Fly over Macallan’s new distillery build

It’s been almost three years since Edrington revealed plans to build a modern £100 million distillery and visitors’ centre for the Macallan.

The project, which is being constructed over 3.6 acres by Roger Stirk Harbour + Partners adjacent to Macallan’s existing distillery, is due to open to the public in Spring 2017.

As this short video flyover of the Macallan estate shows, work is well underway on the new site, and the form of the ‘Teletubby-style’ distillery is starting to take shape.

Located between Macallan’s familiar brick-red warehouses and the River Spey, and to the east of the existing site, the new distillery’s distinctive layout can currently be seen as five circular structures that will form the distillery’s production rooms.

The structure seen on the far left is the mash house, while the three circular spaces to its right are the still houses, which – according to plans submitted with Moray Council – can house up to 18 stills.

Beyond the four circular clearings to the right, the foundations for the visitor centre, and the largest mound of the five, can be made out.

The historic Easter Elchies House can be seen between the existing distillery and its new incarnation, behind a crop of trees.

With less than a year before launch, it is still unclear what the annual production capacity of the new distillery will be, whether plans to mothball the original distillery will go ahead, and if Edrington plans to give the new build a different name.