Air raid shelter unearthed at water plant

Work to install one of Scottish Water’s largest solar panel projects to date, at a waste water treatment plant in Montrose, has unearthed a lost piece of military history.

Scottish Water Horizons, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Scottish Water, which is driving forward the organisation’s green agenda, were working on the installation of the panels on land at the treatment plant.

The solar PV installation framework contractors, Absolute Solar and Wind Ltd, worked on the project.

At the early stages they were hard at work commencing the installation, and when cutting back some shrubbery they discovered a preserved air raid shelter from the Second World War.

The shelter was part of the former RAF Montrose site.

Scottish Water Horizons project manager, Mari Davies, said: “The site, which sits just back from the beach at Montrose in Angus, was overgrown and we had to do a bit of work first to remove the dense shrubbery.

“Having liaised with the local council, we knew that in the past the area could have been home to munitions and radioactive material, all remnants of the Second World War.

“Thankfully nothing hazardous was uncovered which meant we were able to carry on with the work.

“However, once we’d cleared the land, we made the unexpected discovery of a Second World War air raid shelter. Although an interesting find, it did mean we have to alter our plans slightly to fit round it.”

Mari continued: “The treatment works also sits on part of what was RAF Montrose which is said to be haunted by the ghost of Lieutenant Desmond Arthur, a pilot who crashed there in 1913.

“There have been many sightings of him over the years, but luckily none of our contractors had any paranormal experiences!

“Ghosts aside, the installation went without a hitch, and the team were careful to work around the operational needs of the site, meaning we were able to work without interruption.

“We collaborated closely with teams across Scottish Water to ensure the finished solar panels looked really smart. The site is visible to the public, so it was important that the visual impact of the scheme was taken into consideration.”

The project will offset around a fifth of the works’ energy consumption, generating around 240,000kWh a year, that’s enough to boil a kettle more than 1.5 million times.

The team are actively looking for new Scottish Water sites which could benefit from similar schemes (one is already set up nearby in Brechin) to help offset high energy use and reduce operational costs.