Eden Project
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The Eden Project ( kw, Edenva) is a visitor attraction in
Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, UK. The project is located in a reclaimed
china clay Kaolinite ( ) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4. It is an important industrial mineral. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen atoms to one octahedral ...
pit, located from the town of St Blazey and from the larger town of
St Austell St Austell (; kw, Sans Austel) is a town in Cornwall, England, south of Bodmin and west of the border with Devon. St Austell is one of the largest towns in Cornwall; at the 2011 census it had a population of 19,958. History St Austell wa ...
.Ordnance Survey (2005). ''OS Explorer Map 107 – Fowey, Looe & Lostwithiel''. . The complex is dominated by two huge enclosures consisting of adjoining domes that house thousands of plant
species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
, and each enclosure emulates a natural
biome A biome () is a biogeographical unit consisting of a biological community that has formed in response to the physical environment in which they are found and a shared regional climate. Biomes may span more than one continent. Biome is a broader ...
. The biomes consist of hundreds of
hexagon In geometry, a hexagon (from Ancient Greek, Greek , , meaning "six", and , , meaning "corner, angle") is a six-sided polygon. The total of the internal angles of any simple polygon, simple (non-self-intersecting) hexagon is 720°. Regular hexa ...
al and
pentagon In geometry, a pentagon (from the Greek πέντε ''pente'' meaning ''five'' and γωνία ''gonia'' meaning ''angle'') is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simpl ...
al ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (
ETFE Ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) is a fluorine-based plastic. It was designed to have high corrosion resistance and strength over a wide temperature range. ETFE is a polymer and its source-based name is poly(ethene-co-tetrafluoroethene). It i ...
) inflated cells supported by
geodesic In geometry, a geodesic () is a curve representing in some sense the shortest path ( arc) between two points in a surface, or more generally in a Riemannian manifold. The term also has meaning in any differentiable manifold with a connection. ...
tubular
steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...
domes. The larger of the two biomes simulates a
rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...
environment (and is the largest indoor rainforest in the world) and the second, a Mediterranean environment. The attraction also has an outside
botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...
which is home to many plants and wildlife native to Cornwall and the UK in general; it also has many plants that provide an important and interesting backstory, for example, those with a prehistoric heritage. There are plans to build an Eden Project North in the seaside town of
Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is in Morecambe Bay on the Irish Sea. Name The first use of the name was by John Whitaker in his ''History of Manchester'' (1771), w ...
,
Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...
, with a focus on the marine environment.


