Beneath Boiler House Operator Level

The level beneath the boiler-house operator floor at White Bay Power Station is the service level where the feedwater pumps, the boiler drain lines, and the ash-handling plant lived. The floor is concrete, stained where decades of leakage and operating spills worked at the surface. Pipework runs along the underside of the operator floor above in long parallel runs: feedwater mains, condensate returns, drain headers. The cladding around the level is steel, painted in the pale industrial green of the plant. Grime-streaked windows along the perimeter wall admit a diffuse light. Beyond them, the outside world is visible but distant.

The service level below the boiler-house operator floor was where the plant's larger pumps and drain systems ran. Operators on shift visited the level for routine inspection and to respond to alarms; the floor above was the primary working position. The plant ran continuously from 1917 to Christmas Eve 1983, across a station built in four phases completed 1917, 1928, 1953 and 1958. After closure the lower level was wound down with the rest of the plant. Most of the larger pumps have been removed; the pipework along the underside of the upper floor mostly remains. The windows along the perimeter wall still admit the same diffuse light they did during operation.