Hoy, Lyness, Wee Fea, Underground Fuel Reservoir is a Grade A listed building in the Orkney Islands local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 20 November 2014. Fuel reservoir. 1 related planning application.

Hoy, Lyness, Wee Fea, Underground Fuel Reservoir

WRENN ID
tired-footing-evening
Grade
A
Local Planning Authority
Orkney Islands
Constituency
Orkney and Shetland MP: Mr Alistair Carmichael (LD)
Country
Scotland
Date first listed
20 November 2014
Type
Fuel reservoir
OS grid reference
ND 291 946
Coordinates
58.83333, -3.22951
Source
Historic Environment Scotland listing

Also on this page: related consents · flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The underground fuel reservoir at Lyness, known as Wee Fea, was built between 1938 and 1943. It consists of an extensive network of six rectangular underground fuel storage tanks, along with operational and maintenance access tunnels and valve chambers that have been carved out of the hillside bedrock and are mainly lined with shuttered concrete. At the beginning of the operational piping tunnel, there is a small square-plan fan room, and at the end, the six underground fuel tanks are located. The tunnel measures approximately 350 metres in length and 3 metres in width. Within the tunnel, two pipes are laid beneath the concrete floor, with metal inspection covers allowing access, connecting each underground tank to the tank farm in Lyness. The tanks vary in size due to the geological conditions of Wee Fea, but they average about 9 metres in width, 237 metres in length, and 13.5 metres in height, with a total capacity of approximately 5.6 million gallons of fuel.

Local climate

Hoy, Lyness, Wee Fea, Underground Fuel Reservoir sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 1,140 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 89% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 95% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 3 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 98% of listed buildings. Of these, 3 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°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 — 1 application
  • 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
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  4. Hoy, Lyness, Former Gas Decontamination Station Building Grade C 1.2 km
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  7. Millhouse, Walls, Hoy Grade C 1.4 km
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  9. Hoy, Lyness, Former First World War Paravane Shed / Second World War Royal Naval Recreation Centre Grade A 1.7 km
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