Shira Hydro-Electric Scheme

The North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board was created by the Hydro-electric Development (Scotland) Act 1943, a measure championed by the politician Tom Johnston while he was Secretary of State for Scotland. Johnston's vision was for a public body that could build hydro-electric stations throughout the Highlands. Profits made by selling bulk electricity to the Scottish lowlands would be used to fund "the economic development and social improvement of the North of Scotland." Private consumers would be offered a supply of cheap electricity, and their connection to that supply would not reflect the actual cost of its provision in remote and sparsely populated areas. The first two major schemes…

A main dam was built across the River Shira to create Lochan Shira, and another dam creating a second much smaller reservoir called Lochan Sron Mor was built below it. At the main dam site, the rock strata was quite variable, and 135000 cuyd of rock and soil were excavated before the foundations were put in. A round headed buttress dam was thought to be most suitable for the ground conditions after consideration of several other types. It was 2379 ft long and 148 ft high. The second dam was built in two parts, either side of a large rock intrusion. One half was a concrete gravity dam, and the other an earth fill dam with a central spine of concrete. Construction proceeded well until…