Legoland Discovery Centre Birmingham hosts ground breaking ceremony with 90,000 LEGO bricks

Legoland Discovery Centre Birmingham hosts ground breaking ceremony with 90,000 LEGO bricks

Excited children from Birmingham have officially kicked off the construction of the new LEGOLAND® Discovery Centre Birmingham with a ceremonial groundbreaking dig of more than 90,000 LEGO® bricks!

Located at Arena Birmingham, formerly the Barclaycard Arena, the new indoor attraction will be the ultimate LEGO playground and is already causing excitement amongst child LEGO enthusiasts.

Representatives from LEGOLAND Discovery Centre, the NEC Group and West Midlands Growth Company were joined by a number of local children who officially started the build of the attraction when thousands of LEGO bricks were delivered by diggers and wheelbarrows. Bertie, the LEGOLAND Discovery Centre mascot, was on hand to oversee the delivery and helped the children start the build programme.

Marcel Kloos (Merlin), local children, Bertie the Mascot and Amy Langham (Legoland Discovery Centre Birmingham)

The 58,900-square-foot indoor attraction, costing £7 million, will be built over two floors and will enable visitors to jump inside the world’s biggest box of LEGO bricks. Specially created and designed from a child’s perspective, it will provide two to three hours of interactive and educational fun for children aged three to 10 years old.

Young visitors will be able to play in ten themed LEGO play zones, a Build and Test area, two LEGO themed rides and a 4D cinema. There will also be special party rooms for birthdays and other celebrations, master classes and creative workshops from a LEGO Master Model Builder.

Once open, visitors to the attraction will be able to see iconic buildings and landmarks of Birmingham and the surrounding areas built entirely from LEGO bricks in MINILAND. Members of the public will be encouraged to vote for which Birmingham landmarks they want to see included in MINILAND at locations across the city centre later in the year.

“Amy Langham, General Manager from LEGOLAND Discovery Centre Birmingham, said: “Now that construction has officially started, we are all excited about the opportunities the new attraction will bring to the Midlands when it opens in summer 2018. Not only will it ignite children’s imaginations and encourage learning through play with LEGO but it will also provide up to 50 new jobs to the local economy and give Birmingham another great family indoor attraction which will encourage new visitors to the city.

Niamh Coltman, Mason Heather and Shea Lindo starting the construction at the Legoland Discovery Centre Birmingham

“We’ve already been inundated from parents across the Midlands who are really excited about LEGOLAND Discovery Centre Birmingham, and we can’t wait to open the doors to our next generation of architects and builders who will be able to show off their talents.”

Paul Thandi, NEC Group CEO, said: “Across the NEC Group we’re committed to connecting with our audiences through great content and Merlin’s LEGOLAND Discovery Centre, which is specially created and designed from a child’s perspective, will be an exciting addition to the leisure and entertainment experience already provided at Arena Birmingham.

“Not only will the new attraction create genuine destination credentials by adding to our existing offer, it will also give our customers even more of the experiences they want from us. At the same time, it will contribute to the overall tourism and leisure offer in Birmingham’s developing city centre, thereby contributing positively to the regional economy and creating new job opportunities for local people.

“The NEC Group is focused on enhancing its destination offers further at both its city centre and NEC sites in both the leisure and business markets. The opening of Resorts World Birmingham on the NEC site in 2015 was a significant moment in the Group’s leisure strategy evolution and kick started a period of ongoing development. Using that as a catalyst, we’ve already started to explore the possibilities that larger numbers on our NEC site can bring by launching an event with mass market appeal (Dinosaurs in the Wild).”

There are a number of additional activities in the lead up to the opening of LEGOLAND Discovery Centre Birmingham. To find out more and to be the first to know when tickets go on sale, visit www.birmingham.legolanddiscoverycentre.co.uk.

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