The expansion of the Glen Ord distillery shows the confidence behind one of Scotland’s flagship industries. It will help further secure whisky’s important place in the Scottish economy and its global brand, as well as securing and creating jobs.
Expanding to meet global demand
Glen Ord was founded as a legal whisky distillery in 1838 and produces and exports the Singleton of Glen Ord malt whisky. The volume of sales grew 40% in 2010, making it the fastest growing brand in the Asia-Pacific market region.
The project was to create new mash tun rooms and a still house with six new whisky stills, along with an associated boilerhouse, control room and other tanks, which would increase the production capacity of the distillery to a level that would meet demand.
The expansion allowed the plant to increase its production to approximately ten million litres of spirit a year.
Still running throughout
The distillery and adjacent visitor centre remained fully operational for the duration of the works. We took care not to disrupt any of the production processes, the visitors on site or the dwellings to the west and south, one of which was accessed through the distillery itself.
The construction of the tun rooms involved the partial demolition of a redundant malt bin storage building, with new foundations and structural steel frame to support the perimeter walls and slate roofing.
Ancillary works comprised the reforming of existing roads, car parking, landscaping, fencing and service connections between buildings.
We supported the local community in various ways, such as by using a local supply chain of contractors, most of which lived locally. Six apprentice electricians and joiners were involved in the project, with two coming from the local area. A visit from a local primary school was arranged, with the pupils’ art displayed on the hoardings. We also provided grass cutting, fence painting and made donations of surplus timber as gestures of goodwill.
Project team
- Robertson Northern (contractor)
- Jacobsen French Architects
- Blyth & Blyth (civil & structural engineers, M&E)
- Thomson Bethune (QS)
