Description
An early municipal electricity substation (1906, with 1918 addition), located beside the former North British Locomotive Company administration building (now Flemington House), Springburn.
Built from red engineering brick, the principal front (north) elevation of the 1906 section has squared recesses with chamfered ashlar cills. At the roofline is a moulded ashlar cornice and a capped parapet. A large round-arched entrance with timber doors is flanked by two tall and narrow window openings (currently blocked, 2025). A brick pilaster divides a further similar recessed opening to the right. Brick panel recesses return to the Ringford Street elevation. Metal flashings cover the parapet and the grey slate roof. A pair of brick gatepiers (entrance currently blocked, 2025) adjoin at the northeast corner angle.
The interior (seen 2025) has high-level iron beams supporting an integrated overhead, fish-bellied travelling crane. The piended roof has a wrought iron, tie-and-beam supporting structure.
The smaller 1918 addition fronting Ringford Street has a reinforced concrete frame with red brick infill. The frontage also has a moulded ashlar cornice and chamfered cills, with a brick parapet and a recessed doorway. Sections of the interior have white glazed brick walls with some polychromatic banding. The upper floor has a cut-out section near the entrance. Most of the electrical equipment has been removed from the 1918 addition, and it is not currently in use as a distribution substation (2025).
Historical development:
Glasgow was among the first authorities in Scotland to provide a public electricity supply, following an Act of Parliament in 1890. A Corporation Electricity Department was established in 1896. A full-scale electric power station was built at Port Dundas in 1898 to designs by Andrew Myles.
The first turbo-alternators, installed in 1904, required outlying substations that housed rotary equipment that converted high voltage (alternating) current to lower voltage (direct) current for distribution to consumers. The earliest of these substations, including the example at Flemington Street, are large buildings that were designed with a degree of ornament to reflect their urban locations.
The 1906 substation at Flemington Street is shown on the 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey Map (revised, 1909) beside the former offices of the North British Locomotive Company (1907-09, see separate listing LB33612).
Distribution substations soon became much smaller and more utilitarian in appearance prior to the introduction of the National Grid in the late 1920s. This was due to several factors; rapid technological advances reducing the size and increasing the output of the electrical equipment, the need for economy; and the number of substations required to keep pace with the huge demand for electricity.
Additions were made to the rear of the substation in 1918 to accommodate more powerful convertor machinery. The two sections were originally detached by way of a narrow passage, probably as an early fire precaution. The two buildings were linked by a single storey extension in 1935.
The Flemington Street substation was photographed in 1966 (along with other examples of its type in Glasgow that have since been demolished) by industrial historian, Professor John R Hume (see Trove). The 1906 building currently remains in use as an electrical substation. The 1918 section is no longer in use and does not house any operational equipment. A room on the upper floor is currently in use as a staff room (2025).
Statement of Special Interest
The Electricity Substation meets the criteria of special architectural or historic interest for the following reasons:
- For its classical detailing, based on the design of the Glasgow Corporation's first full-scale electric power station at Port Dundas.
- For its setting beside the former locomotive industry headquarters (listed separately), both survivals of Springburn's industrial past.
- As a rare survival of the earliest bespoke electricity substations in Scotland, while the 1918 section is an early example of reinforced concrete construction within the building type.
- As evidence of the rapid technological advancement in electricity production before and after the First World War.
- For its social historical interest, helping to power Springburn's internationally significant locomotive manufacturing industry around the time of the North British Railway Company merger.
- For its contribution to our understanding of the early roll-out of a municipal electricity supply in Scotland.
Architectural interest
Design
The Flemington Street substation was designed to house large rotary AC/DC converters (no longer extant). These converters were installed and serviced using an integrated overhead travelling crane system which still survives inside the substation building, adding to the functional design interest of the building.
The round-arched brick detailing of the principal (north) elevation is derived directly from the design treatment of Glasgow's first full-scale electricity power station (built at Port Dundas in 1898 with additions to house new turbo-alternators in 1904, demolished 1987). The Port Dundas station was designed by Glasgow industrial architect Andrew Myles (1842-1905) for the Corporation Electricity Department.
