A building that featured in the Star Wars and Mission Impossible franchises, a familiar sight for Isle of Wight ferry passengers, is beng torn down.

Contractors are demolishing the former control room at Fawley power station - dubbed The Flying Saucer.

The area is earmarked for an £800m development and its once-familiar chimneys and turbine hall have already been reduced to rubble.

Eventually, 1,500 homes, as well as commercial and community facilities, will be built there.

Isle of Wight County Press: The former control room at Fawley power station is being demolishedThe former control room at Fawley power station is being demolished (Image: Andy Amor)

Isle of Wight County Press:

The complex has dominated the entrance to Southampton Water for 50 years and has been visible from Cowes and East Cowes, across The Solent.

A former Fawley employee posted: "Looks like my old office is gone, which is a shame as I think I left a packet of mints in one of my desk drawers.

"Wouldn't it be nice to have one last chance to sit in the canteen, have a sandwich and cup of tea, and watch the Red Funnel steam past?"

There had been calls for developer, Fawley Waterside, to preserve the control room and instead convert it into a cafe, or restaurant.

Speaking in 2022, a Fawley Waterside spokesperson said it was a vast structure, made mainly of concrete.

Isle of Wight County Press: The former control room at Fawley power station is being demolishedThe former control room at Fawley power station is being demolished (Image: Andy Amor)

Isle of Wight County Press: The former control room at Fawley power station is being demolishedThe former control room at Fawley power station is being demolished (Image: Andy Amor)

They said: "To repurpose it would be extremely costly.

"In addition to this, its architectural form did not sit well within the current proposed masterplan to redevelop the site.

"We spent many years considering how the building could be retained.

"But with no suitable and viable options we had to make the decision for it to be demolished as part of the wider demolition programme."

The landmark structure doubled as the World Control Centre, in the 1975 film Rollerball, starring James Caan.

Scenes from BBC sci-fi show Red Dwarf and the Channel 4 series, Spies and Green Wing, were also filmed there.

Hollywood blockbusters Solo: A Star Wars Story and Tom Cruise's Mission Impossible – Rogue Nation also used it.

Built in the late 1960s, the oil-fired power station was commissioned in 1971 and closed 10-years-ago.

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