Cruachan Dam, Ben Cruachan Hydro Electric Scheme is a Grade B listed building in the Argyll and Bute local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 11 February 2011. Hydro electric dam. 5 related planning applications.
Cruachan Dam, Ben Cruachan Hydro Electric Scheme
- WRENN ID
- slow-rubble-curlew
- Grade
- B
- Local Planning Authority
- Argyll and Bute
- Constituency
- Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber MP: Brendan O'Hara (SNP)
- Country
- Scotland
- Date first listed
- 11 February 2011
- Type
- Hydro electric dam
- Address
- Cruachan Dam, Ben Cruachan Hydro Electric Scheme, PA33 1AN
- OS grid reference
- NN 080 281
- Coordinates
- 56.40646, -5.1131
- Source
- Historic Environment Scotland listing
Description
The Cruachan Dam, part of the Ben Cruachan Hydro Electric Scheme, was designed by James Williamson and Partners, with George Rennie serving as the resident engineer for the North of Scotland Hydro Electric Board technical panel, and was constructed between 1959 and 1965. This large buttress dam features an access roadway that extends over prominent arcaded buttresses. The central buttress, which is substantial, contains pipeway inlets and control gates, making it a dominant feature against the backdrop of the Cruachan corrie and surrounding mountains. The dam is primarily made of mass concrete, with some areas of reinforced concrete used for the parapet. Its downstream face is battered and supported by deep buttresses that have rounded headed gaps between them. There is a large buttress at the center and a small fixed spillway located to the far left (northwest), with the roadway supported by slender piers. The top of the dam has a plain parapet that is integrated with the heads of the buttresses.
Local climate
Cruachan Dam, Ben Cruachan Hydro Electric Scheme sits in one of the wettest parts of the UK, with an average of 2,080 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 99% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 97% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 57 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 97% of listed buildings. Of these, 38 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.2°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 5 applications
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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