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Nucleus: The Nuclear and Caithness Archives

Building works - construction begins

The first phase of construction began in 1955 with 50 two-storey semi-detached timber houses to accommodate the first cohort of Dounreay staff.

When the building programme ended in 1963, 1007 houses had been constructed. There were four ‘atomic’ housing estates in Thurso- at Castlegreen, Ormlie, Pennyland and Mount Vernon. Most of the houses were semi- traditional, with prefabricated timber frames and harled brick exterior walls. Four blocks of flats were also built to house large numbers of workers within a smaller footprint.

Listen to Ernie Lillyman describe the ‘feverish’ building of houses in the Caithness winter weather below.

Ernie Lillyman discussing house construction, recorded 7th Nov 2013

Street view of housing under construction with scaffolding, crane, building materials, and two people walking.

Housing for Atomics (002), © NDA

Row of partially built brick houses with piles of bricks and foundations on a muddy construction site under cloudy sky.

Ormlie (002), © NDA

Partially built houses with white walls and pitched roofs on a cleared site, with fencing and open grassy foreground.

Thurso construction (002), © NDA

Partially built houses with white walls and pitched roofs on a cleared site, with grassy foreground and cloudy sky.

Thurso construction (002), © NDA

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