Drum reveals distillery-anchored Pacific Quay regeneration plans

Developer Drum is working with Scottish Enterprise to develop the 7.5-acre site at Pacific Drive, which sits within the wider Pacific Quay masterplan, and has proposed the development of new homes, offices, restaurant, cafes and a Douglas Laing & Co distillery.

The scheme will be anchored by a new £10m urban whisky distillery, bottling plant and visitor centre operated by Laing & Co that will sit alongside grade A office space, 60 residential homes and apartments as well as café and restaurant units overlooking the Canting Basin.

Future phases planned by Drum will see additional business space and amenities being developed, delivering a £67m GDV project by completion.

Graeme Bone, group managing director of Drum, said: “This is a hugely important planning application for Pacific Quay, which has seen unprecedented growth during the last decade and is now rightly regarded as Scotland’s most important location for broadcasting, media and creative industries.

“Our proposals combine high quality residential and office development with a café culture, bringing amenities to an area which currently lacks facilities and services and is seldom occupied after 5 pm. We want this to be a vibrant social quarter which will be visited, occupied and enjoyed during the day, evening and night, creating a genuine sense of identity and excitement both within and outside of the workplace. We now have the opportunity to realise the ambition of Scottish Enterprise to deliver an attractive and vibrant destination in the very heart of Pacific Quay, bringing a site which has lain empty for more than 30 years back to life.”

Formerly part of the commercial dock operated by Clyde Port Authority, Pacific Quay was used for the Glasgow Garden Festival in 1988 before Scottish Enterprise acquired the wider Pacific Quay area in 1991 and converted it into a business and leisure destination. The area is home to the headquarters of BBC Scotland and STV and sits adjacent to the SSE Hydro and the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre.

Cara Laing, Laing & Co’s director of whisky, added: “We have long held an ambition for the company to operate its own distillery and bottling operation in Glasgow and our proposals will bring whisky distilling back to the south side of the city.

“We will be creating welcome jobs and generating significant additional high-value exports - as well as becoming an additional high profile tourist attraction for the city. We are proud of our Glasgow heritage and are delighted to be part of this project on the banks of the Clyde, right in the very heart of Glasgow.”

The Pacific Drive planning application follows a deal with Barclays Bank to develop a new state-of-the art campus headquarters at Drum’s Buchanan Wharf site earlier this summer.