Pendennis Shipyard has re-delivered the 85.6m motor yacht Aquila, after an extensive refit programme which took exactly one year to complete.

Burgess was appointed as yacht management, in a role that supported Aquila’s owners throughout this significant project from concept to re-delivery, providing full project oversight including technical, financial, crew and safety management.

They will continue to represent the yacht as part of the Burgess charter fleet. Aquila is the largest yacht yet to be refitted in the UK, and the scope of the work undertaken included an impressive revitalisation of all five deck levels.

Adrian Tinkler, fleet technical manager at Burgess, said: “To facilitate the extent of design and technical changes required, the interiors on Aquila needed to be stripped back to bulkheads across most areas. The team completely updated the social spaces, modernised technical systems and lighting, and re-styled the boat across an area of over 750m2, the scale of which was unprecedented by any of the suppliers in such a short time period.

"Thanks to efficient planning and collaboration between the many hundreds of people involved at each stage of the design, specification and execution phases, the team delivered on time, a truly remarkable rebirth of this beautiful yacht.”

Technology upgrades as part of the yacht’s five-year survey included a new AV and IT system, radar equipment, air conditioning and fresh air handling systems, along with the rebuild of the four generators. A complete infrastructure repaint completed the refit works.

Mike Carr, joint managing director of Pendennis, said: “In order to effectively manage a project of this scale Pendennis assigned four project managers, each with responsibility for specific aspects of the programme. They facilitated effective communication between all partners, which consisted of

a combined international team of over 1,000 people at the peak of the project. The unwavering support from the captain and crew was also a key contributor to the refit’s success. We believe that this project has set a new benchmark for large yacht refit programmes.”