Bombay Sapphire Distillery, Laverstoke Mill England, Contemporary English Building

Bombay Sapphire Distillery

Laverstoke Mill Building, south England design by Heatherwick Studio + GWP

page updated 17 Oct 2016 with new images ; 15 Oct 2014

Bombay Sapphire Distillery in Laverstoke

Design: Heatherwick Studio, Architects with GWP, Architects

Location: Laverstoke, Hampshire, England, UK

Bombay Sapphire Distillery, Laverstoke Mill

photo : Iwan Baan

The gin-maker Bombay Sapphire commissioned the creation of the company’s first in-house production facility, which will also be open for members of the public to visit. Formerly a water-powered paper mill, the site contained more than forty derelict buildings, many of historical significance, which have been regenerated and restored as part of Heatherwick Studio’s master plan. Central to the development of the master plan is the River Test, which was previously almost invisible, contained within a narrow high-sided concrete channel and largely covered over as the site had intensively developed over many years.

photo : Iwan Baan

The river became the central organising device to make sense of the complex site and this accumulation of facilities. The river has been widened and its banks opened out and planted in order to transform it into a route that draws visitors through the site to a newly defined courtyard at its centre, surrounded by historic buildings. To make the water visible and valuable once more the river has taken on more than twice its original width and its banks reshaped with planted foreshores.

photo : Iwan Baan

The original project brief included provision of a separate visitor centre. However the design team believed this not to be necessary, preferring to allow the public a more authentic experience by getting closer to the distillation process and seeing the sculptural copper gin stills in use.

photo : Iwan Baan

Heatherwick Studio’s master plan proposed the creation of two new glasshouses to grow specimens of the 10 exotic plant species used in the Bombay Sapphire distillation process. These glasshouses, one of them containing a humid tropical environment and the other a dry temperate Mediterranean climate, emerge from the northern still house to sit within the waters of the widened river.

The connection to the still house allows waste heat from the distillation process to be recycled to maintain the warm climates for the plant species to flourish. The fluid geometry of these new glass buildings was influenced by recent advances in glass technology and by Britain’s rich heritage of botanical glasshouse
structures.

This new botanical distillery has achieved a BREEAM ‘outstanding’ rating for sustainability; the first facility in the drinks manufacturing industry to be awarded this rating.

photo : Iwan Baan

Bombay Sapphire Distillery – Building Information

Project Name: Bombay Sapphire Distillery, Laverstoke Mill
Location: Laverstoke, Hampshire, UK
Category: Industrial
Commissioning date: 2010
Completion: September 2014
Client: Bombay Spirits Company Ltd.
Scope of Services: Lead Designer

Area/size:
Site area: 20,235 sqm
Gross Floor Area: 4,500 sqm
Visitor experience buildings: 2,500 sqm
Production facilities: 2,000 sqm

Tropical House: 11m tall, 9m across
Mediterranean House: 15m tall, 12m across

River Test: 250m stretch of the River Test runs through the centre of the site

Environmental performance:
International BREEAM Award for Industrial Design for the Bombay Sapphire Distillery process buildings

architectural drawings : Heatherwick Studio

Project Team:
Thomas Heatherwick, Eliot Postma, Katerina Dionysopoulou, Alma Wang, Ville Saarikoski

Consultants:
Project Manager: Meller Ltd
Executive Architect: GWP
Landscape Architect: GWP
Glass House Structural Engineers: ARUP
M&E Engineer: Couch Perry Wilkes
Civil and Structural Engineers: Graham Schofield Associates
Planning Consultant: CBRE
Heritage Consultant: Giles Quarme Associates
Environmental Consultant: SKM Enviros
Horticultural Advisor: Royal Botanical Gardens of Kew
Process Consultant: Alectia
BREEAM Assessor: GWP Project Services Ltd

Contractors/Suppliers:
Glasshouse contractors: Bellapart
Glass Supplier: CRICURSA

Bombay Sapphire Distillery images / information from Heatherwick Studio

Heatherwick Studio

Bombay Sapphire Distillery Laverstoke Mill – external link

Location: Bombay Sapphire Distillery, Laverstoke, Hampshire, southern England, UK

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