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Summary

Description

PW Meik and CS Meik, 1904-9; later alterations. Large gravity dam with concrete panel construction and central domed turret. Concrete with red sandstone ashlar to turret, rock faced to basement. Stepped concrete abutments to flared downstream face at ground; plain concrete parapet (except to spillway); cast-iron railings to downstream face.

CONTROL TOWER: single tower off centre to right (S). Moulded cornice and corniced blocking course. Evenly spaced bipartitie windows in recessed surrounds. Domed leaded roof.

Statement of Special Interest

This dam is prominently sited with a significant landscape contribution especially when viewed from the nearby West Highland Way. The dam was a significant achievement at the time of its completion, and was the longest mass concrete gravity dam in Europe. The dam provided storage capacity and sufficient head for the powerhouse and associated aluminium smelter at Kinlochleven (see separate listings). The smelter closed in 2000 but the powerhouse and associated infrastructure, including this dam, are still used to generate power (2009).

The architectural treatment of the dam echoes the delicate balance between purely functional design and a plain classical style exhibited elsewhere in the scheme. This is characterised by the round temple like form of the central control turret, with pilasters suggested by the gaps between recessed window surrounds. The imposing, slightly flared form of the dam wall also fuses the necessary engineered form with a battered downstream face echoing the landscape setting amidst a bowl of hills.

The Kinlochleven hydropower scheme was a significant advance in scale over the first development at Foyers, and represented a highly important civil engineering achievement, recognised internationally, on its completion in 1909. The total UK output for aluminium at this time was 2,500 tonnes, less than a third of the capacity of the Kinlochleven scheme. The scheme ceased to produce aluminium in 2000, but the powerhouse has been maintained in use providing power to the nearby Lochaber Smelter (see separate listings), with some of the turbines renewed at the time of closure in 2000.

The development of the Kinlochleven 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, in this case as a direct requirement for the production of aluminium. 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 highly unusual as is the consistency of high quality aesthetic and engineering design across all of the schemes.

PW Meik and CS Meik was a high profile engineering firm in the early 20th century. It was the continuation of the firm Thomas Meik and Sons which was renamed in 1896. The company was responsible for a number of large engineering schemes, including Port Talbot docks. The firms association with hydropower was longstanding and after Kinlochleven they went on to design the Lochaber power scheme (see separate listing) in partnership with William Halcrow who was a pupil of the firm.

EXCLUSIONS: The aqueduct running from the west of the dam outfall conveying water to the valve house (see separate listing) is excluded from this listing.

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

References

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