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Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland Highlands and Islands
Date 2007
Event ID 617770
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/617770
The Allt-na-Lairige Dam has the unique distinction being the first (and so far the only) large pre-stressed concrete dam constructed in Britain. Others, pioneered by the French engineer Andre Coyne, exist on the Continent and elsewhere.
The dam is part of the Glen Shira Hydro-Electric Scheme and is situated in a valley in the hills some 8 miles northeast of the head of Loch Fyne. The structure was designed by J. A. Banks of Babtie, Shaw & Morton, Glasgow, and built by Marples, Ridgway & Partners. It was completed in 1957.
It is 73 ft high at its maximum and some 1360 ft long. The slender section was achieved by groups of pre-stressing anchors each consisting of 28 high-tensile steel bars, each 11/8 in. in diameter, located at 21 ft centres and extending downward from the crest of the dam to a depth of 27 ft into the rock below its base. The associated power station is about 2 miles downstream on the east bank of the River Fyne.
R Paxton and Jim Shipway 2007b
Reproduced from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Highlands and Islands' with kind permission from Thomas Telford Publishers.
