THE CLYDESIDE DISTILLERY

Restoration and creation of a modern distillery for Clydeside, Glasgow

The Clydeside Distillery was built between the Riverside Museum and the SSE Hydro Arena. According to owners Morrison Glasgow Distillers, the facility has produced the first spirit from copper stills in the local area for more than 100 years.

The Pumphouse building, including its four-storey tower built in Italian campanile style, is a Category B listed building due to its historical and social significance.

The multi-million-pound development, which has created around 25 jobs, includes a visitor centre, cafe and gift shop.

Scottish coppersmiths, Forsyths of Moray, crafted their two copper stills, each weighing about two tonnes. The distillery can also host a variety of events, from wedding receptions to corporate drinks functions and dinners.

The historic clock tower and pump house, originally built in 1877, was transformed into a visitor centre, shop and café with twin two tonne copper stills within a contemporary glazed extension.

The tasting room, located on the mezzanine level, opens up to create a stunning, bespoke event space for up to two hundred guests.

Project Feature – The River Clyde

The restoration of the listed building was one of the main challenges we encountered and overcame, along with installing the distillery plant and building in close proximity to the River Clyde. Works that impacted the River Clyde, including noise, vibration, and lighting penetrating the water, had to take place outside the hours of darkness. To avoid disturbance to the migration of Atlantic salmon, European eel, lamprey and otters, works were scheduled carefully around the months of March, April, and May.

Throughout the construction process we encountered a number of challenges which McL&H handled with professionalism and expertise, allowing us to complete the project with minimal impact to our budget and timeline.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time working with Gordon Miller, Project Manager for McL&H. He is honest, dependable and incredibly hard-working. These characteristics were reflected in all of the McL&H staff that worked on our project.

The senior management within McL&H always made themselves available to amicably discuss and resolve any disputes in a timely manner and remained flexible to action any client requests on change orders. I confidently recommend McL&H.

Andrew Morrison

Commercial Director at Morrison Glasgow Distillers