Sealife Centre

Client: Merlin Entertainment
Location: Birmingham
Duration: 22 weeks

Acting as principal contractor, 7Formation were responsible for creating a 72,000 litre Sea Mammal tank with associated operational and quarantine rooms within the heart of the trading National Sea Life Centre – Birmingham. A 5m x 5m aperture was to be cut through the 370mm thick reinforced concrete slab, between the first and second floors. To enable the Sea Life Centre to remain trading, the works would require special planning with access for all materials via a hoist to an aperture through the external façade at the third-floor level. To prevent the overloading of the existing slab, the tank base was to be suspended utilising steel beams bolted to the existing columns. With the steels in place, the insulation and shuttering could commence. 150 tonnes of the specially designed concrete mix was pumped from the compound, 100m in distance and 13m high, to the working area within the heart of the building. With the base cast, the reinforced walls were constructed 350mm thick to withstand the pressure from the 60,000 litres of water required to fill the tank. 7Formation was also responsible for the management of mechanical, electrical, life support systems, GRP lining, glazing, theming, graphics and special effects.’