Post-war Angus Paton

owen falls dam under construction

paton worked extensively in field of hydroelectric power , became regarded world authority on matter. 1946 1955 worked on owen falls hydroelectric scheme in uganda resulted in complete stoppage of white nile first time in history. following completion of owen falls dam, paton worked on first stage of kariba dam on zambezi river, of said highlight of professional career . paton made 22 visits site, of total duration of 267 days. project was, @ 420 ft high, largest dam built until and, despite of worst floods on record hitting project, completed in 1960 @ £5 million under budget. in recognition of work on kariba project paton made companion of order of st michael , st george on 1 january 1960. result of success of kariba project gibb , partners became involved many of biggest dam projects of next 2 decades including works in sudan, argentina, south africa , pakistan.

kariba dam

paton later involved in second stage of kariba project , in aswan high dam project. in 1955 became senior partner in sir alexander gibb & partners upon death of alistair gibb in polo accident. 1960 until 1977, when retired, paton responsible partner firm s involvement in supervision of $1.2 billion world bank indus basin project. included construction of mangla dam between 1962 , 1968.

in 1962 gibb & partners 1 of 2 firms chosen (with coyne et bellier) south african government build 2 dams on orange river. first constructed hendrik verwoerd dam officially opened in march 1972. second, p.k. le roux dam, finished in 1977. following success of project paton retained build third, smaller dam, spioenkop dam, finished in 1972. paton involved tunnelling , underground powerhouse drakensberg pumped storage scheme. paton retained world bank once more in 1967 supervise construction of tarbela dam in pakistan, completed in 1976. worked on modernisation of royal mint involved move 600-year home @ tower hill llantrisant in wales in time decimalisation in 1971.