Diageo – Linkwood Distillery Refurbishment

Distillery Refurbishment

Background

With products sold in over 180 countries, Diageo is the world’s leading premium drinks business. Almost 50 million cases of Diageo’s leading brands of Scotch whisky and white spirits are produced in Scottish distilleries every year. One such site is the Linkwood Distillery in Elgin, Speyside.

Requirement

Diageo wished to increase the production capacity at Linkwood. This would be achieved by adding 2 new stills to the still house, installing 6 new washbacks, upgrading the distillery cooling system and expanding the distillery control system.

Response

Haden Freeman’s project engineering expertise ensured that the necessary resources were provided to undertake the expansion project in a professional, timely and cost effective manner. The key deliverables included design engineering services for the project, process, mechanical, electrical, instrumentation and control requirements, together with equipment schedules and purchase specifications for the items to be procured. Haden Freeman was also responsible for supervising the installation of the specified equipment.

Result

The new plant was commissioned by a combined team of Haden Freeman, the equipment suppliers and Diageo’s operations staff in July 2013.

Diageo now has a fully working plant which produces an additional 51% capacity of whisky a year.

“The Haden Freeman team ensured that the entire project was designed, engineered, constructed and commissioned within just 16 months. The distillery was ‘silent’ for only 8 weeks.”

Stuart Dow, Technical Director, Haden Freeman Limited