Arbroath Maltings Expansion
Bairds Malt undertook a major expansion of their Arbroath Maltings from 2010, comprising the demolition of a redundant saladin box plant and the construction of a new 57,000 tonnes malting plant, including new utilities, associated infrastructure and barley driers.
Location: Arbroath
Client: Bairds Malt
Cost: £18m
Completion: 2010
The new malting process plant was designed by Buhler, comprising an Eco-Steep vessel above 2 vertically-stacked circular germination vessels within a “mini-tower”, and a separate circular kiln vessel. The plant has a 380 tonne batch size and an 8 day malting cycle to produce approximately 57,000 tonnes of malted barley per annum, predominantly as a high-quality raw material for scotch whisky distilling.
The new plant was constructed on the site of a former saladin box maltings. In addition to the mini-tower and kiln, there are separate germination and kilning service buildings containing malting plant and equipment.
The circular vessels and process plant were designed, procured and erected by Buhler, with the statutory approvals, design, tender, procurement, contract management and site supervision of the foundations, service buildings and infrastructure carried out by Blyth & Blyth.
Key challenges
The key challenge was the coordination of the plant, equipment and vessels designed and supplied by Buhler, a specialist German contractor, with the civil, structural, building services and control elements which were designed, procured and installed in the UK. This was achieved by Blyth & Blyth working in close cooperation with Buhler and with the Bairds Project Management Team.
Results
The project was completed on time and within budget, and the maltings has been in constant production since completion, supplying high-quality malt to the scotch whisky industry. Blyth & Blyth continue to support Bairds across all of their UK sites on a wide range of industrial projects.