Ground has been broken on a €30m (US$33.5m, £21.4m) aquarium development in the Canary Islands, which is set to open in 2017 as part of one of the Spanish islands’ biggest attractions, Loro Parque.

To include 38 display tanks and 300 species of fish, birds, small mammals, amphibians and reptiles, the development in the port area of Las Palmas city Gran Canaria, will be the first Loro Parque development not built on the island of Tenerife. Spanish architecture firm VDR Designs have masterplanned the development, which will be ecologically sustainable and focus on renewable energy.

The 12,500sq m (134,500sq ft) Poema del Mar (Poem of the Sea) aquarium – which will focus on creatures that inhabit the Atlantic Ocean – is being developed to boost tourist activity in the city and complement other tourism attractions in the area.

“We wanted to expand our company,” said Dr Patricia Delponti, director of communications at Loro Parque speaking to AM2. “We have been settled in Tenerife for the last 42 years with our zoo. In 2008, Loro Parque opened its waterpark in the south of the island and this is our first development outside of Tenerife.

“We decided we wanted to go to Gran Canaria and to continue operating Loro Parque exclusively in the Canary Islands because this is our home and a place we believe in. It’s an opportunity to provide a new attraction to the port area and for tourists in Gran Canaria to have a new place to visit.”

Once open, Poema del Mar will work closely with the Loro Parque Fundación – the park’s development, research and conservation arm – which was first established in 1994 and works in more than 30 countries to preserve endangered species.