The secrets behind Deep Dive Dubai's city block under water

Mercedes car and a Ducati motorbike are striking features of the 'city' that reaches 60 metres beneath surface

Diver Richard Lundgren with a bicycle in Deep Dive Dubai, the world's deepest pool. All photos: Antonie Robertson / The National

Mr Lundgren and fellow diver Omar Farooq move one of the display motorcycles.

Mr Lundgren and Mr Farooq begin the process of placing a bicycle in the pool.

Deep Dive Dubai has recreated a building block under water.

The divers move the display motorcycle.

Mr Lundgren prepares to place a bicycle in the pool.

Jarrod Jablonski, Deep Dive Dubai director, shows some renderings of the different spaces inside the pool.

The team at Deep Dive Dubai revealed the secret of how they manage to take cars and motorbikes to depths of 40 metres and more under water.

The attraction, which opened last year, has the world’s deepest pool, which is 60 metres deep.

The pool's theme is a sunken city, where each level represents life in a building beneath the surface.

Among the most striking features of the project are a Mercedes car and a Ducati motorbike far beneath the surface.

“The deepest elements are 40 metres under water. We have cars, motorbikes, pool tables and arcade machines down there,” said Jarrod Jablonski, director of Deep Dive Dubai.

“The bigger objects are brought in on a floating platform, they are then floated out to the centre of the pool and placed on a hoist crane.

“We then have a harness that attaches to the object, depending on its shape.”

This process is not without its challenges, Mr Jablonski said.

“We then move the platform out of the way and lower the object into the water very carefully,” he said.

“Just as we’re lowering it into the water, we attach lift bags to make sure it’s neutral and then remove the hook.”

A lift bag is used in diving to move objects by buoyancy.

“That's always the scary part. Because you've got to be sure that it's truly neutral before you remove the hook,” he said.

“Then, the object is free in the water. We will start to move it and adjust buoyancy as we move the object deeper.

“We ensure when moving big objects that there's nobody around and that we have plenty of backups in case the object starts to sink too quickly, which can be a problem.”

Another issue, which will come as little surprise given the underwater nature of the project, is the team having to make sure rust does not set in on the objects deep in the tank.

“We try really hard to make objects from materials that are resistant to rusting,” he said.

“Occasionally we will be told something is stainless only to find out that it’s not and then we have to bring it up and swap it out.

‘Other times it might be a small component like the screw on the headlights of the car that needs to be replaced because it is rusting.”