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Lairg Dam safety
Published on 15 Oct ‘26
Ecocoast presents Lairg Dam safety case study at HYDRO 2026
Lairg Dam safety case study at Hydro 2026

Ecocoast shared its expertise in reservoir safety and floating barrier engineering yesterday afternoon, presenting a technical case study of Scotland’s Lairg Dam during the opening day of HYDRO 2026 in Bologna, Italy.

Taking place from 14 to 16 October at the Bologna Congress Centre, HYDRO 2026 brings together the international hydropower and dams community to explore the challenges and opportunities facing the sector. Under the theme Adapting to change, Embracing opportunities, this year’s programme addresses topics including dam safety, risk management, emerging technologies, environmental protection and the energy transition.

Speaking during the Dam Safety and Monitoring session, Michael Sims, Ecocoast’s Regional Business Development Manager, International Markets, outlined how a floating safety boom was engineered to address the particular challenges of Lairg Dam on Loch Shin.

Engineering safety around real-world constraints

The audience heard how recreational activities around the reservoir had created a complex public safety challenge. With watercraft operating upstream and walkers and swimmers accessing the shoreline, there was a need to deter users from approaching the dam’s spillway and intake, where potentially dangerous flows are difficult to identify from water level.

Michael explained that the engineering solution had to accommodate several significant constraints, including a 5.79m variation in reservoir water levels, limited flow data and land ownership restrictions governing the positioning of anchors.

The resulting solution was a 265m floating safety boom designed to rise and fall naturally with changing water levels, maintaining a clearly visible boundary around the hazard zone. Its design incorporated conservative loading assumptions and an anchoring arrangement adapted to the site’s challenging access conditions.

Delegates also gained an insight into the practical realities of installation. During the five-day programme, the team adjusted the barrier’s length when the final terminations differed from their planned positions, highlighting the importance of building flexibility into engineering designs.

The presentation demonstrated how a combination of risk assessment, engineering judgement and practical adaptability can help dam operators address public safety challenges, even where site conditions and available data impose significant limitations.

Extending protection across critical infrastructure

While the Lairg Dam project focused on protecting recreational water users from hazards associated with the dam, Ecocoast’s wider portfolio of floating safety and security barriers addresses a broad spectrum of protection requirements, including safeguarding critical maritime infrastructure against hostile attacks.

Solutions include security boom systems engineered to internationally recognised performance standards, providing protection against threats from high-speed watercraft. Earlier this year, Ecocoast’s DMS marine security boom successfully arrested a 3.8-tonne vessel travelling at 42 knots during full-scale impact testing, exceeding the ASTM F2766-11 Class C performance threshold.

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Are you attending HYDRO 2026? Visit Ecocoast on stand 206 to meet the team and discuss the Lairg Dam project, reservoir safety challenges and Ecocoast’s wider range of floating protection solutions.

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