Swedish amusement park Liseberg is proceeding with a rebuild of its Oceana water park after a huge fire broke out at the new attraction in February of this year.
Liseberg’s board of directors made the “formal decision” to rebuild the indoor water park on 17 July. Reconstruction will start this autumn, with completion scheduled for 2026.
“We believe we now have sufficient data to be able to make a formal decision on the rebuild,” said Andreas Andersen, CEO and president of Liseberg.
“Based on the various scenarios we have developed, there is really no alternative to completing the project. This applies both to Liseberg, and Gothenburg as a tourism destination.”
During the past few months, Liseberg has cleared the site and carried out extensive investigations to establish whether to rebuild Oceana or demolish the venue and start again.
The park has determined that “a complete overhaul would entail write-downs of large values, and is also not justifiable from a sustainability perspective”, it said in a statement.
Several investigations into the cause of the fire are ongoing. The results of these are expected to be announced in the spring of 2025.
The blaze on 12 February engulfed the new water park‘s outdoor slides and other facilities under construction, eyewitnesses and rescue services said. One person died and 16 others were slightly injured.
Water park to be completed in 2026
“We have good hopes of covering the costs of rebuilding Oceana, but the process is complex and long, perhaps several years,” Andersen said.
“A lengthy process can jeopardize the future of the project, and in all likelihood increase the cost of the same significantly. Furthermore, the large residual values in the project must be protected.”
Oceana was due to open this summer. Before the fire, Liseberg had started to fill the pools. The park broke ground on Oceana in 2020.
Images courtesy of Liseberg
