When demolition of SeaQuarium building in Rhyl will start and finish

SeaQuarium closed for good last November, and attributed its decision to Denbighshire County Council’s Central Rhyl Coastal Defences Scheme, the development of which is taking place by the site.

The building has now been boarded up, with an attached notice stating that demolition will start in October, and is scheduled to be completed by January 2025.

It adds: “The demolition is undertaken to allow for redevelopment of the waterfront area.

“Full perimeter segregation fencing and clear signage will be in place throughout the demolition process.

“No unauthorised access will be allowed on the premises during demolition.”

Fencing placed around the building in August (Image: Duncan Nield-Siddall)Tony Ward, Denbighshire County Council’s corporate director for economy and environment, said: “We’ve got some ideas about what we would like to see (in the place of SeaQuarium).

“Those discussions are going on, but they’re commercially sensitive at the moment.”

SeaQuarium’s owners said they believed the coastal works would have a harmful impact on hearing, and induce a chronic stress response from seals with behavioural and physical welfare issues.

Mr Ward said the coastal defence works are “absolutely necessary” to protect Rhyl residents and businesses from flooding.

He also said there are plans to make Rhyl’s promenade more “pedestrian-friendly” and “greener”, as part of its “regeneration”.

Fencing placed around the building in August (Image: Duncan Nield-Siddall) “The prom is going to look a lot better once we finish this project than it did at the beginning,” he said.

“It’s going to be wider, more open, and more inviting. I think residents and visitors will be really pleased when they see the outcome.

“We understand that it’s really disruptive and frustrating when we do big projects like this, so we are asking people to be patient – the outcome will be worth it.

“We needed this project to happen, otherwise Rhyl wouldn’t be given the level of protection it needs. The last thing we want is devastating floods affecting businesses and residents.

“One thing people have always told us about Rhyl is that there’s a disconnect between the town centre and the beach; some have used phrases like: ‘It’s the town that’s forgotten its beach’, because you can’t see it from the top of the high street.

“Unless you knew it was there already, you might not know Rhyl even has a beach. That’s why we’re focusing on trying to make the promenade more open and accessible, to make it more of a natural environment, so there is that connection between the town centre and the beach… (but) these things don’t happen overnight.”

A total of “three local businesses” expressed an interest in taking on the building formerly occupied by SeaQuarium, but none subsequently pursued their interest in it.

Balfour Beatty, the contractor currently working on Rhyl’s coastal sea defence scheme, will oversee the demolition as part of the current programme of work it is completing.

A Freedom of Information request made by the Journal in February revealed that the council contributed £90,000 towards finding new homes for SeaQuarium’s six seals.

SeaQuarium had been established in Rhyl for beyond 30 years, welcomed in excess of 80,000 visitors each year, and employed more than 20 people.

Cllr Barry Mellor, the council’s lead member for environment and transport, added: “SeaQuarium had been there for a long, long time. Those types of buildings don’t last forever.

“We’ve got to look forward now, and think of ideas we can bring forward in place of these things.

“It will take time. Every council throughout the country is in a precarious position at the moment, but we’ll get over it. It doesn’t mean we can’t carry on planning for what we want to see.”