Lochaber hydroelectric scheme

The scheme was initially designed by engineer Charles Meik but after his death in 1923, the scheme's realisation was left to William Halcrow, by then a partner in the firm founded by Meik's father Thomas Meik. The project was finally sanctioned by Parliament in 1921, but construction did not start until 1924. Given the scale of construction, it was undertaken in three main phases: Over 3,000 men were employed during the peak of construction. A narrow-gauge railway was used in construction and subsequent maintenance of phases 1 and 2, see Lochaber Narrow Gauge Railway for details.

On 3 April 2021, it came to light that the Jahama Highland Estates (formerly the "Alcan Estate") had been purchased in 2016 as part of the Rio Tinto Mines deal for the Lochaber aluminium plant, because the furnace requires so much power that the smelter is located near a hydroelectric plant, which drains the basin of the 114,000 acre Estate. Alcan designed all their smelters that way. The Estate includes the north face of Ben Nevis. According to reports, the Scottish Government mandated that the Estate never be split from the hydro plant and aluminium smelter, but Gupta ignored them and placed ownership of the Estate in a company that is domiciled on the Isle of Man. The 2016 deal was worth…