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News Release from: Atkins Design Environment & Engineering | Subject: Pitlochry dam
Edited by the Buildingtalk Editorial
Team on 01 February 2006
Atkins to lead upgrade on popular
Pitlochry dam
Leading design and engineering firm Atkins is supplying design, planning, engineering and supervision services on the upgrade of Pitlochry Dam, one of Perthshire's most popular visitor attractions.
Leading design and engineering firm Atkins, which has 450 Scotland staff, is supplying design, planning, engineering and supervision services on the upgrade of Pitlochry Dam, one of Perthshire's most popular visitor attractions The dam, which is home to the famous Fish Ladder tackled by salmon on their ascent upstream to spawn, is to be improved as part of a programme of works being carried out by Scottish and Southern Energy
This article was originally published on Buildingtalk on 5 Nov 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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Built in the 1940s, the dam is sited in the heart of picturesque Perthshire and graded as a four-star attraction by VisitScotland.
The engineering work will include raising the height of the 'cut-off' walls, to bring the dam into line with current stringent safety design standards.
Cut off walls are the 'wings' of the dam which extend from either side of the visible dam into the hillside, which prevent water from flowing round the dam itself.
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Experts from Atkins will also carry out work on Clunie Dam, a 30m high concrete gravity dam which lies to the north of Pitlochry.
Atkins will undertake a site investigation that will be used to inform the design of ground anchors, which will enhance the strength and stability of the dam.
Atkins will then work closely with a contractor to design and supervise the installation of these ground anchors.
Andy Hughes, director of Atkins' dams and reservoirs activities, and one of the UK's leading dams expert, says: "Scottish and Southern Energy takes a high degree of responsibility in the maintenance of its assets and in ensuring that they are up to correct standards".
"The need for the additional engineering work was identified during routine inspections, which are carried out on all dams every ten years".
"The improvements will ensure that the dams are fit to cope with extreme scenarios, events that have a one in 10,000 chance of occurring".
The engineering works on Pitlochry Dam will include tunnelling into the hillside on the A9 side of the dam in order to access the buried cut-off wall.
At Clunie Dam the work will involve drilling deep into the bedrock below the dam to insert super-strength steel cables.
Extensive consultation between Scottish and Southern Energy and Perth and Kinross Council has been undertaken to determine how best to limit disruption to local people and visitors from the engineering activities.
Andy Hughes says: "Clunie Dam isn't accessible to the public so disruption from the work will be minimal".
"With regards to Pitlochry Dam, Scottish and Southern Energy is very aware of the importance of this site to local people and to visitors and has been engaged in extensive discussions with the council about this".
"Part of the solution is for the work to be undertaken during the winter months rather than wait for the spring and the better weather." Pitlochry Dam and Clunie Dam are used by Scottish and Southern Energy in the production of renewable energy.
Pitlochry Power Station produces an average of 60 million units of electricity a year, enough to supply around 16,000 homes.
It is the last power station in the Tummel Valley Scheme and by the time the water reaches Pitlochry, it may already have generated electricity up to five times.
The dam is 162 metres wide and 20 metres high and contains 33,000 cubic metres of concrete.
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