Portobello Power Station

Portobello Power Station was a coal-fired power station in Portobello, Edinburgh which was built in 1923 by the Edinburgh Corporation in order to cope with the increasing demand for electricity in the city.

1. History

Although originally intended to be built in 1913, its construction was delayed because of the First World War, and it was formally opened by King George V 10 years later in July 1923. Its electricity was used to power Edinburgh and the surrounding region while waste heat warmed the water of Portobello Open Air Pool. At that time the turbine room contained three 12,500 kW turbines fed by six tri-drum water-tube boilers with integral superheaters and superposed economisers, each designed for a maximum continuous capacity of 80,000 lb. of steam per hour. In 1925 the plant was supplemented by a further 12,500 kW turbine. In 1927 two Brown Boveri 31,250MW turbines were added. These were accommodated in extensions to the 1923 building and also include eight more boilers. In 1938 the design of the station was extended by Edinburgh architect Ebenezer James MacRae; its six individual chimneys were replaced with a single 365 feet tall stack, which weighed 10,000 tons, was made up of 710,000 bricks and cost in the region of £118,000 to build. Between 1952 and 1955, the power station achieved the highest thermal efficiency of any station in the UK, with peak output of around 279 megawatts, although an explosion in February 1953 led to a two-hour power blackout across Edinburgh. The explosion, which could be heard a mile away, was caused by sea spray collecting on high-voltage insulators in the main-grid substation. The power station closed on 31 March 1977 and demolished in 1980; a new housing estate was built on the site. During demolition, the chimney had to be taken down brick by brick because of its proximity to nearby houses. The Portobello coat-of-arms on the power station was rescued during demolition and it was planned to incorporate it into a new sports centre to be built in the area. This never happened and in 2016 the broken coat of arms was located in a City of Edinburgh Council storage facility in the west of Edinburgh.

1. References


1. External links

Edinburgh, Portobello High Street, Electricity Generating Station at Canmore.org.uk

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Portobello Open Air Pool

Portobello Open Air Pool was opened in Portobello, Edinburgh on Saturday 30 May 1936 at a cost of £90,000.

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Marine Gardens

The Marine Gardens was an entertainment complex located in the Portobello area of Edinburgh, Scotland. Opened in 1909 as a pleasure garden and amusement park on the shores of the Firth of Forth, most of its original attractions apart from the ballroom were removed following military use of the site during the First World War. The complex also included a stadium which was used during the interwar period for football, greyhound racing and speedway. It was the home venue of Scottish Football League teams Leith Athletic (1928–1936) and Edinburgh City (1928–31 and 1934–35). The Marine Gardens closed down permanently in 1939 after again being taken over by the military, with the area being redeveloped after the Second World War.

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Portobello Library, Edinburgh

Portobello Library is a public library in Portobello, Edinburgh, Scotland. The current building in Rosefield Place cost £37,500 and was opened on 11 October 1963 by Lord Provost Duncan M. Weatherstone with a stock of 26,000 books and eight staff. The previous accommodation in the Old Town Hall, now Portobello Police Station, was considered unfit for purpose and was criticized for being dirty, dark and overcrowded. Opened in 1897, the year after Portobello was formally incorporated into the City of Edinburgh, the library service is the joint-second oldest in Edinburgh (after Central Library (1890) and joint with Western (Dundee Street) Library (1897). In 1997, Portobello Library celebrated its centenary through a programme of talks. In June 2017, the Edinburgh Tool Library opened a lending service out of Portobello Library. Portobello Library is one of the main venues for events at Portobello's annual book festival in October.

Library

Portobello Police Station

Portobello Police Station, also known as the Old Town Hall, is a former municipal building on Portobello High Street in Portobello, Scotland. The building, which was previously the meeting place of the burgh council but now serves as a police station, is a Category B listed building.

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