Diageo: green light to store 2.8million whisky casks at Kirkcaldy facility

With recent West and Central planning approval, the drinks giant will be able to house up to 2.8million casks of whisky at its Cluny Bond site next to the A92.

The maturation warehouses will add three additional 60,000 square metre storage facilities to the site, taking the total number at Cluny to 49. The overall storage capacity will increase from 2.7 million casks to 2.8 million.

The first Diageo whisky warehouses were opened at the 545-acre Begg Farm in 2013 as part of a £150m project to construct storage and maturation warehouses for Scottish whisky.

A total of 42 have been built thus far with the rest under construction.

The work will also include a new security gatehouse, office building, workshop new roads and access as well as extensive landscape proposals and public art.

"The proposal is part of a wider warehouse complex which has already beensubstantially completed," planning officers said in a report. "Given the existing developed and operational context of the site, the proposal would raise no significant concerns."

There were no objections from the public or from consultees during the planning phase, and councillors approved the proposals without question or debate on Wednesday.

Diageo is a global leader in beverage alcohol with an collection of brands across spirits and beer and can trace its operations in Fife as far back as 1627 through the Haig family – the oldest family of Scotch whisky distillers who founded Cameronbridge Distillery in 182.

The Kingdom continues to play a major role in its Scottish operations - Cameronbridge Distillery is the world’s biggest Scotch whisky distillery and Diageo Leven is one of the largest spirit bottling plants in the world.