Monument record MHG55076 - Spey Dam

This site was inspected as part of a Scotland-wide review of hydropower features conducted by Historic Scotland to inform decisions on listing:
"Built 1942/3, this dam was part of a later addition to the Lochaber scheme to meet the increased demand for aluminium prompted by the outbreak of WWII. The concrete dam has a shallow gravity section with a mass fill section to the north. The control centre and fish pass are located to the south end of the dam. Agitators tot eh spill and concrete wave wall. The dam has a large compensation section to help regulate the flow down the River Spey. Water flows via an open cut and then tunnel into Laggan Reservoir."
"The Lochaber water power scheme was one fo the most ambitious civil engineering projects of the twentieth century in Britain. The installed capacity of the scheme was extremely large for its date (86,750MW), and was not bettered until 1950 at Sloy. The scheme is still in operation today, providing power to the adjacent aluminium smelter." <1>

Corinne Fudge, 05/2008, Photographs by Corinne Fudge of sites in Badenoch & Strathspey, commissioned by Highland Council (Image/Photograph(s)). SHG25494.

<1> Historic Scotland's Inspectorate (Listing Team), 03/2010, Hydroelectric Power in Scotland: A history and survey of heritage assets for Historic Scotland (unpublished report), pp 82-3 (Text/Report). SHG25493.