Johannes Mock, new developments director, and Mike Stephenson, business development manager, have both been reassigned to the project alongside Francesco Lercari, who joins Merlin from Ferrari.

The strategy is designed to see the company increase its pipeline of new openings from two or three per year to five.

The rollout potential of the company’s newest concepts – the science attraction Earth Explorer which opened in Ostend in Belgium two years ago, and the Legoland Discovery Centre, the first of which is to open in Berlin – is also being considered.

“We now have a good ‘model’ for site selection,” said Stephenson. “We know precisely what kind of locations work and what the demographics need to be in terms of surrounding population or tourist market.”

The team is initially targeting sites in Europe, where the company already operates 36 attractions, but is also seeking further opportunities in the US, where it operates the Legoland park at Carlsbad in California.

Merlin also recently acquired Italian theme park Gardaland for a reported 500m euro (£340m, US$643m).

Photograph: Johannes Mock (left) and Mike Stephenson

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