About Us

Meet The Founder

John Langmead

Industry Leader and AAT CEO

AAT founder, owner and CEO John Langmead began his career in 1985 as a permit-holding freelance diver catching marine species off Australia’s Sunshine Coast, initially for export, and then, in 1989, for a new local aquarium called Underwater World.

John subsequently joined the aquarium’s staff and was later promoted to a range of leadership roles in which he acquired invaluable hands-on experience with aquarium operations, caring for the health and well- being of animals and delivering great visitor experiences.

In 1996, John was appointed Project Manager at Living Ocean to oversee the delivery of an $11 million contract with Ocean World, a new $50 million aquarium in Guangzhou, China. On the back of this successful project, John was appointed manager of a $13 million specialist works project at Shanghai Ocean Aquarium.

These events led John to establishing Advanced Aquarium Technologies (AAT) as an incorporated entity.

AAT’s first ‘lead contractor’ project was the delivery of the Life Support System at Seaworld’s Shark Bay, Gold Coast, Australia, in 2003.

Since then, John’s vision and expertise have overseen the design, delivery and operation of some of the world’s largest and most iconic public aquariums.

A passionate innovator and entrepreneur with exceptional technical skills, John has pioneered many proprietary aquarium construction techniques and Life Support System technologies.

Collectively these innovations have made the building and operation of aquariums easier, more reliable, more efficient and better for animals and visitors alike.

Never intimidated by the cost and complexity of visionary ideas, under John’s leadership AAT has helped set world records for gigantic viewing panel installations.

Whenever traditional methods or conventional solutions fall short of John’s vision or expectation, AAT solves the problem by creating its own solutions. In 2016, for example, frustrated by worldwide bottlenecks in the supply of high-quality acrylic block panels, John created AAT Acrylics, one of the world’s largest acrylic block manufacturing and value-added service facilities. As a result, AAT today can accurately be described as offering one of the world’s most comprehensive portfolio of aquarium design, construction and management services.

AAT is a recognised leader in its field, and John is an acknowledged industry expert.

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