History

The clay pit in which the project is sited was in use for over 160 years. In 1981, the pit was used by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
as the planet surface of Magrathea in the TV series ''
the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' (sometimes referred to as ''HG2G'', ''HHGTTG'', ''H2G2'', or ''tHGttG'') is a comic science fiction, comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally The Hitchhiker's Guide to th ...
''. By the mid-1990s the pit was all but exhausted. The initial idea for the project dates back to 1996, with construction beginning in 1998. The work was hampered by torrential rain in the first few months of the project, and parts of the pit flooded as it sits below the water table. The first part of the Eden Project, the visitor centre, opened to the public in May 2000. The first plants began arriving in September of that year, and the full site opened on 17 March 2001. To counter criticism from environmental groups, the Eden Project committed to investigate a rail link to the site. The rail link was never built, and car parking on the site is still funded from revenue generated from general admission ticket sales. The Eden Project was used as a filming location for the 2002
James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...
film ''
Die Another Day ''Die Another Day'' is a 2002 spy film and the twentieth film in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions. It was produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, and directed by Lee Tamahori. The fourth and final film starrin ...
''. On 2 July 2005 The Eden Project hosted the "Africa Calling" concert of the
Live 8 Live 8 was a string of benefit concerts that took place on 2 July 2005, in the G8 states and in South Africa. They were timed to precede the G8 conference and summit held at the Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Scotland, from 6–8 July 200 ...
concert series. It has also provided some plants for the
British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
's Africa garden. In 2005, the Project launched "A Time of Gifts" for the winter months, November to February. This features an ice rink covering the lake, with a small café-bar attached, as well as a Christmas market. Cornish choirs regularly perform in the biomes. In 2007, the Eden Project campaigned unsuccessfully for £50 million in
Big Lottery Fund The National Lottery Community Fund, legally named the Big Lottery Fund, is a non-departmental public body responsible for distributing funds raised by the National Lottery for "good causes". Since 2004 it has awarded over £9 billion to ...
money for a proposed
desert A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...
biome. It received just 12.07% of the votes, the lowest for the four projects being considered. As part of the campaign, the Eden Project invited people all over Cornwall to try to break the
world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...
for the biggest ever
pub quiz A pub quiz is a quiz held in a pub or bar. These events are also called quiz nights, trivia nights, or bar trivia and may be held in other settings. Pub quizzes may attract customers to a pub who are not found there on other days. The pub quiz is ...
as part of its campaign to bring £50 million of
lottery A lottery is a form of gambling that involves the drawing of numbers at random for a prize. Some governments outlaw lotteries, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find some degree of ...
funds to Cornwall. In December 2009, much of the project, including both greenhouses, became available to navigate through
Google Street View Google Street View is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides interactive panoramas from positions along many streets in the world. It was launched in 2007 in several cities in the United States, and has since expa ...
. The Eden Trust revealed a trading loss of £1.3 million for 2012–13, on a turnover of £25.4 million. The Eden Project had posted a surplus of £136,000 for the previous year. In 2014 Eden accounts showed a surplus of £2 million. The World Pasty Championships, an international competition to find the best
Cornish pasties A pasty () is a British baked pastry, a traditional variety of which is particularly associated with Cornwall, South West England, but has spread all over the British Isles. It is made by placing an uncooked filling, typically meat and vegetab ...
and other pasty-type savoury snacks, have been held at the Eden Project since 2012. The Eden Project is said to have contributed over £1 billion to the Cornish economy. In 2016, Eden became home to Europe's second-largest
redwood Sequoioideae, popularly known as redwoods, is a subfamily of coniferous trees within the family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affini ...
forest (after the Giants Grove at Birr Castle, Birr Castle, Ireland) when forty saplings of coast redwoods, ''
Sequoia sempervirens ''Sequoia sempervirens'' ()''Sunset Western Garden Book,'' 1995:606–607 is the sole living species of the genus '' Sequoia'' in the cypress family Cupressaceae (formerly treated in Taxodiaceae). Common names include coast redwood, coastal ...
'', which could live for 4,000 years and reach 115 metres in height, were planted there. The Eden Project received 1,010,095 visitors in 2019. In December 2020 the project was closed after heavy rain caused several
landslip Landslides, also known as landslips, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, deep-seated slope failures, mudflows, and debris flows. Landslides occur in a variety of environments, ...
s at the site. Managers at the site are assessing the damage and will announce when the project will reopen on the company's website. Reopening became irrelevant as Covid lockdown measures in the UK indefinitely closed the venue from early 2021, though it had reopened by May 2021 after remedial works had taken place. The site was used for an event during the 2021 G7 Summit, hosted by the United Kingdom.