Several substations constructed by the Glasgow Corporation architects' during the interwar period have bespoke designs to suit their inter-urban setting.
The design similarities between the Flemington Street substation and its 'parent' power station at Port Dundas mark it out as a subsidiary building associated with the early roll-out of Glasgow's municipal electricity supply during the first decade of the 1900s. The 1906 section may be the earliest surviving purpose-built distribution substation in Scotland. No earlier surviving examples are currently known (2025).
The use of a moulded ashlar cornice and brick panel recess to the principal (Ringford Street) elevation of the 1918 section provides continuity with the architectural treatment of the 1906 building. The 1918 section also demonstrates an early use of reinforced concrete construction within the building type, while its 20,000-volt output was more than three times the maximum output of the much larger 1906 section, illustrating the extent of technological advancement between 1906 and 1918.
Together, the two sections of this early substation illustrate the early development of municipal electricity supply in Scotland.
Setting
The Flemington Street substation is located between Ringford Street and the former offices of the North British Locomotive Company (LB33612). The Springburn campus of Glasgow Kelvin College is opposite, occupying the site of the former Hyde Park Locomotive Works.
Dominated by the railway industry in the 19th century (Ordnance Survey Map, 1892), the Springburn area of Glasgow was transformed during the late 20th century, with the demolition of more than two thirds of its industrial buildings.
While much of the surrounding industrial setting has changed, the substation building retains an urban setting. The presence of an early substation here, alongside the former locomotive industry headquarters, is an important survival of Springburn's industrial past (see Social Historical Interest).
Historic interest
Age and rarity
Glasgow was among the first cities in the UK to use an alternating current for its municipal supply. The first wave of AC/DC converter substations, built by the newly formed Glasgow Corporation Electricity Department between 1905 and 1914, were integral to the expansion of Glasgow's electrification programme.
Electrical substations are a common element of our energy infrastructure, with demand for electricity broadly doubling every ten years in Britain since 1900. Many early substation buildings have been replaced with units of a more compact design due to technological advances.
Few large-scale substations dating from the first decade of the 20th century survive in Scotland. A 1908 substation at Ellangowan Road, Glasgow is listed at category B (LB33922). It's villa-like style is designed to harmonise with the surrounding residential area. Other early Glasgow Corporation substations designed between 1905 and 1912, using the design drawn from the Port Dundas Power Station of 1898, have been demolished.
The Flemington Street substation is among the oldest examples in the country that is still in use as a substation (2024).
The 1918 addition is an early example of the use of reinforced concrete construction within the building type. Together, the two sections of this early substation illustrate the early development of municipal electricity supply in Scotland.
Social historical interest
The Springburn area of Glasgow became a world leader in railway interests during the 19th century, with a 25% share of global locomotive manufacturing by 1900. This provided the economic base for the growing community, with much tenement housing in Springburn constructed specifically for the thousands of workers employed by the locomotive industry.
The Hyde Park Locomotive Works in Springburn had its own private electricity power supply by 1901, with a generating capacity equivalent to about one third of the Glasgow Corporation's capacity at that time (The Engineer, 1901). Three of the largest locomotive manufacturing works in the Springburn area merged in 1903 to form the North British Railway Company.
The 1906-18 substation at Flemington Street is linked to industrial and infrastructural expansion at a time when Springburn was a global centre of locomotive manufacturing. The substation helped power Springburn's contribution to national industry around the time of the North British Railway Company merger.
Demand for electricity saw the city supplying 50,000 domestic consumers by 1914. Early municipal substations evidence the beginning of the modern era of electricity generation and distribution. The 1906-18 substation at Flemington Street contributes to our understanding of the roll-out of municipal electricity in Glasgow.
Statutory address, category of listing, and listed building record revised in 2024. The Electricity Substation was previously listed at category A with Flemington House (LB33612) as '110-136 (Even Nos) Flemington Street, Former Springburn College Including Range to East.
The supplementary information in the listed building record was updated in 2025.