Industrial
Copper tanks are
lowered into position
through holes in the
steelwork
Steel blend for distillery
Steel construction is playing a leading role in the building of a
new distillery in The Highlands.
10 NSC
June 18
Set in the picturesque Averon Valley,
some 30 miles north of Inverness, a
new distillery is being built within
the grounds of the abandoned and
rundown 19th Century Ardross Mains
farmstead.
The project’s client, Ardross Investments,
purchased the site, which consists of 50 acres
of private land with its own loch, in order
to build a modern, state-of-the-art distillery
that will produce a number of different
spirits.
To this end a steel-framed design that
incorporates some retained and salvaged
elements from the original buildings
has been adopted as the most efficient
construction method.
The main distillery building, containing
the main entrance, still house, tun room,
mash house and mill room, will be an
L-shaped structure that partially surrounds
an inner courtyard.
The majority of this main building is
a steel-framed structure, albeit with two
original stone walls incorporated into
the design and the area housing the main
entrance and lobby which is timber-framed.
The walls at the rear of the main building
have been removed and rebuilt with a steel
frame to increase the size of the new twostorey
facility.
Main contractor Morrison Construction
started on site late last year, inheriting a plot
that had already been partially cleared with
only building shells and stone walls left.
Adding to the overall aesthetics of
the scheme and helping to preserve the
character of the project, stone and slate from
the farm’s collapsed buildings will be reused
to roof some of the distillery structures.
“As well as retaining and reusing as
much of the on-site materials as possible,
the building’s steelwork, which has all been
galvanized against corrosion, will be left
exposed within the completed structure,
adding to the high-spec interior requested
by the client,” says Morrison Construction
Contract Manager Gordon Williamson.
Steelwork contractor for the project is
locally-based Mackay Steelwork & Cladding
and it has erected 200t of structural steel for
the main building and an adjacent boiler
house. Also within the company’s remit is
the supply and installation of metalwork,
predominantly consisting of grating to form
the distillery’s first floor, as well as stairs,
hand railings, composite roof and wall
cladding.
A steel-framed solution was chosen for
its ease and speed of construction, as well as
its ability to provide the column-free areas
for the main building’s two floors. The steel
columns are also carrying a considerable
weight as the cladding will be topped with
slate, and so the members are slightly larger
sections than would ordinarily be used on a
structure of this size.
Forming the roof of the steel-framed
part of the distillery building are a dozen
10.5m-long × 3m-deep trusses, which were
brought to site as complete fully-welded
sections in order to avoid unnecessary onsite
work.
“The roof bracings and roof purlins are
a bespoke system, in that the CHS bracings
and hot rolled PFC roof purlins are all
FACT FILE
Ardross Distillery,
Alness
Main Client:
Ardross Investments
Architect: NORR
Main contractor:
Morrison Construction
Structural engineer:
Blyth & Blyth
Steelwork contractor:
Mackay Steelwork &
Cladding
Steel tonnage: 200t
/Braced_frames
/Construction
/Design
/Metallic_coatings#Hot-dip_galvanizing
/Corrosion_of_structural_steel
/Construction#Steel_erection
/Building_envelopes
/Single_storey_industrial_buildings#Speed_of_construction
/Trusses
/Steel_construction_products#Structural_hollow_sections
/Steel_construction_products#Standard_open_sections
/Braced_frames
/Construction
/Design
/Metallic_coatings#Hot-dip_galvanizing
/Corrosion_of_structural_steel
/Construction#Steel_erection
/Building_envelopes
/Single_storey_industrial_buildings#Speed_of_construction
/Trusses
/Steel_construction_products#Structural_hollow_sections
/Steel_construction_products#Standard_open_sections