FDBusiness.com

A new £10.7 million urban whisky distillery and bottling complex is to be built on the banks of the River Clyde in the heart of Glasgow in Scotland. The ambitious and innovative project is being masterminded by one of the country’s fastest growing Scotch whisky firms, Douglas Laing & Co.

The development at Pacific Quay will also see the launch of their new Govan-based Malt Whisky, celebrating the connection between the firm and the site of its new distillery which will also house a corporate head office, a visitor centre, a whisky laboratory and archive, bar and bistro.

The new venture will enable the firm to focus on developing its highly successful global export trade – already selling to 50-plus countries worldwide. Plans and contacts are in place to further open up and expand into the emerging and huge Chinese market. The new distillery Malt will allow further and deeper growth into existing markets including the USA, on the back of existing vibrant operations in Germany, France, Japan and Taiwan and the UK domestic market.

Beyond private family money, the Scottish Government is part-grant funding the innovative development by Douglas Laing, which will create up to 38 new jobs and will see the existing Douglas Laing workforce almost treble from 22 to 60.

The company is to receive £855,000 through the Food Processing Marketing and Co-operation (FPMC) grant scheme, a £70 million funding programme for the food and drink business across Scotland which was launched in 2015. The grant will assist with the capital costs of distillery equipment and plant. The FPMC scheme is aimed at supporting such costs of businesses involved in the processing of primary agricultural produce to develop new and existing facilities.

Third generation family member, Cara Laing (pictured right above), the Director of Whisky at the firm explains: “Until now we have depended on third party companies for our production requirements. These working associations have been and still are invaluable, but now we feel it’s time to be more in control of our own destiny and to build on our core and current business. With Generation 3 firmly entrenched, we undertook a strategic review and identified an opportunity to become a distiller in our own right with a dedicated bottling and warehouse capacity. We believe this will see the core business develop at a rate of 15 per cent year-on-year, helping to grow our existing brands while allowing us to introduce new marques, and seek out new international markets.

She adds: “Instead of being perceived as an independent bottler, we will become a distiller, owning the production process from start to finish – from barley to the bottle – with an initial capability of producing considerably more than 100,000 litres of alcohol per annum.”

The firm was founded by Cara’s grandfather, Fred Douglas Laing and the company is now run by her father Fred (pictured left above), the Managing Director.