone. The exhibition is expected to resonate strongly with anyone who lived through that period in Lanarkshire, but also with wider audiences interested in how Scotland has grappled with the collapse of its heavy industries.
Finishing touches are currently being prepared ahead of the exhibition opening, with the 30th anniversary of the July 1996 demolition providing a natural and poignant moment to reflect on what was lost and what has changed since.
For the communities that lived in the shadow of those towers, this kind of recognition matters. Ravenscraig was not just a workplace. It was woven into the social fabric of the area in ways that took generations to build and only a few years to unravel. Three decades on, the exhibition offers a chance to remember that honestly.