THE PERFE
The Macallan whisky distillery has installed a variety of Flowcrete UK floors to create surfa produce this icon
When Edrington, the international spirits group that owns The Macallan, decided to build a £140m facility to meet increasing global demand, they knew that no ordinary site would suffice. Instead, Edrington worked with the architectural practise Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners to build a one-of-a-kind architectural monument on The Macallan’s traditional Speyside estate to house both a distillery and visitor centre.
The development consists of five cells that seamlessly blend into the surrounding countryside as undulating, green-roofed earthworks. Four of these would house the brand’s production operations (three still houses and a mash house) and one would be the visitor centre.
Not only would the new distillery merge The Macallan’s centuries-old traditions with cutting-edge thinking, but it would do so in a way that allows visitors to see each step of the process while surrounded in a sustainable and luxurious environment. This meant creating a facility that would not only meet all the challenging industrial concerns inherent to making some of the world’s best whisky, but to do so while constantly conveying an inviting, on-brand aesthetic.
This was a particular challenge for the floor area in the four production cells that house the copper stills, mash tuns, stainless steel washbacks, distillation and fermentation vessels, pipes and assorted distillery apparatus. The flooring in these areas will likely face spillages of hot, corrosive by-
32 | SCREEDS & RESINS
products alongside point loading from heavy equipment, frequent foot traffic, intensive cleaning, impacts and more.
George McKenzie, Edrington’s UK Engineering Manager, said: “We look on Macallan as a world luxury brand, and so the whole feeling, the whole aesthetics, including the floorcoverings, had to match that.”
To ensure that the surface would maintain a functional, visually attractive finish, 5,570m2
of the polyurethane system
Flowfresh HF LT was applied. This robust, chemical resistant system would be able to withstand the onsite conditions and provide additional benefits such as easy cleanability, slip resistance and an in-built antibacterial agent.
A sleek grey colour was chosen to match the production area’s industrial aesthetic. The application of the Flowfresh HF LT around the intricate pipework was tricky, but thanks to the easy applicability of the system, the floor was completed on schedule and to The Macallan’s exacting standards.
George added: "During the commissioning of the process area, we’ve had some spillages of alcohol, malt, malt dust, caustic, which are all pretty hard on the floorcoverings and the floors are still pristine.”
Visitors to The Macallan’s whisky tour would not just experience Flowcrete UK flooring in the production areas, as its screeds and decorative finishes were also applied across many other parts of the site’s visitor centre and distillery tour.
www.tomorrowscontractfloors.co.uk
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