Birmingham's National Sea Life Centre is to see the opening of a new £2.5m attraction in time for Easter next year, with Penguin Ice Adventure designed to give visitors a unique opportunity to come face-to-face with a colony of Gentoo Penguins.

Visitors will be taken on an expedition into the Antarctic landscape, where they can watch from a number of viewing platforms as the birds dive and play in their icy environment.

There will also be the chance to see the penguins being fed three times a day and to join in a range of interactive experiences.

Amy Langham, general manager at the centre, said: "Penguin Ice Adventure promises to be very different.

"The birds - which are classified as near-threatened on the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List - have been bred together at Sea Life Centre Melbourne as part of our Breed, Rescue, Protect programme and are being transported here to their specially built new home.

"We want to inform and educate our visitors about the hardships that sea and marine creatures face, whether as a result of global warming, threats from mankind or natural occurrences, but at the same time we want people to meet this colony and get to know the penguins as they thrive in their carefully created habitat."

The National Sea Life Centre is already home to more than 1,000 creatures including Hammerhead sharks, a Giant Sea Turtle, seahorses, otters and rays. In addition to Penguin Ice Adventure, the site also features an interactive rockpool, a 4D cinema and a 360 degree Ocean Tunnel.