Auckland engineer Mike Murphy has already designed one underwater restaurant, the Ithaa (Pearl) for a luxury Maldives resort, and now he’s completed another larger restaurant also destined for the Maldives with Fire Safety, Fire Protection and Emergency Lighting completed by the Origin Fire Team.
The restaurant, built by New Plymouth-based Fitzroy Engineering , measures 18 x 5 x 13 metres tall and will sit five metres underwater at the Hurawalhi resort
The 415 tonne structure was loaded onto a specialist ship from Jumbo Shipping in New Plymouth on 11 February. Once she arrived in the Maldives on 2 March, she was lowered over the side to sit on eight steel piles.
Doors will open to the first 30 diners who’re looking for spectacular underwater dining experience in May, 2016.
Fitzroy Engineering project manager Adrian van’t Hof says, “it’s all Kiwi-designed, Kiwi-built, and going into an overseas market is great for New Plymouth and New Zealand.”