Purvis paves the way for Fife Diageo warehouses

DRINKS giant Diageo has got the ball rolling on its vast new warehousing project in Fife ­after awarding a multi-million-pound contract to lay access roads.

The deal with Realm Construction marks a key stage in the £46 million scheme, which will see more than 40 bonded warehouses built over the next seven years on the outskirts of Kirkcaldy.

The project was given the green light in the autumn. The warehouses are required as a result of Diageo’s investment over the past three years in its existing facilities at Leven, where it has created Scotland’s largest distillery.

Bulk grain whisky distilled at the Cameronbridge site will be brought to the new warehouses in tankers, where it will be reduced with water before being decanted into casks and held to mature. The whisky will then be taken by tanker to the bottling plant at Leven.

It is understood that the initial contract with Realm – part of Lochgelly-based Purvis Group – is worth some £2m. The firm will be tendering for further work that could be worth a similar sum over each of the seven years of construction.

Bob Purvis, who founded his building and plant hire business more than 30 years ago, said the company had enjoyed a working relationship with the Johnnie Walker-maker for about eight years.

“Diageo has been instrumental in keeping Realm busy,” he added.

The contract caps a period of growth for Purvis, which can boast a string of blue-chip clients including Asda, McDonalds and Miller Homes.

It recently completed a fuel storage and processing depot for Npower’s biomass plant at papermaker Tullis Russell’s Markinch site. Purvis will also run Npower’s storage facility on an initial five-year term.

The construction group, which has some 400 staff across its various divisions and a combined turnover of almost £50m, said it was open to bolt-on acquisitions.

“If there is something of interest that fits in we would take a look at it,” said Purvis.