Design and construction

The project was conceived by
Tim Smit Sir Timothy Bartel Smit KBE (born 25 September 1954) is a Dutch-born British businessman, famous for his work on the Lost Gardens of Heligan, the Eden Project, and the Charlestown Shipwreck & Treasure Centre, all in Cornwall, England. Early li ...
and Jonathan Ball, and designed by
Grimshaw Architects Grimshaw Architects (formerly Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners) is an architectural firm based in London. Founded in 1980 by Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, the firm was one of the pioneers of high-tech architecture. In particular, they are known for thei ...
and structural engineering firm Anthony Hunt Associates (now part of
Sinclair Knight Merz Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM) was a private Australian company operating across Asia Pacific, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The company had global capability in strategic consulting, engineering and project delivery. Jacobs Engi ...
).
Davis Langdon Davis Langdon was a construction consultancy company originally founded in London in 1919, which grew to approximately 2,500 employees working in over 18 countries worldwide. In October 2010, the company was acquired by AECOM, with its operation ...
carried out the project management,
Sir Robert McAlpine Sir Robert McAlpine Limited is a family-owned building and civil engineering company based in Hemel Hempstead, England. It carries out engineering and construction in the infrastructure, heritage, commercial, arena and stadium, healthcare, educa ...
and
Alfred McAlpine Alfred McAlpine plc was a British construction firm headquartered in Hooton, Cheshire. It was a major road builder, and constructed over 10% of Britain's motorways, including the M6 Toll (as part of the CAMBBA consortium). It was listed on the L ...
did the construction, MERO jointly designed and built the biome steel structures, the
ETFE Ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) is a fluorine-based plastic. It was designed to have high corrosion resistance and strength over a wide temperature range. ETFE is a polymer and its source-based name is poly(ethene-co-tetrafluoroethene). It i ...
pillows that build the façade were realized by
Vector Foiltec Vector Foiltec is a business using transparent plastic (ETFE) cushions filled with air as an architectural cladding technology. This solution can be better than glass panels in applications such as roofs over aggressive environments where chemica ...
, and Arup was the services engineer, economic consultant, environmental engineer and transportation engineer
Land Use Consultants
led the masterplan and landscape design. The project took 2½ years to construct and opened to the public on 17 March 2001.


Site


Layout

Once into the attraction, there is a meandering path with views of the two biomes, planted landscapes, including vegetable gardens, and sculptures that include a giant bee and previously The
WEEE The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE Directive) is the European Community Directive 2012/19/EU on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) which, together with the RoHS Directive 2011/65/EU, became European La ...
Man (removed in 2016), a towering figure made from old electrical appliances and was meant to represent the average electrical waste used by one person in a lifetime.


Biomes

At the bottom of the pit are two covered
biome A biome () is a biogeographical unit consisting of a biological community that has formed in response to the physical environment in which they are found and a shared regional climate. Biomes may span more than one continent. Biome is a broader ...
s: The Tropical Biome, covers and measures high, wide, and long. It is used for tropical plants, such as fruiting
banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...
plants,
coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. S ...
, rubber and giant
bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...
, and is kept at a tropical temperature and moisture level. The
Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...
Biome covers and measures high, wide, and long. It houses familiar warm
temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...
and
arid A region is arid when it severely lacks available water, to the extent of hindering or preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life. Regions with arid climates tend to lack vegetation and are called xeric or desertic. Most ar ...
plants such as
olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' ...
s and grape
vine A vine (Latin ''vīnea'' "grapevine", "vineyard", from ''vīnum'' "wine") is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themselv ...
s and various sculptures. The Outdoor Gardens represent the temperate regions of the world with plants such as
tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and northe ...
,
lavender ''Lavandula'' (common name lavender) is a genus of 47 known species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It is native to the Old World and is found in Cape Verde and the Canary Islands, and from Europe across to northern and easte ...
,
hops Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whi ...
,
hemp Hemp, or industrial hemp, is a botanical class of ''Cannabis sativa'' cultivars grown specifically for industrial or medicinal use. It can be used to make a wide range of products. Along with bamboo, hemp is among the fastest growing plants o ...
, and
sunflower The common sunflower (''Helianthus annuus'') is a large annual forb of the genus ''Helianthus'' grown as a crop for its edible oily seeds. Apart from cooking oil production, it is also used as livestock forage (as a meal or a silage plant), as ...
s, as well as local plant species. The covered biomes are constructed from a tubular steel (hex-tri-hex) with mostly hexagonal external cladding panels made from the thermoplastic
ETFE Ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) is a fluorine-based plastic. It was designed to have high corrosion resistance and strength over a wide temperature range. ETFE is a polymer and its source-based name is poly(ethene-co-tetrafluoroethene). It i ...
. Glass was avoided due to its weight and potential dangers. The cladding panels themselves are created from several layers of thin UV-transparent ETFE
film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
, which are sealed around their
perimeter A perimeter is a closed path that encompasses, surrounds, or outlines either a two dimensional shape or a one-dimensional length. The perimeter of a circle or an ellipse is called its circumference. Calculating the perimeter has several pract ...
and inflated to create a large cushion. The resulting cushion acts as a thermal blanket to the structure. The ETFE material is resistant to most stains, which simply wash off in the rain. If required, cleaning can be performed by
abseil Abseiling ( ; ), also known as rappelling ( ; ), is the controlled descent of a steep slope, such as a rock face, by moving down a rope. When abseiling the person descending controls their own movement down the rope, in contrast to low ...
ers. Although the ETFE is susceptible to punctures, these can be easily fixed with ETFE tape. The structure is completely self-supporting, with no internal supports, and takes the form of a
geodesic In geometry, a geodesic () is a curve representing in some sense the shortest path ( arc) between two points in a surface, or more generally in a Riemannian manifold. The term also has meaning in any differentiable manifold with a connection. ...
structure. The panels vary in size up to across, with the largest at the top of the structure. The ETFE technology was supplied and installed by the firm
Vector Foiltec Vector Foiltec is a business using transparent plastic (ETFE) cushions filled with air as an architectural cladding technology. This solution can be better than glass panels in applications such as roofs over aggressive environments where chemica ...
, which is also responsible for ongoing maintenance of the cladding. The steel spaceframe and cladding package (with Vector Foiltec as ETFE subcontractor) was designed, supplied and installed by MERO (UK) PLC, who also jointly developed the overall scheme geometry with the architect, Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners. The entire build project was managed by McAlpine Joint Venture. File:Eden Project Winter 2008 showing Bruce Munro field of Light.JPG, The Biomes and Link building showing Field of Light installation by
Bruce Munro Bruce Beaton St Clair Munro (born 2 June 1959) is a dual nationality English/Australian artist known for producing large immersive site-specific installations, often by massing components in the thousands. Frequently, Munro’s subject matter is ...
File:Eden Project - tropical canopy.jpg, Inside the tropical Biome File:The Eden Project, Cornwall.JPG, The Biomes (or eco domes) at The Eden Project in Cornwall File:EdenProjectRoof.jpg, The hexagonal structure looking from the inside File:Eden Project from air Fossick.jpg, Aerial View


