The Process

key to colour coding

Context

During the 20th century, Cornwall experienced the protracted contraction of its traditional primary industries – fishing, agriculture and mining.

This has left a legacy of 4,000 hectares derelict land, run-down, inland communities and a unique cultural landscape heritage of old mine sites, associated agricultural landscapes and the country garden estates created with mining finance, manifested today as a characteristic garden heritage.

The experience of restoring the Lost Gardens of Heligan showed that people’s interaction with plants was at least as interesting as the plants themselves. This approach, taking local, national and international perspectives, offered new opportunities to relate the importance of plants, and therefore the natural world, to the average person. Specific lessons of Heligan:

• By allowing visitors into the gardens during the restoration work, a sense of ownership – especially in the local community - was built, encouraging repeat visits to check on progress, and act as supporters in the local community;


• Visitors were fascinated in the stories of the people who tended the plants and the plant uses;


• The power of emotional engagement through art-led interpretation.

A Vision for Eden eventually developed into creating a showcase of humanity’s role in the natural world, taking a positive perspective, and gently encouraging visitors – ultimately as part of the solution - simply to care.

160 hectare site at Boldeva chosen because:

• It provides a beneficial microclimate for plants.


• It allows almost complete concealment of the site from the surrounding land – almost invisible until the visitor makes an entrance into the dramatic landscape on exiting the Visitor Centre.


• It demonstrates boldly that the planet’s despoilation by people can be reversed

Outcomes - Successes

Eden has had a transformational effect on the society and economy of Cornwall in England’s south-western extremity and has been a phenomenal success beyond all expectations. In its first ten years, the ‘Eden Effect’:

• Injected more than £1 billion value-added (that is, excluding direct expenditures at Eden) into the local economy;


• Attracted more than 13 million visitors, 47% of whom were ‘extremely or very influenced’ by Eden to choose Cornwall as a holiday destination;


• Directly created 450 jobs;


• Hosted over 100,000 schoolchildren on organized schools visits;


• Supported 2,500 local suppliers;


• Become a symbol for the environment movement as a ‘can-do’ icon.

It has done this by creating policies and an ethos to encourage:

• High quality – Eden prides itself on the quality of its catering, its disability credentials, its interpretation and horticultural excellence and its cleanliness;


• Local sourcing of supplies (83% of catering supplies and 50% of all supplies from within the county) – worth £10 million per year to the county;


• Local sourcing of services – communications and marketing activity all supplied from within the county;


• Employment of local people wherever possible, coupled with a bespoke staff training programme, to encourage employees to strive higher within the organization;


• Access for people of all physical and learning abilities;


• Being media savvy – engaging with the broadcast and print media at all levels;


• Supply chain development – catalyzing suppliers’ abilities to grow their own markets;


• Local and regional strategic sustainable development initiatives;


• Innovation. Innovation permeates the organization’s civil engineering, construction, materials sourcing, waste management, employment policy, management structure, external relations, educational programmes, public learning and interpretation, plant health, nutrition and soils, horticultural and exhibit design and more.

Eden has proved that with some imagination and determination people can produce an enormous positive force for change.

Eden would not have happened without significant local community support, both from the county and from the site’s immediate neighbours.

Crucially, the project symbolizes what can be achieved by delivering an ambitious vision borne of local circumstances.

The project has developed as a major force in Cornwall, not simply in economic terms, but in the creative, enterprising approach it brings to waste management issues, transport, education, horticulture and accessibility issues.

Outcomes - Lessons learnt

Some of the key transferable lessons of the Eden Project are:

• Include the ‘unusual suspects’ to develop novel approaches;


• Develop local solutions according to local circumstances;


• Find a proven and charismatic leader;


• Engage with the local community from the start;


• Trust the democratic process – don’t just pay lip service to it;


• Monitor key environmental, social and economic indicators from the start to determine the impact of the regeneration project at a later stage;


• Develop a vision that excites;


• Do not compromise on quality;


• Pursue constructive local employment and sourcing policies to maximize the beneficial footprint of the project;


• Develop a positive institutional ‘can do’ attitude;


• Base partnership approaches on building trust and intellectual trade to develop synergy;


• Make education fun and engage visitors emotionally.

Parties involved

Arup
Environmental engineers
www.arup.com

Davis Langdon
Construction consultants
www.davislangdon.com

Eden Trust
Formal charitable governing body
www.edenproject.com

Eden Project
Development team
www.edenproject.com
Key individuals:
social entrepreneur Tim Smit,
horticulturalists Philip McMillan Browse and Peter Thoday,
local architect Jonathan Ball

Cornwall County Council
Local authority
www.cornwall.gov.uk/

Friends of Heligan
Supporters group
www.heligan.com/friends-of-heligan

Grimshaw Architects
Architects
www.grimshaw-architects.com

Lost Gardens of Heligan
Visionaries and project Instigators
www.heligan.com

Land Use Consultants
Landscape masterplan
www.landuse.co.uk

Local parish councils
Local contact

McAlpines Joint Venture
Main contractors
www.sir-robert-mcalpine.com

National Lottery/Millennium Commission
Main funders
www.millennium.gov.uk

Restormel Borough Council
Local authority
www.restormel.gov.uk/

Sensory Trust
Inclusive environments consultant
www.sensorytrust.org.uk

South West Regional Development Agency
Regional development agency
www.southwestrda.org.uk

Funding and resources

It would not have been possible to construct Eden and, critically, maintain its educational and regeneration ethos without the huge injection of public funds.

Total cost (from 1998 to August 2006) £133 million, which came from:

• National Lottery/ Millennium Commission - £56 million


• Public sector (EU) - £25 million


• Public sector (UK) - £21 million


• Commercial loans - £19 million


• Self-finance - £12 million

The £133 million has been spent on:

• Buildings and infrastructure - £54 million


• Facilities for education, visitors and staff - £36 million


• Biomes (big greenhouses) - £21 million


• Plants and machinery - £12 million


• Land purchase - £7 million


• Computer equipment – £2 million


• Fixtures and fittings - £1 million

Special features

As Eden has grown so has the organisation’s outreach work. It works with a wide range of groups and individuals, building capacity through volunteering opportunities, creative workshops, formal education and community engagement events. The latter includes small projects such as establishing community orchards to large scale developments like St Austell Ecotown.

Quotes

"Eden would not have happened without significant local community support, meaning support from the county as a whole and from the immediate neighbours."

"The preview opening of Eden’s Visitor Centre, in May 2000, was key to nurturing a sense of ownership in the county, and fuelled a developing sense of anticipation nationally, particularly through the media."

Pete Whitbread-Abrutat, The Eden Project, 2006

Reviews

"Eden provides an excellent example for the re-use of a brownfield site for a major transformational regeneration project. A china clay pit was chosen to show that people can have a positive impact on their surroundings – hopefully inspiring them into action in their own lives – as an antidote to the constant and consistent bombardment of environmental doom and gloom purveyed daily by the mass media. The regeneration lessons learned from Eden are applicable to anyone or any community or organization, as well as to the mining sector in general."

Pete Whitbread-Abrutat, The Eden Project, 2006

Contacts

Eden Project
Bodelva
Cornwall
PL24 2SG
UK

+44 (0) 1726 811 911
www.edenproject.com