Member Article

Patrick Parsons completes work on Tullamore Distillery development project

Multi-disciplinary consulting engineering firm, Patrick Parsons, has completed work on a pivotal project that sees the return of Tullamore D.E.W. Irish Whiskey production to the town of Tullamore, County Offaly, 60 years after the original distillery closed its doors.

The Tullamore Distillery is the first new distillery to be constructed on a greenfield site in Ireland in over 100 years, and is one of the most exciting accomplishments to date in the Irish whiskey renaissance.

Having been appointed as project engineers by building contractors Dunnes BCE, Patrick Parsons – which has 50 years of experience working on high-profile projects in the food and drink industry – began providing extensive consultation work in April 2013.

A team of eight specialist structural and civil engineers from Patrick Parsons has been responsible for the design of all steel frame buildings and pipe racks, reinforced piled slabs to support tanks, and extensive road and drainage solutions for the whole site.

The firm, which has six UK-based offices and one in Dubai, has also provided engineering services including site investigation and appraisal, desktop analysis, and civil, structural and geotechnical engineering design.

William Grant & Sons, which owns the Tullamore D.E.W. brand, commissioned Dunnes BCE to build the new €35 million distillery. The distillery recently opened, exactly 60 years after the closure of the original site, and will be capable of producing up to 1.5 million cases of triple-distilled pot still and malt whiskey.

Jonnie McGill, principal structural engineer at Patrick Parsons, said: “The engineering aspect of this project has been challenging, especially in terms of ground conditions – the poor land quality required careful thought and resulted in a very specific construction and foundation solution. Additionally the wide spread arrangement of buildings – necessary for the whiskey making process – meant that extensive co-ordination was involved throughout.

“It has been a privilege to work on such an exciting development, and one which will return the production of Tullamore D.E.W. to its home town while also providing state-of-the-art facilities. This will ensure that the whiskey manufacturing process can remain in Tullamore for years to come.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Patrick Parsons .