The Core

The Core is the latest addition to the site and opened in September 2005. It provides the Eden Project with an education facility, incorporating classrooms and exhibition spaces designed to help communicate Eden's central message about the relationship between people and plants. Accordingly, the building has taken its inspiration from plants, most noticeable in the form of the soaring timber roof, which gives the building its distinctive shape. Grimshaw developed the geometry of the copper-clad roof in collaboration with a sculptor, Peter Randall-Page, and Mike Purvis of structural engineers SKM Anthony Hunts. It is derived from
phyllotaxis In botany, phyllotaxis () or phyllotaxy is the arrangement of leaf, leaves on a plant stem. Phyllotactic spirals form a distinctive class of patterns in nature. Leaf arrangement The basic leaf#Arrangement on the stem, arrangements of leaves ...
, which is the mathematical basis for nearly all plant growth; the "opposing spirals" found in many plants such as the seeds in a sunflower's head,
pine cone A conifer cone (in formal botanical usage: strobilus, plural strobili) is a seed-bearing organ on gymnosperm plants. It is usually woody, ovoid to globular, including scales and bracts arranged around a central axis, especially in conifers a ...
s and
pineapple The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae. The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been cultivated for many centuri ...
s. The copper was obtained from traceable sources, and the Eden Project is working with
Rio Tinto Group Rio Tinto Group is an Anglo-Australian Multinational corporation, multinational company that is the world's second-largest metals and mining corporation (behind BHP). The company was founded in 1873 when of a group of investors purchased a mine ...
to explore the possibility of encouraging further traceable supply routes for metals, which would enable users to avoid metals mined unethically. The services and acoustic, mechanical, and electrical engineering design was carried out by
Buro Happold Buro Happold (previously ''BuroHappold Engineering'') is a British professional services firm that provides engineering consultancy, design, planning, project management, and consulting services for buildings, infrastructure, and the environment ...
.


