Innis & Gunn to build £20m brewery at Heriot Watt University

Brewer Innis & Gunn has revealed the location of Edinburgh’s first major brewery for 150 years to be Heriot-Watt University’s research park, to the west of the Scottish capital.

The brewer launched a crowdfunding campaign to help finance the project back in November, with the aim of raising £3 million. It has now extended the crowdfunding period to 31 January 2020 having already raised over £2 million.

The company believes its project is the UK’s first major collaboration between a full-scale brewery and a university. There are examples, however, of breweries and universities sharing facilities, such as Eden Mill, which announced plans last year to expand and move into the new University of St Andrews Eden Campus site in Guardbridge.

Innis & Gunn stated that the project will result in a “centre for brewing studies and applied learning on the world stage”. It added that it was aiming to replicate other brewing universities around the world, such as Weinstephan in Germany.

The brewery is expected to create up to 30 new jobs, as well as house 45 existing members of staff that will be relocated from offices in Edinburgh’s Randolph Crescent.

The site will brew Innis & Gunn’s core range as well as its barrel-aged beers. It will also house a high-speed canning, bottling and kegging line, eliminating the need to outsource elements of the production process. The existing brewery in Perthshire will continue to make Inveralmond Brewery’s range of cask and bottled ales, and will also be a site for small scale projects and limited-edition barrel aged brews.

The new facility will have a dedicated visitor centre, offer tours and will also boast a tap room, which will be added at a later date.

The two institutions are also set to announce their forthcoming academic collaborations. Among the projects due to be researched include new carbon and water saving technologies and brewing techniques.

Commenting on the news, founder and master brewer of Innis & Gunn, Dougal Sharp, said: “Building this brewery is a big step for Innis & Gunn in delivering our ambitious growth plan, from which we can capitalise on the existing strong performance of our craft lager and portfolio of IPAs and barrel-aged beers.

“Working with the International Centre of Brewing and Distilling opens up endless opportunities by combining our creative abilities and the talent pool at the university with our new world class, modern brewery. We hope to be able to research new beers and brewing techniques, develop pioneering carbon and water saving technologies and create new products that respond to changing demands from consumers, as well as facilitating in-work learning for students.

“Edinburgh was in the past a centre of brewing renown, with over 40 breweries in the capital. We are especially proud to be part of the revitalisation of Edinburgh as a world centre for brewing. Having our brewery here, where we first brewed Innis & Gunn, completes the journey I started back in 2003.”

Professor Stephen McLaughlin, head of the school of engineering and physical sciences at Heriot-Watt University, said: “Heriot-Watt has a long and distinguished history of excellence in research in brewing and distilling built on a foundation of collaboration with both industries.

“The choice of Innis & Gunn to locate their new brewery on our research park is an affirmation of our role in this vitally important Scottish industry. We look forward to welcoming them on to our research park and to successfully collaborating with them.”