The Cabrach Distillery, Speyside, Scotland

The Cabrach Distillery, Speyside building, Scottish whisky development, Highlands visitors attraction architecture images

10 December 2025

Design: Collective Architecture

Location: Speyside, Scotland

Photos © Susie Lowe

The Cabrach Distillery, Scotland

The Cabrach, a community located on the high boundary between West Aberdeenshire and Speyside, at the heart of Historic Banffshire, is celebrating the opening of a new heritage-led farm distillery. Designed by Scottish practice Collective Architecture, the opening of The Cabrach Distillery closes the first chapter in what is a long-term, transformational masterplan focused on regenerating the community after decades of decline.

In 2013 a group of passionate local residents banded together to create The Cabrach Trust; a charity committed to preserving the cultural heritage of The Cabrach whilst driving forward a oneof-a-kind community regeneration initiative. Across recent years, the Trust has progressed a portfolio of projects including cultural events, nature recovery initiatives, rural skills and wellbeing workshops, and learning opportunities for children and young people, with the distillery positioned as the economic lungs of the Trust’s vision, breathing new life into the area whilst celebrating The Cabrach’s unparalleled whisky making heritage.

Looking back, in the 18th century The Cabrach, situated on the northeastern edge of what is now the Cairngorms National Park, was a thriving community – and a hotbed of Jacobite rebels and smugglers. Local farmers, keen to supplement their meagre earnings from agriculture and raising cattle, would produce whisky – known as the ‘water of life’, or ‘Uisge Beatha’ in Scottish Gaelic – in stills hidden away in nearby fields.

But in the early 19th century lawmakers in London and Edinburgh clamped down on this activity, rooting out illegal stills and heavily taxing those distillers who were permitted to produce whisky legally.

These sweeping restrictions, combined with the effects of poor harvests, ongoing rural decline, two World Wars and the lure of work elsewhere, resulted in The Cabrach becoming increasingly de-peopled and depleted. Once home to more than 1,000 people, The Cabrach’s population has dwindled to less than 100 today.

Thanks to generous donors, The Cabrach Trust was able to acquire the historic Inverharroch Farm, along with 170 acres of land. The old stone steadings at Inverharroch, dating back to 1849,have subsequently been transformed into The Cabrach Distillery by Collective Architecture, creating a unique social enterprise now owned and operated by the community. This project has created much-needed, skilled, permanent employment in The Cabrach, whilst attracting 1000s of visitors to the area. Of important note, all future revenues from the distillery will be reinvested into community for decades to come.

The design is sympathetic to The Cabrach’s fragile environment, featuring latent heat recoveryand green input energy to assure a low carbon footprint, whilst complimenting the development with significant tree planting and the creation of community wellbeing nature trails. Upon realising that the existing, deteriorating roof structure could not be salvaged, Collective
Architecture proposed elevating the distillery roof atop a glazed clerestory. A skeletal timber structure rests on the old stone walls to provide extra height and valuable working area along with an airiness within which to appreciate the beauty of the copper stills and to diffuse the space with the dramatic light of northeast Scotland. The exposed timber and plywood structure echoes, in physical form, the simple raw components of whisky, prior to their remarkable transformation, and is intended to be a sympathetic, but modern, intervention reflecting the new chapter dawning in the Cabrach.

The construction was very challenging due to the age of the steadings. Leaning gables required to be rebuilt and some unsympathetic interventions, made during its recent life as a sheep farm, required reversing. To allow the stills to sit at ground level, recessed concrete trenches and bunds were installed to catch any spillages and contain flammable liquids. Their installation risked undermining the existing walls, exacerbated by the discovery of a seam of sand below ground, requiring much of the southeast wall to be painstakingly dismantled and rebuilt. The steading walls were finished by repointing with a lime-based mortar that closely matched the authentic, original mix used in the Cabrach. The windows and doors are painted with one of the Cabrach Whisky brand colours, maintaining a tradition of the Speyside distilleries.

All materials to refurbish and rebuild the farm buildings have been sourced locally, including sustainable timber from nearby forests, and reclaimed stone from existing ruined buildings close to the site.

Collective Architecture has also delivered a maturation warehouse and a new access road, while leading design activity focused on the second phase of the project which will deliver both a heritage centre and café bistro for the benefit of the community, but also to cement The Cabrach Distillery’s visitor destination credentials. The project is already attracting thousands of visitors – local and international alike – engaging people in the history and heritage of this once famed but somewhat forgotten Scottish glen. Future profits with purpose will be channelled into regeneration projects in The Cabrach, ranging from affordable, accessible housing, to nature recovery endeavours.

Jonathan Christie, Chief Executive, The Cabrach Trust, said: “The idea of a Single Malt Scotch Whisky distillery, operated as a social enterprise, housed within a once ruinous historic steading, anchoring the regeneration of a proud rural community, is an idea that’s easy to get misty eyed about. However, the distance between idea and reality can be significant, only overcome – in our experience – through the belief and collaborative support of likeminded people.

Beyond the incredible funding and community support The Cabrach Distillery has enjoyed, we found a likeminded partner in Collective Architecture. A practice that got the vision, combining care with technical rigour, whilst onboarding the broader design team and skilled contractors which took our idea to fruition.”

Ewan Imrie, Director, Collective Architecture, said: “As a practice deeply committed to supporting communities in shaping their own futures, this project, rooted in local heritage, has been both inspiring and rewarding. Working in such a breathtaking and remote setting has made the journey even more special. It’s our first distillery project, and we’re excited to see how this, and other projects initiated by The Cabrach Trust, will support a new, thriving, rural community within The Cabrach.”

Architects: Collective Architecture – https://www.collectivearchitecture.co.uk/

Photography © Susie Lowe
The Cabrach Distillery in Speyside, Scotland images / information received 101225

Location: Speyside, Scotland

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