Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders
Date 2007
Event ID 578279
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/578279
The Arrol-Johnson company was one of the early builders of motor cars in the United Kingdom and reputed to be the first in Scotland. A completely new factory was built for the company on the outskirts of Dumfries by S. Stevenson & Co. of Glasgow in 1912–13. The main building was of reinforced concrete using the Kahn system of the Trussed Steel Co. It was originally L-shaped in plan and 42 000 sq ft in area. In addition there were buildings housing a foundry, gas supply and electric power plant, together with staff houses.
A famous product of this works in the 1930s was Sir Malcolm Campbell’s Bluebird car, which for a time held
the world land speed record. The main building suffered from spalling and deterioration of the concrete and was completely refurbished in the 1980s. For many years the building was owned by the Uniroyal Company and it now forms part of the Gates Rubber Company’s works.
R Paxton and J Shipway 2007
Reproduced from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders' with kind permission from Thomas Telford Publishers.
