Glen Ord distillery expansion

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.

Expanding capacity to meet global demand

The project involved a mixture of new build and refurbishment work to increase the production capacity of the distillery to a level that would meet demand. We constructed new mash tun rooms and a still house with six new whisky stills, along with an associated boilerhouse, control room and other tanks.

The expansion allowed the plant to increase its production to around ten million litres of spirit a year.

Distilling operations running alongside construction 

The distillery and visitor centre stayed fully operational during the works. We took care not to disrupt any of the production processes, the visitors or the nearby homes, one of which was accessed through the distillery itself.

Construction of the tun rooms involved:

• partly demolishing a redundant malt bin storage building;
• installing new foundations;
• and structural steel frame to support the walls and slate roofing.

Ancillary works:

• reforming existing roads;
• car parking;
• landscaping;
• fencing and;
• service connections between buildings.

Social value for the community

We supported the local community in various ways: 

• using a local supply chain of contractors, most of which lived locally;
• six apprentice electricians and joiners were involved, two from the local area;
• local primary school visit, with the pupils’ art displayed on the hoardings;
• grass cutting, fence painting and donations of surplus timber.

Project team

• Robertson Northern (contractor)
• Jacobsen French Architects
• Blyth & Blyth (civil & structural engineers, M&E)
• Thomson Bethune (QS)