A whisky firm has revealed plans to build a new £10.7 million urban distillery and bottling complex on the banks of the River Clyde.

Douglas Laing & Co said the ambitious and innovative project will also house a corporate head office, a visitor centre, a whisky laboratory and archive, bar and bistro.

Beyond private family money, the Scottish Government is part-grant funding the development, which will create up to 38 new jobs and will see the existing Douglas Laing workforce almost treble from 22 to 60.

The company is to receive £855,000 through the Food Processing Marketing and Co-operation (FPMC) grant scheme, a £70m funding programme for the food and drink business across Scotland which was launched in 2015. The grant will assist with the capital costs of distillery equipment and plant. The FPMC scheme is aimed at supporting such costs of businesses involved in the processing of primary agricultural produce to develop new and existing facilities.

Announcing the funding, environment secretary Roseanna Cunningham said: “I would like to congratulate Douglas Laing & Co Ltd on securing this funding, which will pave the way to bring quality whisky production to the heart of Glasgow. This is just one example of how the Scottish Government in supporting our world-class producers to flourish, ensuring that our food and drink continues to be the cornerstone of our economy, environment and culture.”

The Pacific Quay site is owned by Scottish Enterprise which has appointed Drum Property Group as preferred developers. Planning discussions with Glasgow City Council are underway

Cara Laing, the firm’s director of whisky, said: “We are enormously grateful for the support we have received from the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise and the city council planners in Glasgow.

“The FPMC package was very important to the project and without it we would not have been able to undertake a project of this scale, so we deeply appreciate the assistance we have received which allows us to drive the development forward and recreate not just a piece of whisky history in Glasgow but a healthy number of new jobs.

“At the same time we shall be providing a top quality, environmentally friendly facility delivering high efficiencies which will result in reduced packaging, less wastage, reduced energy consumption and lower costs allied to CO2 reductions.”