24.06.2025
1 minute read
Carpenter Oak are working with Bristol Zoological Society to help them build a new habitat for their Critically Endangered western lowland gorillas.
The Society closed its Bristol Zoo Gardens site in Clifton in September 2022, moving to a new, much larger site north of Bristol, Bristol Zoo Project.
As part of major developments for the new conservation zoo, the Society is creating an African Forest habitat for various highly threatened species, including the gorillas. The new habitat for the gorillas will be four and a half times the size of their home at the former site. A gym within the gorilla house will have a climbing structure for the troop, which Carpenter Oak undertook detailed procurement for, including tree selection, extraction and scanning. Their services also included detailed design for connection design and engineering, fabrication and specialist installation.
The extracted oak trees from a Devon woodland have been carefully selected for their diverse shape and form and the timber species was selected for its strength and high tannin content making it rot resistant and durable. Once delivered to Carpenter Oak’s Devon yard the trees underwent LiDAR scanning to analyse their geometry for precise connection verification and final detailing for the gorilla habitat design.
The design includes day beds and nests and provides areas for female and younger gorillas to climb higher up for safety, rest or foraging.
The Carpenter Oak team will be on site installing the gym this summer and the gorilla troop will be moved into their new habitat later in the summer. Bristol Zoo Project plan to open it to the public in spring 2026.
Key partners on the project include:
Architects - Fielden Clegg Bradley
Landscaping - Grant Associates
Engineering - Momentum
Project Management consultancy - Ridge
Designs for the gorilla gym structure using scanned images of the specially selected large pieces of timber.
Designs for the gorilla gym structure using scanned images of the specially selected large pieces of timber.
