Engineering a State-of-the-Art Blending & Bottling Facility for CVH, East Kilbride
Client: CVH (formerly Distell International)
Location: East Kilbride, Scotland
Project Type: Process Design & Engineering
Focus: Cask Handling, Blending, Bottling Integration
Overview
As part of their strategic transformation and operational consolidation, CVH commissioned a new state-of-the-art blending and bottling facility in East Kilbride. The aim was to create a modern site capable of handling high volumes of cask movements, blending operations, and finished product bottling – with process safety, high volume processing and batch integrity built in from the start.
Allen Associates (HPE) Ltd were appointed to lead the process design and integration of key production areas, drawing on their extensive experience in cask operations and spirits processing.
Scope of Work
Allen Associates was responsible for the design and specification of the following key systems:
- Cask Disgorging Systems: Design of efficient disgorging stations with and cask handling, draining and filtration suitable for high throughput operations.
- Cask Filling Systems: Accurate, high throughput, automated filling systems
- Blending Tanks & Process Design: Blending operations designed for multi-brand flexibility, including recipe control, agitation, tank flushing, and traceability.
- Spirit Transfer Systems: Integration of transfer pipework, valve manifolds, filtration, and line purging capability between disgorging, blending, and bottling.
- Bottling Feed Systems: Buffer tanks and flow control systems designed to ensure consistent spirit feed to the bottling hall with minimal spirit loss and high repeatability.
Client Value
Allen Associates’ expertise in cask-based operations, spirit blending, bottling process integration and process safety allowed CVH to realise their ambition for a complaint, flexible, high-performance production facility. The result is one of the most advanced and well-integrated spirit blending and bottling plants in the UK — designed from the ground up to meet the demands of today’s premium spirits market.