Plans are unveiled for state of the art maltings in north-east
RISING demand from the whisky industry has spurred a leading manufacturer to develop plans for a state-of-the-art maltings in the northeast of Scotland.
Portgordon Maltings, part of premium malt manufacturer Crisp Malt and parent company Richardson International Limited, has lodged a planning application with Moray Council for a sustainable maltings on the grounds of its current site on the Moray coast.
Announcing the move, the company declared that ever-increasing demand from the Scotch whisky industry means there is a need to invest in malting capacity to support distillers.
Its proposed new maltings would be powered by the “best available energy technologies to achieve operational efficiency combined with sustainability goals”.
The plant would produce highquality malt for distilling customers in Scotland while increasing the annual production capacity of the entire site from 42,000 to up to 162,000 tonnes.
The firm’s operations director Jake Lambert said: “Crisp Malt has been supplying the Scottish distilling industry since the 1960s.
“Our current site at Portgordon opened in 1979 and produces 42,000 tonnes of malt to Scottish distilleries every year.
“This application seeks to support the growing success of the Scottish distilling industry.
“The design and landscaping of the proposed maltings will help the new development to sit well within the landscape.
“We want to continue to invest locally to ensure that the economic benefits of the growth plan will stay within Moray.
“This substantial investment will support the local economy, create jobs, provide more opportunities for local growers of malting barley, and support the distilling industry now and long into the future.”
Crisp Malt, which noted that it collaborates with local farmers in Moray and Aberdeenshire, said the new development will create more demand for the highest quality malted barley.
Iain Green, a local farmer and director of WJ&G Green, said: “The production of barley locally has a huge effect on local communities, haulage and machinery dealers, and this new site is welcomed to keep the rural community going.
“We are proud to supply Crisp Malt with locally-sourced spring barley for locally-produced whisky and this project will create a bigger demand for the local agricultural industry to grow and sell premium barley.”
Subject to planning application approval and schedules, production at the new facility at Portgordon Maltings is expected to commence in 2027.
Colin Johnston, sales and marketing director of Crisp Malt, added: “The Scotch whisky industry is seeing another boom in distillery building but this state-of-the-art maltings differs in that it has a real focus on local supply and sustainability.
“We are currently having to bring malt up from our sites in England as we are supplying more than we can produce in Scotland, adding to costs and road miles.
“This means that we are not utilising all of the fantastic local barley available to us.
“If approved, the new site will use the best available technologies to improve efficiency and reduce our energy usage, water usage and impact on the environment.”