New pedestrian and animal pathways and roads delivered at West Midlands Safari Park

Slatter Estates Surfaces were thrilled to handover over 1.4km of new roadway construction at West Midlands Safari Park.

Delivered as part of a major expansion project at the park, Slatter Estates Surfaces were chosen to deliver the new roadways, based on our collaborative approach and technical expertise demonstrated during the pre-construction planning phase.

West Midlands Safari Park entrusted Slatter Estates Surfaces to deliver comprehensive road construction to re-design and enhance the drive-through experience for visitors, while handling heavy traffic on the park’s busiest days.

Already attracting over 750,000 visitors each year, West Midlands Safari Park is half way through it’s 5-year scheme to support visitor demand and upgrade facilities for the animals, improving both the guest experience and the park’s conservation efforts.

As well as the need for specialist surfacing and civil engineering expertise to deliver the project, the park presented a particularly unique site location. West Midlands Safari Park knew they needed a contractor with the integrity and commitment to safety to ensure that the safety of both animals and staff would be prioritised throughout the project delivery.

West Midland Safari Park is home to some of the world’s most beautiful and endangered exotic creatures, known for their conservation efforts. Opened in 1973, West Midlands Safari Park was the first safari park in the UK to house all five African big game animals, with their popular drive-through safari attracting over 750,000 visitors each year.

While the park’s existing road infrastructure had served them well for over forty years, management knew they had to make drastic changes to deliver the new 5-year scheme, focused on upgrading facilities for the animals, improving conservation efforts and the overall guest experience. Required works that were identified included the need to interlink new roads with existing roads, create bypass areas, effective animal crossings and redesign the experience with a change of direction and traffic flow.

The biggest requirement was maximising animal and visitor safety, ensuring that the selected contractors would be capable of completing work in areas that are used to contain dangerous and/or rare species, while ensuring that the roads themselves would be built to the quality required to withstand heavy traffic, whatever the weather, on the park’s busiest days.

As with all of our projects, stringent protocols were observed and enforced at all times, with our teams following project plans and method statements to the letter. The team worked closely with the park’s project team and keepers, working within live animal enclosures with careful consideration of staff, animals and visitors to the park, minimising disruption to daily operations while delivering the project under tight timescales.

Slatter Estates Surfaces Road construction and improvement works were completed on time and to budget in early 2020, improving the drive-through experience for visitors with the delivery over 1.4km of new roadways, all while ensuring the safety and protection of the park’s animals.

Despite works being delivered amidst the uncertainty of COVID-19, the park was able to open during certain months of the year within government guidelines, with the new roadways and drive-through redesign enjoyed by thousands of visitors to the park.

The team had a wonderful time on-site and are thrilled to have delivered works that will form part of the park’s major redevelopment, serving visitors and ultimately supporting the park’s growth and conservation efforts for years to come.