“Restoring History, One Coat at A Time” – Bagnalls Restores Aberdulais Waterwheel
06 May 2025
Bagnalls recently had the pleasure of completing essential work on the iconic waterwheel found at Aberdulais Falls in Wales. We undertook this project for The National Trust, helping to restore Aberdulais Waterwheel to its original glory.
One of the largest waterwheels currently generating electricity in the whole of Europe, Aberdulais Waterwheel has a diameter of 8.2 metres. It has a total of 72 buckets to catch the falling water and rotates at a rate of five revolutions every single minute.
Our project began with the erection of fully encapsulated scaffolding, ensuring a safe and controlled environment for our team to work in. After completing a full power-wash of the waterwheel, we carried out a total grit blast. This process removed all the old coatings and the corrosion, which had set in over time.
Our experienced team then applied a 2K coating system – beginning with a 2K Aluminium Epoxy, followed by a 2K Epoxy mid-coat and finished with a 2K Polyurethane topcoat, supplied by Hempel Coatings. This system is sure to provide long-lasting protection for this grand structure.
As part of the project, our in-house Coatings Inspector provided the customer with ongoing reports on the coating applications, in line with the manufacturer’s specification.
The entire restoration project was completed within just eight weeks, thanks to both our skilled Bagnalls team and our trusted sub-contractor, AML.
The National Trust said: “A great job by Bagnalls – it was a pleasure working with the team and the end results are fantastic. We are now working on engineering works to get the wheel and associated kit up and running. Great job!”
We wish the National Trust team every success in getting the waterwheel operating again – hopefully we will be able to see it in action very soon!
If you have a heritage project you could use our help with, get in touch with your local team today.
Bagnalls was chosen for this project due to our ability to help restore and conserve historical assets. We also share a commitment with The National Trust Cymru and Aberdulais to engage in heritage preservation.