A Hebridean whisky distillery dating back more than 200 years has turned to the latest laser scanning technology to bring its buildings into the modern era.
Whyte & Mackay has partnered with Adaptive Surveys, a specialist surveying company with offices in Aberdeen and Glasgow, to create a 3D ‘digital twin’ of its Jura Distillery. The models will allow the company to plan future upgrades while preserving its rich history.
Founded in 1810, the Jura Distillery is renowned for its Single Malt Scotch Whisky and its remote island location. However, maintaining a distillery of such historical and operational significance poses unique challenges. Over the years, changes to the site had not been documented, leaving the company relying on incomplete and outdated architectural and engineering plans which made planning and compliance of maintenance and improvement work demanding.
Adaptive Surveys created a complete digital model of the distillery, both internally and externally, to provide a detailed as-built model of the facility as it is today. This included the production of a complete set of P&IDs as well as online hosting of the data.
The process combined meticulous laser scanning of the facility, point cloud technology and Revit modelling to capture and log more than 1.5bn data points to map the entire facility. Every aspect from pipes and valves to stills and bulk handling systems were given a unique tag containing critical engineering information.
Panoramic imagery was tested on the Adaptive Surveys client portal which allowed Whyte & Mackay personnel and contractors to remotely walk through the site from their own desks saving time and money whilst reducing their carbon footprint.
Ross Henderson, Head of Engineering, said: “Creating a cutting-edge representation of our historic buildings has been a fascinating project to be part of. With Adaptive Surveys’ help we now have an invaluable digital model of our distillery. Their work gives us a highly accurate representation of our distillery as it is today, not how it was built two hundred years ago, that we can use as a reliable foundation for planning future improvements.”
Jamie Watt, the founder of Adaptive Surveys, added: “This was a hugely rewarding project to be involved with. Being able to use technology to bring a building of historic significance into the modern day through technology was a privilege.
“Heritage sites across Scotland deserve to be both preserved and optimised for future use. Our work with Jura Distillery proves that technology can unlock new possibilities, even for traditional facilities.”
