Last week Annabelle Ewing, Member of the Scottish Parliament for Mid Scotland and Fife, lodged a motion in the Scottish Parliament to draw public attention to a key part of SSE's heritage.
The Motion, entitled; ‘Remembering the Contribution of Those who Built the Dams and Tunnels’ recognises our development of a new, state-of-the-art visitor centre at Pitlochry Dam and salmon ladder that will not only stand as a tourist attraction but as a way of reflecting the contributions of all the men who built the dams and tunnels across Scotland that we are still benefitting from today.
The work undertaken in the 1940s and 1950s by men of all nationalities to bring renewable generation to Scotland was often dangerous and difficult, sometimes, tragically, resulting in men losing their lives or suffering from life changing injuries. These men worked tirelessly to build the dams and tunnels to bring renewable generation to Scotland, with some, like the Lednock Tunnel Tigers, setting a world record for tunnelling while working on our Hydro-Electric schemes.
Their achievements were celebrated in our Hydro at 70 event last year and their hard work in bringing power to Scotland will continue to be remembered.
Gillian O'Reilly, Head of Heritage and Community Programmes said: "We are enormously proud of our hydro heritage and have recently undertaken a project to understand and share the amazing stories of people and engineering feats that provided power - often to many remote areas - throughout Scotland. Our plans for a new Visitor Centre in Pitlochry will provide a fitting memorial to those who worked on the projects and we will continue to work with local historians, stakeholders and colleagues to determine the best way to do this."