ALUMINIUMVILLE
An army of extraordinary men blasted mountains, dammed rivers and raised vast hydroelectric works to power a colossal aluminium smelter - turning a quiet Highland valley into a roaring furnace of global industry.
'The Highlands were turned into a cinderheap, and then we realised we'd built the biggest aluminium factory in the kingdom'.
AN INDUSTRIAL EMPIRE IN THE MOUNTAINS
From the thunder of the Highland rivers came the energy that forged one of the most revolutionary metals of the modern age.

By the outbreak of WWI, Kinlochleven became a power-house of world production. Aluminium transformed industry and, with the explosive expansion of Allied aircraft production, it was central to Britain's war effort.

12% OF THE WORLD’S ALUMINIUM CAME FROM THE HIGHLANDS

Then another monolithic industrial giant rose at Fort William. The vast Lochaber smelter, powered by hydroelectricity from deep in the Nevis range and the mighty Laggan Dam.

Industrial villages appeared where sheep once grazed. Roads, railways, housing and infrastructure followedvthe white-hot furnaces and gargantuan power stations, transforming the economy of Scotland, and linking
the Highlands to a worldwide industrial network which stretched across Europe, America and far beyond.

COME ALONG AND BE AMAZED