Pendennis Shipyard is celebrating a second international award for the significant refit of the impressive 85.6m superyacht Aquila.
At a gala ceremony in Fort Lauderdale, Aquila was named ‘Best Refit’ at the International Superyacht Society (ISS) awards. The project was previously awarded ‘Best Refit’ at the World Superyacht Awards in May, and has been penned as the largest superyacht refit programme ever to be undertaken in the UK, with almost 800sqm of interior and exterior space upgraded and all interior technology systems modernised during a 12-month period at the Falmouth yard. Captain Darryl Chalmers commented “The fact that this extensive project was delivered on time and to our Owners satisfaction is testament to the skill and professionalism of all at Pendennis Shipyard and their sub-contractors. From the crew’s perspective, it was a joy to work with a shipyard that strived to get the job done right first time, and to the highest standards.”
The successful project team included British yachts designers RWD who worked alongside Susan Young Interiors to evaluate the layout and spacial flow across each of the five deck levels. The result is a thoroughly modernised elegant interior. Tony Dixon, Director at RWD, explained the design focus “To generate a feel of minimalist drama we used 12 different types of wood highlighted by polished nickel, metallicised wall panels and distressed mirror panels. These were complemented by custom lighting – in total 72 different light designs were installed along with a specialised Lutron control system. Special emphasis was placed on reconfiguring the Owner’s suite to provide more space and greater privacy, and reshaping and improving the exterior deck areas including adding a 60sqm private deck in front of the Owner’s cabin. The brief also specified a new water level gym, superior massage therapy rooms and hairdressing salon.”
Alongside the design improvements, there were significant engineering challenges. These included the integration of a luxurious cinema with surround sound and 98” screen which was acoustically engineered using an insulated ‘floating box’ system suspended on vibration-dampening pads to ensure the room was fully sound-proof. The dip pool was removed from the aft sun deck and transferred to the forward sun deck. The installation of this new Jacuzzi required the re-engineering and strengthening of the bulkheads below to support an additional 7 tonnes of water overhead.
In total over 1,000 people contributed to the regeneration of this impressive vessel, and it is credit to the whole team as well, and thanks to the support and teamwork of the crew and the yacht management team at Burgess, that Aquila has been recognised as ‘Best Refit’ at two of the world’s most esteemed superyacht awards.
