Listed Building

The only legal part of the listing under the Planning (Listing Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 is the address/name of site. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing – see 'About Listed Buildings' below for more information. The further details below the 'Address/Name of Site' are provided for information purposes only.

Address/Name of Site

LOCHABER HYDROELECTRIC SCHEME AND ALUMINIUM SMELTER, LOCH TREIG DAMLB51832

Status: Designated

Documents

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Summary

Category
B
Date Added
14/11/2011
Local Authority
Highland
Planning Authority
Highland
Parish
Kilmonivaig
NGR
NN 34778 77172
Coordinates
234778, 777172

Description

William Halcrow supervising engineer; Balfour Beatty general engineers, 1921-26; some later additions. Rectangular-section rock fill gravity dam with coursed random rubble upstream face (S) and concrete panel fascia to downstream face (N). Continuous spillway to top of dam with small cantilevered concrete walkway to valve controls. Swept up concrete wave walls to either side on downstream face (with later additions to increase height) with additional buttressed walls running diagonally across downstream face.

Statement of Special Interest

This dam represents a significant technological achievement as the first rock fill embankment dam in Scotland, receiving international attention upon its completion. The dam also forms part of the Lochaber water power scheme and aluminium smelter, one of the most significant civil engineering schemes of the 20th century in Britain. The dam provides a significant contribution to the surrounding landscape and is directly adjacent to the West Highland Rail Line, which its completion caused to be re-routed. The dam provides storage capacity for the powerhouse at Lochaber (see separate listing), with water conveyed through a pressure tunnel driven through the bedrock under Ben Nevis.

The sweeping lines of the dam and wave walls are appropriate to its landscape setting amidst a bowl of hills. The use of concrete panels to the downstream face of the dam clearly demonstrates the idea of modernity and progress which characterised the development of hydroelectricity in this period.

The Lochaber powerhouse and smelter form part of one of the most significant British engineering achievements of the 20th century. The creation of a pressure tunnel bored through solid bedrock under the flanks of Ben Nevis to connect the powerhouse with the Laggan and Treig reservoirs was a major technological achievement. The scheme was designed to a very high degree of detail, capturing every available

water supply available and was highly efficient.

The development of the Lochaber scheme predates the 1943 Hydroelectric (Scotland) Act which formalised the development of Hydroelectricity in Scotland and led to the founding of the North of Scotland Hydroelectric Board. Those developments which predated the 1943 act were developed by individual companies as a response to particular market and topographic conditions. The completion of a number of schemes (including Galloway, Grampian and those associated with Alcan - see separate listings) without a national strategic policy framework is exceptional as is the consistency of high quality aesthetic and engineering design across all of the schemes.

Sir William Halcrow was one of the foremost engineers of the 20th century, and was highly experienced in the development of hydroelectricity having served his apprenticeship with Thomas Meik and Sons who were responsible for both Kinlochleven and Lochaber water power schemes on behalf of the British Aluminium Company (see separate listings). His work on the Grampian scheme came in between the Kinlochleven and Lochaber developments, and his experience in developing the Kinlochleven scheme can clearly be seen in the highly efficient pioneering nature of the Tummel Garry development. Halcrow's association with hydropower and water engineering was longstanding and after 1943 he went on to work on a number of projects for the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board including the Glen Affric and Glen Morriston schemes. The company also completed work elsewhere in the UK and overseas.

Later alterations have been made to the wave walls, increasing their height and strength following inspections carried out under the 1975 Reservoirs Act.

(Reviewed as part of Hydroelectric Power Thematic Survey, 2010)

References

Bibliography

Peter Payne, The Hydro: a study of the development of the major hydro-electric schemes undertaken by the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board, 1988, p. 6; Emma Wood, The Hydro Boys, 2002, p. 39; The Lochaber Water Power Scheme; Concrete and Constructional Engineering IV (1909) pp. 585-587; Alcan, Aluminium in the Scottish Highlands; The British Aluminium Co. Ltd, The Lochaber Water Power Scheme; W. M Morrison, Aluminium and Highland Water Power, Lecture to the Institute of Metals, 1939.

About Listed Buildings

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Listing is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for buildings of special architectural or historic interest as set out in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.

We list buildings which are found to be of special architectural or historic interest using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Listed building records provide an indication of the special architectural or historic interest of the listed building which has been identified by its statutory address. The description and additional information provided are supplementary and have no legal weight.

These records are not definitive historical accounts or a complete description of the building(s). If part of a building is not described it does not mean it is not listed. The format of the listed building record has changed over time. Earlier records may be brief and some information will not have been recorded.

The legal part of the listing is the address/name of site which is known as the statutory address. Other than the name or address of a listed building, further details are provided for information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland does not accept any liability for any loss or damage suffered as a consequence of inaccuracies in the information provided. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing. Even if a number or name is missing from a listing address it will still be listed. Listing covers both the exterior and the interior and any object or structure fixed to the building. Listing also applies to buildings or structures not physically attached but which are part of the curtilage (or land) of the listed building as long as they were erected before 1 July 1948.

While Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating listed buildings, the planning authority is responsible for determining what is covered by the listing, including what is listed through curtilage. However, for listed buildings designated or for listings amended from 1 October 2015, legal exclusions to the listing may apply.

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