Los Angeles-based Reef Worlds is working on designs for two sites under the  working title The Pearl of Dubai.

“I like to say we build for two clients – one has a credit card and the other  one has fins,” said Dave Taylor, the company’s director of development. “We are  at The World islands to create excitement underwater where it does not exist,  and at the same time create a habitat for the fish life that is there and  hopefully get a sustainable win for everybody.”

The official unveiling of the project is expected in spring. One of the main  objectives of the design team will be to create an experience suitable for  swimmers and divers of all ability levels.

“Ideally, we would be looking for somebody to be able to walk down the sand  and right into the structure,” Mr Taylor said.

Besides access, safety will be another priority.

“How can we get access so that the kids can go snorkel, the parents can go  dive, the teenagers can go in a semi-submersible and go look, everybody can be  satisfied by this?” Mr Taylor said.

While the concrete structures will be designed to provide an interesting  underwater experience, they will also aim to attract a wide variety of marine  life. They can first be colonised by algae and soft corals, eventually providing  enough food for herbivorous fish, which in turn could attract predators.

An initial survey of the areas, as well as earlier scientific work in the  vicinity, revealed good potential for the structure to attract interesting  marine life, Mr Taylor said.

The outer breakwater protecting The  World development “is absolutely festooned with wildlife”, he said, adding  that this augurs well for hopes that the underwater lost city would be colonised  by marine life too.

The details of the design will be influenced by knowledge of what already  exists in the area.

“You want to get an idea of the neighbourhood because you are building in a  neighbourhood,” Mr Taylor said.

For example, he said, an abundance of parrot fish will mean the design has to  provide for voids and shelves to suit their needs.

“Parrot fish need a place to sleep overnight,” he said. “They are actually  one of the few fish species that sleep at night, in this mucus cocoon that they  make for themselves, but they have a very specific niche that they need to be  in.”

The design process will take about eight months, and the plan calls for the  concrete structures to be manufactured locally.

An official announcement on the project is expected in March, Mr Taylor  said.

Source: www.thenational.ae