The lifting machinery was designed and supplied by DavyMarkham for lifting and lowering the main tailgates for maintenance purposes. There are three tailgates and the lifting machinery comprises two main elements – the fixed beam assembly which spans the gate apertures and a moving beam assembly which provides a stable lift for the gates.

This was one of a series of contracts where comprehensive series of works were undertaken to bring the gates up to modern operational standards.

One of the projects was at Pitlochry where the famed fish pass formed part of that project with DavyMarkham’s scope of work included critical on-site refurbishment of the gate structure, control system and mechanical hinge assemblies. A Finite Element Analysis (FEA) study was carried out to assess the dam gate against up to date loading information.

At Beannachran the scope of work included a dam gate, all associated valves, pipework, floats, hinges, struts and screens.

Similar series of works have been undertaken at other dams for the same client, at Clunie, Aigas and Kilmorak.

The contract was for 22 stainless steel knife-gate valves for the Changi Water Reclamation Plant, which forms part of the Singapore Deep Tunnel Sewerage System that will serve the country’s wastewater conveyance, treatment and disposal needs throughout the 21st century.

This major order was placed by GE Energy of Norway, supplier for one of the main contractors for the project. The valve assemblies ranged from 1.4m to 3.0m diameters and weighed up to 24 tonnes. The contract occupied a total timescale of 18 months and over 27,000 man-hours of work