Diageo planned to build the first major distillery in Scotland for 30 years and most environmentally friendly, significantly cutting the traditional distillery carbon footprint through innovation. The aim was a BREEAM Excellent-rated building designed and built within a challenging timeframe.  Given clearance in February 2007, the deadline for completion was January 2009.

We worked closely with engineers AECOM to accommodate evolving designs whilst maintaining continuous construction on-site. The building is a modern interpretation of the traditional still house, and maximises natural ventilation and daylight. It is four storeys high, the mass broken up by expressing the three key elements of the distillation process externally: the timber-clad barrel envelope with its full-height glazed gable houses the 14 stills, the central accommodation block contains the two  big  mash tuns, and the industrial profiled metal clad  tun room holds the 14 fermentation tanks.

The £40m, 3,000 m2 site opened on time, and achieved its Excellent BREEAM rating. It is a landmark building for both Diageo and the whisky industry on the international stage, and an important site for Diageo to engage its customers and other stakeholders complete with a conference room whose frosted glass turns transparent at the flick of a switch, revealing panoramic views of the stills.

Diageo planned to build the first major distillery in Scotland for 30 years in order to increase its capacity by 10 million litres a year to match demands from growing worldwide markets. But it also wanted to address several inefficiencies in the manufacturing process, so creating Scotland’s most environmentally friendly distillery, significantly reducing the carbon footprint of its predecessors by innovating with how the heat and waste generated by the process were managed. It was to be set in an appropriate, BREEAM Excellent rated building designed and built within a challenging timeframe.  Given the go-ahead in February 2007, the deadline for completion was January 2009.

We worked closely with engineers AECOM to accommodate evolving designs and plans. The leftover barley grain – the draff – was used as a biomass fuel to produce steam for distillation, while a water reclamation plant looked to save approximately 300,000m3 water per year. Further energy was saved by supplying the malting plant situated in Burghead with surplus heat from the process. These new technologies needed to be incorporated, and so a degree of flexibility was required to accommodate ongoing developments whilst still allowing for a continuous construction process on-site in order to ensure compliance with the deadline. Excellent relations between the client, the engineers, ourselves and the constructors ensured this process passed smoothly.

The building is a modern interpretation of the traditional still house and maximises natural ventilation and daylight, since whilst much heat is recycled, some cooling is still required. Hence the stack effect of the traditional distillery pagodas and lanterns is at work here, cool air entering at ground level and removing heat as it passes out though the top of the building.

At some four storeys high, it is impressive in size, but the sense of scale is broken up by expressing the three key elements of the distillation process in three distinct external forms that reflect the internal function. The timber-clad barrel envelope with its full-height glazed gable houses the 14 stills, the central accommodation block contains the two  big  mash tuns, and the industrial profiled metal clad tun rooms holds the 14 fermentation tanks, four of which are visible from the road, making an impressive statement.

The £40m, 3,000 m2 site opened on time, and achieved its Excellent BREEAM rating. It is a landmark building for the local area, Diageo and the whisky industry on the international stage, and an important site for Diageo to engage its customers and other stakeholders, complete with a conference room whose frosted glass turns transparent at the flick of a switch, revealing panoramic views of the stills.

Saltire Awards Commendation in the Civil Engineering Category: Roseisle Distillery, Elgin