8th March 2017

Thomasons takes on design for gorillas

A recent project for Chessington World of Adventures demonstrates that Thomasons’ expertise in structural engineering extends far beyond buildings for people – to homes for gorillas!

Thomasons was appointed to provide advice on the design of feeding tubes into the enclosure. The steel tubes extend through a concrete wall below a glass screen, so that visitors can safely feed and interact with the western lowland gorillas. Careful loading calculations were needed to ensure that the wall could bear the force of the gorillas.

This is not the first unusual project taken on by Thomasons. Others include the structural design of a 90-ft. walk-through Christmas tree, the tallest in Britain, at Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet and the world’s largest hanging basket to mark the opening of Hotel Indigo in Paddington.