The Macallan Whisky Distillery

The Macallan Whisky Distillery, founded in 1824 in the Speyside region, is one of Scotland's oldest whisky distilleries and is considered the Rolls Royce among single malt whisky brands. The owner recently decided to extend the premises with a new building including a visitor center.

In an international architectural competition, the design by the renowned London architectural firm Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners was selected. The office founder, Richard Rogers, became known in the mid-70s with the construction of the legendary Centre Pompidou in Paris, followed by buildings such as the Millennium Dome in London and the National Assembly for Wales in Cardiff.

The new building resembles a landscape design more than a building design due to the great scenic value of the surrounding hilly landscape: an existing hill was removed and the 63 x 207 metre long building was embedded in the hillside.

The new building is spanned by a panelled roof construction consisting of five domes arranged in a row as a green roof. The distillery is located under the four equally high domes, the architects designed an exhibition area and a visitor centre with a café, shop and bar under the fifth, higher dome.

The impressive dome roof, covering an area of 12,300 m2, is constructed as a wooden roof with an overlaying green roof. The dimensions are impressive: the roof construction spans 207 m over the new whisky distillery. The eaves of the roof are at a height of 3 m above the ground, the domes over the production are 18 m high at the peak, and the dome over the exhibition area is even 27 m high.

The unusual wooden roof construction was developed and manufactured by the Austrian timber construction company Wiehag from Altheim. 1,800 simply curved beams, 2,700 roof elements, and 380,000 individual components were all transported by truck from Austria to Scotland and assembled on-site.

The overlying green roof was realised by the companies Sky Garden and Topek together with CARLISLE®.

Self-adhesive ALUTRIX® 600 vapour barrier membranes were first laid on the OSB boards of the timber roof. In addition, 15 cm thick insulation was applied to protect the green roof from drying out due to rising heat from the factory.

Root-resistant RESITRIX® SK W Full Bond EPDM waterproofing membranes were used to waterproof the green roof. The self-adhesive polymer bitumen layer on the underside ensures that the waterproofing remains in place, even on the roof domes with a pitch of 20 to 45 degrees.

For the green roof itself, a specially cultivated seed mixture with wildflowers and plants typical of the region around the distillery was used. The result is by far the largest known wildflower roof in the whole of Europe.

Katharina Ricklefs