Electricity Substation, Flemington Road and Ringford Street, Glasgow, Glasgow

Description

Municipal electricity substation (1906-09, with 1918 addition), located beside the former North British Locomotive Company administration building (now Flemington House), Springburn.

Built from red engineering brick, the substation has a stone base course to the street-facing elevations. The principal front (north) elevation has squared recesses with a chamfered stonework cill. At the roofline is a moulded ashlar cornice and a capped parapet. A large round-arched entrance with timber doors is flanked by two tall and narrow window openings (currently blocked, 2024). A brick pilaster divides a further similar recessed opening to the right. Brick panel recesses return to the Ringford Street elevation. Metal flashings cover the parapet and the grey slated roof. A pair of brick gatepiers (entrance currently blocked, 2024) adjoin at the northeast corner angle.

The interior has high-level iron beams supporting an overhead, fish-bellied travelling crane. The piended roof has a wrought iron, tie-and-beam supporting structure.

The 1918 addition to the south, fronting Ringford Street, is slightly taller than the earlier section of the building, with its own parapeted cornice at the roof line, and has a re-worked squared opening doorway.

Historical development:

Glasgow was among the first authorities in Scotland to provide a public electricity supply, following an Act of Parliament in 1890. A Corporation Electricity Department was established in 1896. A full-scale electric power station was built at Port Dundas in 1898 to designs by Andrew Myles.

Cables were laid from the innovative turbo-alternators, installed at Port Dundas in 1904, to new outlying substations where high voltage (alternating current) electricity was converted to a lower voltage (direct current), using rotary converter machinery, for distribution to consumers. The earliest of these substations, including the example at Flemington Street, are large buildings designed to house the rotary equipment.

The footprint of the Flemington Street substation is shown on the 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey Map (revised, 1909), beside the contemporary former offices of the North British Locomotive Company (1907-09, see separate listing LB33612). Additions were made to the rear of the substation in 1918 to receive additional rotary machinery.

After the National Grid was introduced in the late 1920s, substation designs became more compact, as the converter equipment was superseded by smaller transformers with no moving parts. Many large, early substations continued in use, with their internal equipment replaced when required in line with technological developments.

The Flemington Street substation was photographed in 1966 (along with other examples of its type in Glasgow that have since been demolished) by industrial historian, Professor John R Hume (see Canmore). The building currently remains in use as an electrical substation (2024).

Statement of Interest

The Electricity Substation meets the criteria of special architectural or historic interest for the following reasons:

For its classical detailing, based on the design of the Glasgow Corporation's first full-scale electric power station at Port Dundas.
For its setting beside the former locomotive industry headquarters (Flemington House, listed separately), both survivals of Springburn's industrial past.
As a rare, early example of a large bespoke electricity substation in Scotland, dating from 1906.
For its social historical interest, helping to power Springburn's internationally significant locomotive manufacturing industry around the time of the North British Railway Company merger.
For its contribution to our understanding of the early roll-out of a municipal electricity supply in Scotland, prior to the First World War.

Architectural interest

Design

The Flemington Street substation was designed to house large rotary AC/DC converter machinery (no longer extant). These converters were serviced using an integral overhead travelling crane system which still survives inside the substation building, adding to the functional design interest of the building.

The round-arched brick detailing of the principal (north) elevation derives directly from the paired-back Classical design of Glasgow's first full-scale electricity power station (built at Port Dundas in 1898, converted to supply alternating current in 1904, demolished 1987). The Port Dundas station was designed by Glasgow industrial architect Andrew Myles (1842-1905) for the Corporation Electricity Department.

Several substations constructed by the Glasgow Corporation architects' during the interwar period have bespoke designs to suit their inter-urban setting.

The design similarities between the Flemington Street substation and its 'parent' power station at Port Dundas mark it out as a subsidiary building associated with the early roll-out of Glasgow's municipal electricity supply during the first decade of the 1900s.

Setting

The Flemington Street substation is located between Ringford Street and the former offices of the North British Locomotive Company (Flemington House, LB33612). The Springburn campus of Glasgow Kelvin College is opposite, occupying the site of the former Hyde Park Locomotive Works.

Dominated by the railway industry in the 19th century (Ordnance Survey Map, 1892), the Springburn area of Glasgow was transformed during the late 20th century, with the demolition of more than two thirds of its industrial buildings.

While much of the surrounding industrial setting has changed, the substation building retains an urban setting. The presence of an early substation here, alongside the former locomotive industry headquarters, is an important survival of Springburn's industrial past (see Social Historical Interest).

Historic interest

Age and rarity

Glasgow was among the first cities in the UK to use an alternating current for its municipal supply. The first wave of AC/DC converter substations, built by the newly formed Glasgow Corporation Electricity Department between 1905 and 1914, were integral to the expansion of Glasgow's electrification programme.

Electrical substations are a common element of our energy infrastructure, with demand for electricity broadly doubling every ten years in Britain since 1900. Many early substation buildings have been replaced with units of a more compact design due to technological advances.

Few large-scale substations dating from the first decade of the 20th century survive in Scotland.

A 1908 substation at Ellangowan Road, Glasgow is listed at category B (LB33922). It's villa-like style is designed to harmonise with the surrounding residential area.

Other early substations designed for the Glasgow Corporation between 1905 and 1914 using stylistic motifs drawn from the Port Dundas Power Station of 1898 have been demolished, including examples at Cathedral Street (1905) and Osborne Street (1912).

The Flemington Street substation is among the oldest examples in the country that is still in use as a substation (2024).

Social historical interest

Social historical interest is the way a building contributes to our understanding of how people lived in the past, and how our social and economic history is shown in a building and/or in its setting. We will consider if this interest is special in the context of the building type, its style or construction, or its period.

The Springburn area of Glasgow became a world leader in railway interests during the 19th century, with a 25% share of global locomotive manufacturing by 1900. This provided the economic base for the growing community, with much tenement housing in Springburn constructed specifically for the thousands of workers employed by the locomotive industry.

The Hyde Park Locomotive Works in Springburn had its own private electricity power supply by 1901, with a generating capacity equivalent to about one third of the Glasgow Corporation's capacity at that time (The Engineer, 1901). Three of the largest locomotive manufacturing works in the Springburn area merged in 1903 to form the North British Railway Company.

The 1906 substation at Flemington Street is linked to industrial and infrastructural expansion at a time when Springburn was a global centre of locomotive manufacturing. The substation helped power Springburn's contribution to national industry around the time of the North British Railway Company merger.

Demand for electricity saw the city supplying 50,000 domestic consumers by 1914. Early municipal substations evidence the beginning of the modern era of electricity generation and distribution. The 1906-18 substation at Flemington Street contributes to our understanding of the roll-out of municipal electricity in Glasgow.

Statutory address, category of listing changed from A to C and listed building record revised in 2024. The Electricity Substation was previously listed at category A with Flemington House (LB33612) as '110-136 (Even Nos) Flemington Street, Former Springburn College Including Range to East.

External Links

Historic Environment Scotland Listing

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