90 years ago Agecroft Power Station opens its doors on the current site of our northern office
To recognise this exciting milestone, IT Lab will host an afternoon of 1920s-themed events for special invitees which include staff, former power station workers and community members.
The event is taking place on Wednesday 23th September 2015, exactly ninety years after the Mayor of Salford officially opened Agecroft Power Station in 1925.
A Brief History
A-Station, as the first Agecroft Station was eventually known, was the first of three power stations built in this that area to feed the growing demand for electricity. At its time the coal-fired power station was designed to generate 100,000Kw of electricity which powered homes and businesses in the Greater Manchester area and beyond.
A Station was a success in its first decade but further capacity was required and the construction of a larger station was being planned. The onset of the World War shelved the expansion. Then in 1950 B Station was opened, running 24 hours a day to meet the country’s growing electricity demand. A Station continued to operate in order to support energy production. However, by the late 1950s, its ageing machinery led it to be used only in times of peak needs.
Advancement at the Station
Technology advancement throughout the 1950s meant that by the early 1960s, there was an opportunity to provide higher efficiencies and lower capital costs with new turbo-alternators. A new turbine house and higher chimneys were built on the B Station site. C Station officially opened on 25th May 1962, leading to the output of the site increasing significantly.
In 1970, after 45 years, A Station closed with B Station following suit in 1980. C Station remained operational until the early 1990s. In May of 1994, the cooling towers and two main stacks were demolished but A Station, being separate to the C Station site, was left standing. It was allocated to Nuclear Electric - later known as British Energy, then EDF Energy.
Agecroft's Last Day
Moving in
In 1999, JMC IT (acquired by IT Lab in May 2015), moved into the front, two storey office block. Though now IT Lab office space, the building was originally home to the 1925 office and workshop blocks which were joined together in 1950.
Still remaining on the site are the derelict 1925 turbine house, battery room and switch house which sit alongside some of the 1950s structures.
