page_title: Angus Paton
section_title: Post-war
hierarchical_section_title: Angus Paton / Work / Post-war
caption_attribution_description: English: Kariba Dam of the Zambezi (Zambia/Zimbabwe)
context_page_description: Sir Thomas Angus Lyall Paton CMG FRS FREng FICE FIStructE was a British civil engineer from Jersey. Paton was born into a family that had founded the civil engineering firms of Easton, Gibb & Son and Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners and he would spend his entire professional career working for the latter. Following his graduation from University College London one of his first jobs was the construction of a dam in Maentwrog in Wales. Paton later became an expert on dams and much of his career was devoted to their construction. In 1931 he undertook an economic survey of Canada which recommended a programme of works for its port system. This report was still being used into the 1970s. During the Second World War Paton was involved with the construction of gun emplacements in the Dardanelles, Turkey and of caissons for the Mulberry Harbours used after the Invasion of Normandy.
  After the Second World War, Paton undertook an economic survey of Syria, which made recommendations for port, water infrastructure, irrigation and hydroelectric improvements.
context_section_description: In 1945 Paton began construction of a wool factory at Darlington and a Rayon factory at Carrickfergus, both jobs were completed in 1951. In 1946 Paton was put in charge of an economic survey of Syria which required him to traverse the country by aircraft and car. The report, issued in 1947, recommended port, water infrastructure and irrigation improvements and the construction of a hydroelectric power station on the Euphrates River. Paton undertook a similar survey in Lebanon from 1947 to 1948. He was also involved in a report on the possibility of running a railroad from Northern Rhodesia to Dar es Salaam, Mtwara and Nyasaland.
  Paton worked extensively in the field of hydroelectric power and became regarded as a world authority on the matter. From 1946 to 1955 he worked on the Owen Falls Hydroelectric Scheme in Uganda which resulted in the complete stoppage of the White Nile for the first time in history. Following the completion of Owen Falls Dam, Paton worked on the first stage of the Kariba Dam on the Zambezi River, of which he said that it was the "highlight of his professional career". Paton made 22 visits to the site, of a total duration of 267 days. The project itself was, at 420 ft high, the largest dam built until then and, despite some of the worst floods on record hitting the project, was completed in 1960 at £5 million under budget. In recognition of his work on the Kariba project Paton was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George on 1 January 1960. As a result of the success of the Kariba project Gibb and Partners became involved with many of the biggest dam projects of the next two decades including works in Sudan, Argentina, South Africa and Pakistan.
  Paton was later involved in the second stage of the Kariba Project and in the Aswan High Dam project. In 1955 he became a senior partner in Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners upon the death of Alistair Gibb in a polo accident. From 1960 until 1977, when he retired, Paton was the responsible partner for the firm's involvement in the supervision of the $1.2 billion World Bank Indus Basin Project. This included the construction of the Mangla Dam between 1962 and 1968.
  In 1962 Gibb & Partners was one of two firms chosen (with Coyne et Bellier) by the South African government to build two dams on the Orange River. The first to be constructed was the Hendrik Verwoerd Dam which was officially opened in March 1972. The second, the P.K. Le Roux Dam, was finished in 1977. Following the success of this project Paton was retained to build a third, smaller dam, the Spioenkop Dam, which was finished in 1972. Paton was also involved with the tunnelling and underground powerhouse for the Drakensberg Pumped Storage Scheme. Paton was retained by the World Bank once more in 1967 to supervise the construction of the Tarbela Dam in Pakistan, which was completed in 1976. He also worked on the modernisation of the Royal Mint which involved the move from its 600-year home at Tower Hill to Llantrisant in Wales in time for decimalisation in 1971.
caption: Kariba Dam
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