A Fife company has been awarded a multi-million-pound contract to design a ‘super yacht’.
Limekilns firm A. Mylne and Co is the world’s oldest continually-designing naval architecture firm, but its commission for the £7 million vessel is its first new yacht design in 30 years.
The modern 26m yacht will be capable of circumnavigating the globe.
The company, bought by Fife firm Ace Marine Ltd in 2007, has now set its sights on becoming an industry leader in yacht design.
Mylne secured the commission, codenamed PF-36, due to its heritage of producing some of the finest Edwardian yachts and its cutting-edge design technology.
The brief demanded the yacht be tough, reliable, and environmentally friendly while adhering to the traditional style requested by the client, whose identity has not been released.
It features a specially-designed hull that reduces slamming and pitching, while active fin stabilisers will minimise roll.
Hull efficiency has been optimised to give a target fuel consumption of 30 litres per hour at 10 knots less than half that required by a modern equivalently-sized vessel.
The yacht is also high-tech on the inside, boasting 10 iPads for instant access to navigation charts as well as information on speed and heading.
There is an underwater dolphin camera under the bow and, in a nod to its Scottish heritage, the yacht will feature a whisky room stocked with malts.
The ship will go into production this year and will be completed by spring 2013.
Mylne is looking at boatyards in the UK and abroad that can build the yacht.LuxuriousAlthough it may be built overseas, Mylne is trying to source as many fixtures and fittings from Scotland as possible fellow Limekilns firm Malcolm Duffin Design was even hired to create the yacht’s luxurious interiors.
Director David Gray said he hopes the PF-36 will be springboard to the company’s future growth.
He said: “We are delighted with this new project as it is very much in keeping with the whole ethos of Mylne. It really is a fantastic opportunity to put the company’s name back on the map.
“It’s the culmination of the hard work we’ve been putting in over a number of years to revive Mylne.”
He added: “Once we have this one under our belts we are looking at expansion and other ways in which we can build up the company.
“We already have plans for a range of new leisure boats that reflect the classic Mylne style cues and believe there is a market for them all around the world due to the very strong heritage of the brand, so it’s a very exciting time for the business.”
Mylne has a number of other designs in the pipeline as it seeks to assure its place as a world leader in commercial, leisure and sporting naval architecture.
Started in 1896 by Alfred Mylne, the company was incorporated into Ace Marine Ltd in 2007.
Fife naval architect David Gray bought the business and began cataloguing and digitising the A. Mylne and Co archive of more than 10,000 drawings and documents of a variety of classic boats.
The company now creates boats based on the designs, or bespoke new ones.