The first Scotch whisky casks have been laid to mature at drinks giant Diageo’s new £150 million bonded warehousing complex in Fife.
The Cluny Bond development on a 545-acre site at Begg Farm on the outskirts of Kirkcaldy has started to accept whisky for maturation despite the fact the majority of the site is yet to be constructed.
Two of the Fife site’s 64,500sq ft sheds, which each have the capacity to store up to 60,000 whisky casks, were completed this week along with the site office and gatehouse.
However, the full build programme, which involves the erection of 46 warehousing units and associated plant, is likely to last for many months and is currently providing work for between 150 and 200 building contractors.
The completed development will support 25 direct jobs and up to a further 20 in the local supply chain.
Diageo has spent more than £200m to upgrade and expand the scope of its operations in Fife in recent years, and the addition of Cluny Bond takes that spend to more than a third of a billion pounds and has placed Fife at the heart of Diageo’s overall Scottish operation.
“We have already seen significant investment and expansion projects completed at our Cameronbridge Distillery and Leven packaging plant, and this new development reinforces our commitment not only to this area, but to our business in Scotland as a whole,” Diageo’s operations director for warehouse and blending Harry Fox said.
“This is a massive site with superb links to the road network, and we have worked closely with Fife Council and neighbours throughout the development.
“Over the next few months we will be transporting thousands of casks of Scotch whisky for storage here, where they will be locked away and left to mature before making their way to the 180 countries around the world where the demand for Diageo’s brands is growing on a daily basis.
“Diageo has more than 1,200 people working for the company in Fife, and the new team at Cluny Bond share their commitment to continue to ensure the area plays a key role in the Scotch whisky success story.”
The drinks firm which last year pledged to invest £1 billion in increasing its Scotch whisky output over five years to meet global demand for Johnnie Walker and its various whisky labels employs around 4,000 people north of the border, with more than 1,200 of those employees based in Fife.
It expects to have a further five warehouses at Cluny operational by next spring, with more coming online month on month thereafter.
Diageo, which has interests in 30 Scotch whisky distillers and has its global headquarters in Edinburgh, also recently ploughed £30m into its Blackgrange facility in Clackmannanshire.