A new visitors’ centre at the existing Singleton at Glen Ord Distillery in the Scottish Highlands has been unveiled, representing part of a significant investment into Scottish tourism by the brand’s parent company Diageo, with several similar venues also opened across the country.
- Client: The Singleton of Glen Ord Distillery
- Location: Scottish Highlands, Scotland, UK
- Main contractor: Thomas Johnstone
- Architect / engineer: Graven Images
- Contract type: Renovation
Barbara Smith, managing director of Diageo’s Scotland brand homes, said: “Our £185 million investment in Scotch whisky tourism is designed to put Scotland at the forefront of the global trend in food and drink tourism by giving consumers a truly world-class experience at our distilleries.”
Located on the North Coast 500 route, the centre aims to attract additional tourism to the area, helping to contribute to the local and national economy.
The exciting new venue was designed with accessibility in mind, taking guidance from Euan’s Guide, a disabled access charity.
Fiona Richmond, head of regional food at Scotland Food & Drink, said: “Every visitor to the country has to eat and drink, so providing unique and memorable experiences is invaluable in bolstering our international reputation as a land of food and drink.”
Not only has the renovation of the Singleton at Glen Ord visitors centre secured the longevity of an existing historic building, it has encouraged active tourism to the Scottish Highlands – and will continue to for years to come, boosting the economy as well as the nation’s profile on a global scale.
The package of Vebro Polymers flooring materials chosen for this inspiring new visitors’ centre delivers excellent performance that meet the usage criteria of the facility, while complementing the interior design scheme perfectly, creating a welcoming and unique experience for whisky enthusiasts who travel to the centre.
Every visitor to the country has to eat and drink, so providing unique and memorable experiences is invaluable in bolstering our international reputation as a land of food and drink.
Fiona Richmond
Head of Regional Food, Scotland Food & Drink
Spotlight on the Floor
- Resin applicator: Integrated Flooring Technologies (IFT)
- Material supplier: Vebro Polymers
- Total area: 700 m2
The floor levelling and resin flooring package for the new Singleton of Glen Ord distillery included vebroscreed Industrial, vebrores PU SL HD and vebro Classic Terrazzo. The combination of floor coatings has covered a total area of 700 m2 and delivered a high end, modern finish for the distillery’s visitors’ centre.
vebroscreed Industrial is deep-fill, rapid-setting and hardening, high strength, single-part, cementitious smoothing underlayment screed that can be applied up to depths of 50.0 mm prior to the installation of thick floor coverings or resin finishes.
vebrores PU SL HD is a heavy duty, solvent-free, flexible, self-smoothing polyurethane flooring system offering outstanding strength and performance, making it ideally suited to areas with heavy footfall and wear from chairs and other similar objects.
Designed for use in commercial areas subject to high levels of pedestrian traffic, the vebro Classic Terrazzo system incorporates an attractive blend of decorative aggregates and is ground, grouted and sealed to deliver an eye-catching terrazzo surface.
Seamless resin terrazzo is ultra-hard wearing with exceptional durability, ideal for high trafficked areas and offering excellent lifecycle cost saving efficiencies as it is easy to clean, sanitise and maintain.
Epoxy based terrazzo offers more movement than traditional sand cement terrazzo and is less prone to cracking. What’s more, it offers excellent chemical and stain resistance, ensuring an attractive finish is maintained.
vebro Classic Terrazzo incorporates a low emission epoxy resin binder tested and certified by AgBB.
Not only can the Vebro Polymers epoxy resin binder be matched to any RAL colour or surrounding design schemes, users can choose their own aggregate and sizes ensuring complete design flexibility.
Although the Singleton story began back in 1987, the award winning Singleton whisky is renowned for being modern, vibrant and perfectly balanced, appealing to a new generation of whisky drinkers.
The visitors’ centre was designed to reflect this brand positioning, combining heritage and modernity to create a welcoming high end space for its visitors.
Housed in one of the distillery’s original buildings, the renovation and conversion into the visitors’ centre has married the traditional stonework of the building with modern and industrial materials in order to create a visually striking interior scheme.
This approach has been reflected in the flooring design. Wrapping around the central bar area is vebro Classic Terrazzo in Genoa, which features a blend of subtly toned grey and beige aggregates encapsulated in a light grey, low emission epoxy resin binder and provides a traditional-yet-chic impression at ground level. Elsewhere, the solid, matt, deep grey finish of vebrores PU SL HD contrasts with the texture of the terrazzo to lend a modern industrial touch to the scheme.
The seamless, smooth nature of vebrores PU SL HD and vebro Classic Terrazzo helps contribute to the accessibility of the visitors’ centre, which was a key requirement in the venue’s design.
Although the Singleton story began back in 1987, the award winning Singleton whisky is renowned for being modern, vibrant and perfectly balanced, appealing to a new generation of whisky drinkers, and the visitors’ centre was designed to reflect this brand positioning.
Through the eyes of the designer
Graven Images
Focusing on redesigning and reimagining commercial spaces across Scotland and beyond, Graven Images have brought their expertise in creating unique, functional and striking interiors to the new Singleton at Glen Ord Visitors’ Centre.
The company’s vision to ‘design beautiful spaces, places and ideas’ has been executed to perfection within the space, combining a palette of traditional and industrial materials as well as contemporary touches with gold accents, fluid lighting and bold, backlit arches that draw attention to the building’s original stone walls.
Throughout the space are nods to the Singleton’s location in the Scottish Highlands, with a contour line pattern applied to the bar fascia and walls and a centrally installed oval bar that sits beneath a bespoke lighting feature with the same fluid shapes, and that has been wrapped in vebro Classic Terrazzo to reflect the same pattern, as well as anchor the area within the space and provide a striking focal point.
Contrasting textures and materials has been key to the success of this interior design scheme. The original stone walls have been highlighted by the installation of large, warmly backlit arches in the signature teal colour of the Singleton brand, while the exposed steel RSJs lend an industrial tone to the overall look.
Working together…
