Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders
Date 2007
Event ID 606024
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/606024
Dunwan Dam Draw-off Tower, Dunwan Dam and reservoir are located above Eaglesham close to the B764 Fenwick Road. In any draw-off tower the problem is that the high pressure of the depth of water in the reservoir can lead to leaks in the tower, excessive dampness and corrosion in the pipework.
At Dunwan in the 1930s the engineers Kyle & Frew devised an ingenious solution to the problem by siting the tower inside a bellmouth spillway, giving two concentric circular concrete structures. Thus the draw-off tower is separated from the water pressure of the reservoirand operates in dry conditions. Fifty years later in the 1980s the engineers for the Megget Reservoir supplying Edinburgh R. H. Cuthbertson & Partners devised the same solution independently not knowing of its previous use. As far as is known these are the only two examples in Scotland of this innovative construction.
R Paxton and J Shipway 2007
Reproduced from 'Civil Engineering heritage : Scotland - Lowlands and Borders' with kind permission of Thomas Telford Publishers.
