Coucill, L., Csepely-Knorr, L., 2022.

Nuclear Power Stations in Post-War Britain

Power generation in post-war Britain was an exercise in nation building. Significant advancements in technology and engineering led to infrastructure of unprecedented size and scale. Larger power generating stations began to occupy new locations beyond urban perimeters and, in the case of nuclear power generation, to the extent of purposeful isolation from populated areas. Equivalent expansion of transmission networks spread across the country, culminating in new typologies now widely recognized. The manifestation of power generation and distribution in areas of protected land, such as coastlines and national parks required the reappraisal of the relationship between rural and urban space. With a core duty to protect visual amenity, under the auspices of the newly nationalized Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB), architects and landscape architects were responsible for envisaging the new aesthetics of power generation and transmission. This chapter explores the aesthetics of power generation in the post-war period through the study of the interdisciplinary cooperation and organizational structures which engendered working relations among the various design professions. Special attention is paid to the last power station and largest reactors to be built as part of the UK's first commercial nuclear program, located at Wylfa, Anglesey in Wales, where the input of landscape architect Sylvia Crowe and the industrial expertise of architects Farmer and Dark were integral to its design success.