Lairg Dam And Power Station, Shin Hydro Electric Scheme

The Lairg Dam and Power Station, part of the Shin Hydro Electric Scheme, were constructed in 1960. The design was by James Shearer, architect for the North of Scotland Hydro Electric Board, with George Wimpey and Co. Ltd acting as engineers and contractors. The dam is a large mass gravity structure integrated with a power station built in a modern vernacular style to the northeast of a fixed spillway.

The dam itself is oriented southwest to northeast and is constructed of mass concrete. A central fixed spillway is flanked by taller parapet walls with vehicular access roadways supported by slender concrete piers on the downstream face. There is a lower spillway with control gates to the northeast of the centre. Large concrete buttresses support an oversailing gantry for gate winches. The upstream face has a concrete parapet and painted metal railings on the downstream face.

The power station is a tall, roughly L-shaped building, two storeys high with an additional storey extending from the dam's parapet at the rear. A circular stair tower is situated to the far northeast, and a small rectangular control room is to the far southwest adjacent to the spillway, all integrated into the dam wall. The building is constructed of random rubble with plain concrete surrounds. The northeast elevation features a large vehicular access doorway with a decorative coat of arms above and a small, off-centre rectangular window at the attic level. A tall pedestrian access doorway with a metal roller shutter and a decorative carved panel of Celtic symbols is set into an advanced bay on the parapet. The southeast elevation presents a two-storey, four-bay advanced centre with a taller recessed bay to the right, a smaller advanced block at the base, and an adjacent round stair tower. A lower advanced block is located at the far southwest with a plain concrete elevation. A large transomed and mullioned tri-partite window is positioned off-centre in the advanced bays of the turbine hall, with four smaller rectangular windows above at the attic level. A pedestrian access doorway is located in the advanced lower block to the northeast alongside a window to the left. A single window on the second storey features a steep open sandstone pediment. The circular stair tower, located to the far right of the power station, has regularly spaced, narrow windows and a shallow conical copper roof on its northwest elevation.

The windows are predominantly bi-partite fixed-pane metal glazing in painted metal surrounds, with some hopper openings. Recessed platform roofs are present, along with a prominent copper roof with up-stand seams and a central ball finial to the stair tower. Cast-iron rainwater goods are integrated with the roof.

The interior is predominantly plain and functional. The turbine hall is a single, large space with gantry supports on the sides, holding a large overhead travelling crane. Tiled floors are found throughout.