Diageo’s former bottling plant to be regenerated

The former bottling plant for Johnnie Walker Scotch whisky – the closure of which led to a loss of around 700 jobs in 2012 – is to be taken over by a multi-million pound regeneration project.

Kilmarnock was the home of Diageo’s Johnnie Walker blended Scotch brand for almost 200 years

Diageo has donated the 23-acre site in Kilmarnock, Scotland, to the Halo Urban Park Project and pledged £2 million to its cause – a sum that has now been matched by East Ayrshire Council’s Cabinet.

East Ayrshire Council will now seek a further £10m financial support for the scheme from the Scottish and UK Governments through the Ayrshire Growth Deal.

“We are delighted to partner with East Ayrshire Council to support this regeneration proposal for Kilmarnock,” said David Cutter, president of global supply and procurement at Diageo. “Our ambition has always been to see this site redeveloped to the benefit of the local economy and community.

“Alongside the new college campus which is due to open soon at the site, we believe this regeneration plan will create a positive legacy for Kilmarnock and we hope it will gain the necessary support from the Ayrshire Growth Deal to make it a reality.”

Following community consultation and local, national and international research, plans have been established to turn the former bottling plant into a commercial, cultural, leisure and lifestyle quarter in Kilmarnoch.

It will include a Resilience Capability Business Centre; an enterprise, engineering, manufacturing and textiles centre; a 1,000 capacity education, conference and exhibition centre; a cultural hub for small creative businesses and social enterprises; a year-round leisure and water sports facility; 3,000m2 of commercial offices; health and wellbeing premises, life-style shops and cafes; a landscaped public plaza; 175 affordable rented houses; an energy centre powering a district heating system; public space including new road and footpath networks connecting to the rail station and town centre.

The Halo project will be a phased development and will create around 1,000 jobs.

Diageo’s Kilmarnock plant was the home of Johnnie Walker blended whisky for almost 200 years. Its closure in 2012 led to a loss of about 700 jobs. Around 200 employees found work in other parts of the Diageo business, while 430 agreed to severance pay and 82 people were made redundant.

In June last year, the firm announced its intention to cease bottling operations at its Relay site in Maryland, US, just three years after a US$50m renovation at the site.