Although I can't agree with this entirely, there are clearly some merits for the new tropical house - at a price.At the risk of resurrecting the old debate about Marwell’s decline, I have to disagree - there are things that I wish the tropical house did better for sure, but it added a decent amount to the animal collection. There is a nice collection of free flying birds that the zoo had no capacity for beforehand, many of which are now breeding in there, for instance. Of course there is the sloth as well, which I know from witnessing on my visits that the public enjoy. And the crocodile monitor exhibit is excellent too. Yes it was a lot of money but the old tropical house was looking very tired, and from what I understand extremely energy inefficient, in contrast to the knew one which has the ability to turn the zoo’s animal dung into energy as well. Overall it definitely upgraded the visitor experience.
But as you suggest, I don't really want to open the old debate again so will resist further comment.