Work has started on a new craft distillery and visitor centre in Orkney, which is expected to create up to 10 jobs once open.
Old warehouses are being demolished at the seafront site on Kirkwall’s Ayre Road to make way for Orkney Distilling Ltd’s building.
The facility is due to open in the late summer, with full production of the company’s Kirkjuvagr gin moving there from the mainland.
Orkney Distilling was formed early last year by local couple Stephen and Aly Kemp and the gin, created using botanicals from the islands, made its debut there in August.
Mr Kemp, the firm’s managing director, said: “After months of planning, we’re really excited to see the project now underway.
“The first stage involves the careful removal of the existing dilapidated warehouse buildings on the Ayre Road site and, once cleared, we’ll be getting straight onto the foundation concrete pour for the new distillery and visitor centre.
“Our aim is to have the project completed by the end of August, with our focus then on training our new staff and gradually moving full production of Kirkjuvagr to Ayre Road.”
The company has plans for further product lines, which it says it will announce later this year.
Elsewhere in the Northern Isles another distilling company is toasting soaring demand for its gins and whiskies.
Output from the UK’s most northerly distillery, at Saxa Vord on the island of Unst, has grown 300% to 30,000 bottles in the past year, according to its owners, the Shetland Distillery Company.
“It’s been a really busy year with a big upturn in demand both from our distributors and from online orders,” said distillery manager Mark Turnbull
“We’re delighted that more and more people are enjoying our products and supporting the distillery and Unst.”
A partnership between whisky industry specialist Stuart Nickerson, his wife Wilma and Saxa Vord Resort owners Frank and Debbie Strang, the company set up the distillery in former RAF buildings in 2013.
It produces two core gins, the Original Shetland Reel and Ocean Sent, as well as a number of seasonal specials.
The company has also produced two “bottled in Shetland” whiskies.
Two of the distillery’s three staff, including Mr Turnbull, are set to become father’s again, bringing a mini population boom to Unst, which has 600 inhabitants.