The Macallan distillery in
Craigellachie, one of the world’s most prestigious malt whisky brands has
recently opened the doors of its new £140million distillery and visitor
experience to the public.
The new distillery and visitor experience is set into the landscape of
the 370-acre Easter Elchies estate that has been distilling one of the world’s
leading single malts since 1824.
As the
preferred site for the new distillery was designated by the local planners as
an area of Great Landscape Value, the distillery had to be sensitive to its
environment, while still allowing Macallan to increase its production to meet
the demand of increased sales forecasts.
The
Macallan distillery is operated by Edrington, a privately-owned international
spirits company based in Scotland. They had taken the decision to close down
its old distillery and create a new one less than 500 metres away, with precise
copies of the existing pot stills.
The new
complex was designed by architects Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners. They were
supported by Landscape Architect, Gillespies, with the landscaping contract
being awarded to Highland Landscape Design, who provide landscape-design and
maintenance services across Scotland.
The distillery, near
Craigellachie in Moray, has been camouflaged under a vast 14,000 sq. metre
wildflower turf green roof, which has been designed to blend in with the
surrounding rolling hillside and installed by Sky Garden and Topek Ltd. A
proportion of the surrounding land has been planted with 45,000 trees. There
were also 330 large standalone trees planted.
Highland
Landscape Design is a long-standing client of Green-tech and won the
prestigious planting and maintenance contract. They turned to us for the
materials needed for the huge planting project, which included over 45,000 60cm
and 120cm Tubex Tree Shelters, 45,000 timber stakes and more than 100 rolls of
natural hessian tree ties.
Green-tech
is the largest distributor of Tubex tree shelters and guards and protects in
excess of 10 million young plants and trees every year from browsing animals.
James
Legge, Director of Highland Landscape Design said: “This was a fabulous project
to be involved with. We have used Green-tech for well over ten years and always
find that they offer excellent products, competitive prices and a great
service. They have an extensive stock holding, so can always deliver what
we want, when we want. Our Company would definitely recommend them.”
