Loch Katrine Aqueducts Refurbishment
Loch Katrine to Milngavie and Balmore Water Treatment Works, Scotland, UK · Recent investment (event date 2022, implying work around this time) · £20 million
The judgement call
Account-gated at launchThe project highlights the ongoing need to maintain and upgrade historical infrastructure to ensure continued service. - Use of remote sensing techniques for inspecting unlined tunnel sections. - The importance of specialist subcontractor support for complex refurbishment tasks.
Key engineering challenges
Refurbishing critical Victorian-era assets while maintaining water supply. - Carrying out concrete and masonry repairs to tunnel linings. - Inspecting and working in challenging geological locations, including where the first aqueduct crosses the Highland Boundary fault. - Installing netting and bolts in highly constrained locations within unlined tunnels.
Project facts
- Client / owner
- Scottish Water
- Lead contractor
- George Leslie Ltd
- Lead designers
- Atkins (design support)
- Project type
- refurbishment
- Scale
- Two aqueducts (First: 55km long, Second: 38km long); supply over 1.3 million people in the Glasgow area.
- Disciplines
- civil; engineering geology
- Standards & frameworks
- —
Sources: "Loch Katrine aqueducts refurbishment", Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), 2022, https://www.ice.org.uk/events/recorded-lectures/loch-katrine-aqueducts-refurbishment - "Katrine Aqueduct Refurbishment", George Leslie Ltd, https://www.georgeleslie.co.uk/projects/katrine-aqueduct-refurbishment/ - "Katrine Water Supply Project", WaterProjectsOnline, 2002, https://waterprojectsonline.com/wp-content/uploads/case_studies/2002/Katrine-Water-Supply-Project-2002.pdf (for historical context and scale)