The Deep, Hull: urban regeneration with attitude

Success of Lottery-funded visitor attractions on derelict UK sites is also a bit of a lottery. However, if you combine stunning architectural design with outstanding engineering and then fill the whole thing with sharks, you have a winning ticket. The Deep oceanic experience centre was built on a former shipyard site at the point where the Hull and Humber rivers meet in northeast England. Since the £53 million attraction first opened in 2002, visitor numbers are running at more than double the amount anticipated. As this paper reports, designing and building its main 10 m deep, 3000 t aquarium tank were just some of the many engineering challenges on what is now widely regarded as a benchmark regeneration project.