Scapegrace Distillery, Central Otago

The 3,000m2 Scapegrace distillery designed by Cheshire Architects, sits alone on the edge of the picturesque Lake Dunstan. Previously undeveloped, there was a lack of infrastructure for the site. Kirk Roberts was appointed in partnership with RDA for the civil infrastructure design (stormwater, water and wastewater infrastructure design) employing the knowledge of our geotechnical, civil and structural engineers.

All stormwater runoff from the site needed to be managed and mitigated before discharging it downstream. There was supply by a single water connection from a reservoir upstream of the site. Our team detailed all water infrastructure, pipe works, and connections from the main connection to the new on-site reservoir, water treatment plant, proposed buildings and up to the proposed booster pumps. As the site has no wastewater infrastructure networks within close vicinity, we were responsible for the design and detailing of on-site effluent disposal and infrastructure.

With strict deadlines and the client requesting amendments to infrastructure design, we utilised our highly skilled teams to complete this project. As part of the integrated design team, we constantly looked for cost saving opportunities for our client during the design.

The state-of-the-art distillery includes, bottling facility, barrel hall, warehousing and a head office. Sustainability has at the forefront of the distillery’s construction. The distillery is one of the few in the world to use hydro electricity to power their boiler instead of diesel, significantly reducing its carbon footprint.