Delap & Waller Appointed as Mechanical and Electrical Consultants for New Titanic Distillery
Delap & Waller has been selected to provide full M&E design services for the fit out of a £5million Distillery in a historic Belfast jail. The Crumlin Road Gaol Prison, which was built in 1845, has been empty since 1996, when it closed its doors as a working prison. As part of a high profile redevelopment of the Crumlin Road Belfast, the Belfast Distillery Company acquired the old Victorian jail from the Northern Ireland Executive and plans to develop a boutique distillery; the first to be built in Belfast for over 75 years.
The existing jail building is a Grade A listed building and so is subject to very strict planning guidelines and limitations. No alteration works are permitted to the external façade or roof of the building so as to ensure the character of the old prison is protected
Internally a portion of the building will be altered to form two and three storey spaces to accommodate the installation of a distillery plant for the production of whiskey. This will house all of the spirit production equipment including mash tuns, stills, condenser equipment and all associated process and building services installations.
The remainder of the building which is comprised of the original jail cells will largely remain intact, with some local alterations, and this area will provide visitor/exhibition spaces, a 200 seater restaurant, a bar and an executive function space to be accommodated within the original roof space area. This renovation will provide an area for a complimentary visitor experience which will incorporate interactive exhibition areas displaying the history of whiskey production in Belfast, along with other local historic events associated with the Gaol. The visitor trail will also incorporate a tour of the distillery area, with full viewing facilities, to allow the whiskey making process to be witnessed by the visitor.
A full complement of new Mechanical and Electrical Services will be installed throughout the development, in addition to the services installations associated with the distillation process. These will include central steam boiler/generation, process water, chilled/cooling water systems, process heat recuperation and compressed air systems, along with the production area environmental services.
