ABSTRACT

Scotland has a proud international history of being at the vanguard of engineering and infrastructure on a global scale, and it is not only through the ships built on the river Clyde that Scottish engineering and technology has had a worldwide footprint. Scotland was also at the forefront of the creation of infrastructure from the nineteenth century onwards, both in developments at home, such as the Loch Katrine water supply system taking clean drinking water to Glasgow, and internationally such as the water supply system in Taipei designed by William K. Burton. Scotland also played a pioneering role in the development of electricity, in particular from hydro power, and it was the introduction of this technology in particular which had a radical effect on the country, bringing electrical power to communities throughout the country and overcoming the not insignificant challenges of the nation’s topography.