Field Visit
Date 2010
Event ID 881896
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/881896
The powerhouse utilised the head of water created by the construction of the Blackwater Dam to generate power for the adjacent aluminium smelter. It originally contained 11 (now 6 remain) pelton turbines which each ran two 1000 kW generators. The 25,725 kW supply was used in the production of aluminium and carbon anodes for use in electrolysis. The powerhouse design is functional with limited architectural detailing confined to some buttressing and window surrounds. The Kinlochleven enterprise was a significant advance in scale over the developments at Foyers, and represented a massive civil engineering achievement 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. This powerhouse is predated by the development at Foyers (see separate record) but is of a significantly large scale and retains a number of original turbines and generators to the interior. This powerhouse is prominently sited near the West Highland Way and is one of the last remaining buildings, along with the former carbon silos, of the former Kinlochleven Aluminium smelter. It originally contained 11 pelton turbines which each ran two 1000 kW generators. The 25,725 kW supply was used in the production of aluminium and carbon anodes for use in electrolysis. The architectural treatment of the building is a delicate balance between purely functional design and a highly reductive fusion of classical and early modernist styles, characterised by the sharply rectangular pilasters and severe profile of the building fused with the almost pediment like gable ends with central occuli. Added interest is gained from the early use of reinforced concrete and the retention of the plant with a good survival of original machinery to date. The powerhouse was stylistically influential with the majority of the pre 1943 schemes which postdate Kinlochleven adopting a similar functionalist classical design. P L Payne, 1988; E Wood, 2002; Concrete and Constructional Engineering IV,1909; Alcan, n.d., The Lochaber Water Power Scheme.
