Our team working at 280 George Street in Glasgow have made another amazing discovery…

This time, while carrying out downtaking works in the building’s basement, the team uncovered an intriguing piece of machinery.

After inspections by and discussions with representatives of Glasgow City Council, Historic Environment Scotland and the West of Scotland Archaeology Service it was determined that this mysterious machine was a hydraulic-powered ‘rack slide valve’. The valve would have been used to operate machinery within the building where low pressure was required and was powered using Glasgow’s water mains.

In order to allow proper inspection of the piece of machinery, our team carefully cleared the surrounding loose material before the valve was removed to allow work to continue in the area.

Photo credit:  Historic Environment Scotland