Walsh Whiskey Distillery
Location | Royal Oak |
Value | €5.5m |
Timeframe | 16 months (incl. Distillery Fitout in tandem) |
Architect | Bluett O’Donoghue Architects |
Surveyor: | McCullagh Lupton Quinn |
This is one of the largest independent whiskey distilleries in the country. The distillery produced its first spirit on Easter Sunday 2016 and is unique as the only distillery in Ireland to produce all three types of Irish whiskey in one still house, namely – pot, malt and grain.
The Building includes the Still House, Mash House and Mill Room under the slated roof. The Coffey Still Tower (22m high). The Ancillary Wing housing the Boiler Room, Cask Filling and Workshop to the rear and the Offices, Shop and Welfare Facilities to the front over three floors.
The Building is a composite structure of Structural Steel Frame with full height reinforced concrete walls and floors throughout. Walls up to 12m high in places encasing Structural Steel. The Building Envelope includes Curtain Walling, Cladding on the Tower, and masonry forming the cavity on a reinforced concrete inner leaf. The Still House, Mash House and Annex of Offices have a traditional timber slated roof built on the steel and concrete structure in keeping with Holoden House. The building is sited on a Special Conservation Area and all site stripping and river work was carried out under the supervision of an Archaeologist.
Civils Work included laying Riverwater Abstraction Pipework to and from the River Barrow requiring excavation works using specialist dive teams in the River Barrow. All works were carried out under methods approved by Inland Fisheries, Local Authorities and an Archaeologist.
As part of the project approximately €5m of Client Direct Contractors completed their works under the supervision of Duggan Lynch Ltd. The initial ten months of the project were completed in a tight schedule to be ready for the delivery of the Forsyth Distillery Vessels and Equipment. The Project then ran twelve hours a day, seven days a week for seven months to complete the Distillery Fitout and Commissioning on time.
One of the main features of the building is the 22m high Coffey Still Tower. To complete the tower cap on time we prefabricated the steel structure, copper cladding and louvres on the ground and lifted the 6.6m diameter, 6m high structure in two parts to fit it in one day. This followed the installation of the 16m high Coffey Stills through the ope in the top.