Burgers’ Zoo, Arnhem has now opened the largest covered mangrove in the world. Based on the mangrove forests in Belize, Accoya was chosen for the jetties, cabins, sheds, porches and butterfly pupae cabinet.

Nestled under a 16m high dome, the mangrove’s temperature remains at a constant 26 degrees celsius with a relative humidity of 90 percent. Therefore, Accoya wood was the ideal solution, as compared to alternative hardwoods, it barely shrinks or swells even in extreme conditions such as those presented by the mangrove. Accoya wood was also selected as it is able to withstand different types of fungi that thrive in moist environments such as these.

Accoya was also chosen thanks to its Cradle to Cradle Gold certification, as well as the fact that the wood is non-toxic and won’t harm the environment. The other major factor that led to Accoya being specified was its outstanding performance in the following test rig results. The test began in December 2014 to the European EN 252 standard. Required to run for a minimum of 5 years, the experiment was set up to test the resistance of Accoya to rot. In the accelerated conditions (mainly increased temperature and humidity) of Burgers’ Bush, Accoya rig pieces were placed into the ground next to non modified wood. Whilst the other wood types showed evidence of surface rot, the Accoya samples, to date, have shown no sign of degradation.

The mangrove isn’t the only part of Burgers’ Zoo that features Accoya. In 2016, Contracted by Th. Nienhaus BV and following the test results mentioned above, both the windows and cladding of the souvenir shop as well as the toilet facilities specified Accoya. In total, including the new mangrove, roughly 12m³ of Accoya wood has been used throughout the entire Zoo.