The building includes a Visitor Experience, three still houses and a mash house with a common roof and fully glazed wall. This reflects the wishes of the Macallan Distillery, a premium brand, whose single malt whisky production dates back to 1824. The goal was a contemporary facility, celebrating phasing, authenticity and honesty.

“The Macallan Distillery wanted to have a production facility whose capacity could be added to if required. That led us to start the work from the idea of a production module,” says Toby Jeavons, Project Architect at Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, a renowned international architectural practice responsible for the architecture.

Light LVL features great workability

The wooden parts were CNC machined and assembled at the Wiehag factory in Austria. The Kerto Q-panels and S-beams had high non-standard requirements.

“All Q-panels and S-beams arrived on time, and their quality and specifications were fully met. The Q-panels, for example, had to be very thin, with a sanded surface,” says Johannes Rebhahn, Sales Director International Timber Projects at Wiehag, who was responsible for the engineered wooden roof construction.

It was easy to add Kerto LVL to both sides of the glulam beams, because LVL has great workability while being a very strong and rigid material. It doesn’t warp or twist over time.

“Kerto LVL is a very good engineered wood material, because you can trust the material dimensions. In general, offsite construction is a great way to save construction time. When prefabrication such as cutting is done in the factory, and connections have been designed to be simple, the easier, safer and more cost-effective life on site is,” says Rebhahn.

Strong connections

Steel plates, hangers, connectors and screws are used in the timber-to-timber connections, which contributes to the stiffness and stability of the Macallan Distillery and Visitor Experience. Hangers give strength to connections with high-tension forces, and the shear forces are tackled with steel connectors.

“The connections are beautifully hidden behind the beams, which feature Kerto LVL cheeks on both sides,” says Rebhahn.

Fire-resistant materials

The Macallan Distillery and Visitor Experience is built according to Scottish fire safety regulations. The glazed wall between the distillery and Visitor Experience had to achieve two hours’ fire resistance, including the relevant timber roof area above the glazed wall.

Smooth cooperation

Rebhahn says that the cooperation with Metsä Wood in the construction project went very well.

“They understood our requirements and have been very flexible when we’ve asked for higher or non-standard specifications,” says Rebhahn.

Watch the video about the wood’s technical properties that enable it to be used for different kinds of construction projects.