Delivering over 30 projects on the site since 2014, including the company’s Roaster Building, Brew House and warehouse extension, the team at Will Rudd has most recently overseen completion and handover of the site’s Maltings Building.

After lying in a state of near ruin for over 25 years, Will Rudd initially provided scope of work for much-needed essential repairs and to provide temporary stability. This included removing and replacing original concrete flooring, installing new steelwork and a new roof.

The Maltings Building would originally have been used to convert cereal grain into malt by steeping, germinating and then drying it to stop further growth. Based at Victoria Bridge in Haddington, PureMalt is a global leader in the manufacture of malt extract products, with clients including Diageo and Heineken.

Will Rudd delivered the project in partnership with design team Unum Architecture, PMC Commercial Ltd Contractors, M&E consultant Hawthorne Boyle Ltd and surveyors Neilson Partnership.

Following years of housing germinating malt, the atmosphere slowly eroded the original building’s floors and structure. This required careful, complex and systematic thinking and action to ensure a robust structural solution which maintained the integrity of the building.

Contractor PMCC began refurbishment work on the Maltings Building in December 2019. Phase one, comprising essential repairs, structural work and new flooring, was completed in the summer of 2021. Phase two, internal fit outs, installing the new staircase, lift and finishing touches, concluded in July 2022.

Stephen Rudd, technical director at Will Rudd Glasgow, said: “We have enjoyed a fantastic working relationship with Pure Malt Haddington for eight years and delivered over 30 projects – from the installation of elements to aid the company’s business such as new tanks with associated structural supports to highly complex projects like the Maltings Building”.

“This particular project presented some highly complex challenges which required us to work closely with the wider design team to solve. The building itself was not in good condition, having been in a severe state of disrepair for a number of years. This presented an immediate need to ensure we could make the building safe and start a programme of essential repairs.

“With much of the original walls and flooring unsalvageable due to deterioration over time, we had to work very strategically to ‘design out’ any risk of collapse and maintain temporary stability holistically with the contractor.”

Central to the transformation of the Malting Building was ‘Box 7’, a large tower in the middle which would’ve originally been topped with a substantial roof pagoda. The client wanted to bring this element back to life.

Stephen added: “Essentially, we had to recreate a new roof but in the form of the original. To ensure structural stability of Box 7 we designed and installed a steel ring beam to tie the head of the walls in Box 7 and provide a suitable platform for the new roof and pagoda.”

Ross Turner, deputy managing director at Pure Malt, said: “We have enjoyed a highly cooperative and effective relationship with Will Rudd for a number of years now as our principal structural engineering partners. From a civil and structural design perspective, the Maltings may be the most complex and demanding project Will Rudd have supported us with. We applaud Stephen, Brian and the team for their creativity and pragmatism in helping us to restore a historic building in the Haddington skyline into what will be the cultural epicentre of our business for many years to come.”

The project was also reviewed continuously from a Conservation Engineering perspective and whilst maintaining the structural integrity of the building, the designs were able to include retaining of the existing cast iron internal columns and external walls as well as the majority of the steel support beams above the first-floor level. These elements were able to be treated in-situ with new paintwork to the steel, extensive stonework repairs and repointing to the building’s façade to extend their lifespan in line with the project’s requirements and restore the building to its former glory.

It was announced in September that the Maltings Building is shortlisted in the ‘Refurbishment of an Historic Building’ category of the inaugural Institution of Structural Engineers Scottish Structural Awards. Winners will be announced on 27 October.