Former Steam Pumping Station And Oil Storage Tank, Scapa Flow Visitor Centre, Lyness, Hoy

The former steam pumping station and oil storage tank, built in 1937, has been converted into the Scapa Flow Visitor Centre and Museum in 1990. It is located next to Lyness Pier, part of a significant group of military structures at Lyness near Scapa Flow.

The pump house features three tall gabled ranges and two additional gabled ranges aligned axially, flanked by later low, full-width lean-to ranges. It has square brick plinths that once supported two industrial stacks. The structure is made of a steel frame with rendered brick walls and a thickened brick base course up to the cill height. The windows are multi-pane metal with hopper openings. The roof, replaced in the 1980s, is clad in profiled sheet metal and includes roof lights.

Inside, as observed in 2013, the space is divided into two areas containing pumping machinery from around 1936 to 1939. The Boiler Room includes hand-operated fuel pumps, a Worthington steam pump, three Wilsons of Glasgow Lancashire type boilers, two Worthington duplex boiler feed pumps, and two centrifugal fans powered by Roby single cylinder vertical steam engines. The Pump Room contains three Worthing oil pumps, two Reader rotary engines, and two Worthington condensers.

The oil storage tank, also built in 1937, is a circular structure made of riveted steel plates, featuring an exterior access stair and a metal safety railing. It includes an associated bund, which is an earthen spillage containment bank, along with surviving oil pipe connections.