International whisky asset management company Scotch Whisky Investments (SWI) is relocating its headquarters from the Netherlands to Scotland.
SWI, which holds one of the world's largest collections of Scotch whisky, has announced plans to move from its current base in Sessenheim near Amsterdam to the village of Falkland in Fife.
It has taken ownership of the 10-acre St John's Works site in the village where it plans to construct a new building with hospitality and retail space, offices, and a number of cottages for use by investors, visitors, and staff.
As well as being a corporate headquarters, SWI's aim for the building is for it to act as an educational facility to teach people about the world of single malt Scotch whisky, and to play host to investors and potential investors from around the world.
The SWI also intends to relocate its whisky collection to Falkland once the development is complete. It already holds a significant amount of stock in Scotland: it has a bottling plant in Auchtermuchty producing approximately 6,000 bottles a week and is developing a site in Glenrothes for cask storage (the £10 million first phase of this development is nearing completion, with four maturation warehouses built and the potential to expand to 27 warehouses capable of holding some 200,000 casks in total).
A planning application for the Falkland development is expected to be submitted by the end of 2023 and, pending approval, construction would start on-site in late 2024.
“We are delighted to have taken what is a significant step forward in the delivery of these exciting proposals to relocate our global headquarters to Scotland, and with it one of the world’s largest whisky collections,” said SWI managing director Keith Rennie.
“Our vision as a company is to showcase and educate people about single malt Scotch whisky, as well as promote investment in the commodity. Through this the relocation of our global headquarters, complemented by our facilities elsewhere in Fife, considerable employment and tourism opportunities will be delivered not just for the Kingdom, but for Scotland as a whole.”
