UK utility SSE is to build a new £4m visitor centre that will showcase the role played by the engineers who brought hydropower to Scotland over 70 years ago.
Overlooking Pitlochry dam - a major tourist attraction in Scotland - the new visitor centre will open in Autumn 2016 and will house a 60 seat café, retail area, and a multi-space area for educational use.
Outgoing SSE Chairman Lord Smith said the new visitor centre will have an important story to tell. He said: "SSE's history is Scotland's history. The North of Scotland Hydro Electric Board is so much more than the forefathers of one of Scotland's biggest companies. Hydro electricity improved the lives of ordinary people living in the north of Scotland and we have a responsibility to preserve and promote the remarkable stories from that time.
"Over the years SSE has been at the forefront of many energy firsts and it will strive to be good stewards of these assets for years to come. I believe the best way to share these stories, both old and new, is to bring them together under one roof and being a Perthshire company we are proud to be announcing this investment in Pitlochry," he added
The new visitor centre experience will focus on heritage and celebrate the pioneering engineering and construction works which were undertaken in the early years following World War Two. Entry will be free and it will be open seven days a week throughout the year.
SSE has recently converted the former visitor centre in Pitlochry into a corporate archive, open to the general public by appointment, which will store many historical blueprints, speeches and artefacts.