Art at The Core

The Core is also home to art exhibitions throughout the year. A permanent installation entitled ''Seed'', by
Peter Randall-Page Peter Randall-Page RA (born 1954) is a British artist and sculptor, known for his stone sculpture work, inspired by geometric patterns from nature. In his words "geometry is the theme on which nature plays her infinite variations, fundamental m ...
, occupies the anteroom. ''Seed'' is a large, 70 tonne egg-shaped stone installation standing some tall and displaying a complex pattern of protrusions that are based upon the geometric and mathematical principles that underlie plant growth.


Environmental aspects

The biomes provide diverse growing conditions, and many plants are on display. The Eden Project includes
environmental education Environmental education (EE) refers to organized efforts to teach how natural environments function, and particularly, how human beings can manage behavior and ecosystems to live sustainably. It is a multi-disciplinary field integrating discip ...
focusing on the interdependence of plants and people; plants are labelled with their medicinal uses. The massive amounts of water required to create the humid conditions of the Tropical Biome, and to serve the toilet facilities, are all sanitised rain water that would otherwise collect at the bottom of the quarry. The only mains water used is for hand washing and for cooking. The complex also uses Green Tariff Electricity – the energy comes from one of the many
wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. ...
s in Cornwall, which were among the first in Europe. In December 2010 the Eden Project received permission to build a
geothermal electricity Geothermal power is electrical power generated from geothermal energy. Technologies in use include dry steam power stations, flash steam power stations and binary cycle power stations. Geothermal electricity generation is currently used in 26 ...
plant which will generate approx 4MWe, enough to supply Eden and about 5000 households. The project will involve
geothermal heating Geothermal heating is the direct use of geothermal energy for some heating applications. Humans have taken advantage of geothermal heat this way since the Paleolithic era. Approximately seventy countries made direct use of a total of 270 PJ o ...
as well as geothermal electricity.
Cornwall Council Cornwall Council ( kw, Konsel Kernow) is the unitary authority for Cornwall in the United Kingdom, not including the Isles of Scilly, which has its own unitary council. The council, and its predecessor Cornwall County Council, has a tradition o ...
and the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
came up with the greater part of £16.8m required to start the project. First a well will be sunk nearly 3 miles (4.5 km) into the granite crust underneath Eden. Eden co-founder, Sir
Tim Smit Sir Timothy Bartel Smit KBE (born 25 September 1954) is a Dutch-born British businessman, famous for his work on the Lost Gardens of Heligan, the Eden Project, and the Charlestown Shipwreck & Treasure Centre, all in Cornwall, England. Early li ...
said, "Since we began, Eden has had a dream that the world should be powered by renewable energy. The sun can provide massive solar power and the wind has been harnessed by humankind for thousands of years, but because both are intermittent and battery technology cannot yet store all we need there is a gap. We believe the answer lies beneath our feet in the heat underground that can be accessed by drilling technology that pumps water towards the centre of the Earth and brings it back up superheated to provide us with heat and electricity". Drilling began in May 2021, and it was expected the project would be completed by 2023.


Other projects


Eden Project North

In 2018, the Eden Project revealed its design for a new version of the project, located on the seafront in
Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is in Morecambe Bay on the Irish Sea. Name The first use of the name was by John Whitaker in his ''History of Manchester'' (1771), w ...
,
Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...
. There will be biomes shaped like
mussel Mussel () is the common name used for members of several families of bivalve molluscs, from saltwater and Freshwater bivalve, freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other ...
s and a focus on the marine environment. There will also be reimagined
lido Lido may refer to: Geography Africa * Lido, a district in the city of Fez, Morocco Asia * Lido, an area in Chaoyang District, Beijing * Lido, a cinema theater in Siam Square shopping area in Bangkok * Lido City, a resort in West Java owned by MN ...
s, gardens, performance spaces, immersive experiences and observatories. Grimshaw are the architects for the project, which is expected to cost £80 million. The project is a partnership with the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership,
Lancaster University Lancaster University (legally The University of Lancaster) is a public university, public research university in Lancaster, Lancashire, Lancaster, Lancashire, England. The university was established in 1964 by royal charter, as one of several pla ...
,
Lancashire County Council Lancashire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire, England. It consists of 84 councillors. Since the 2017 election, the council has been under Conservative control. Prior to the 2009 La ...
and
Lancaster City Council The City of Lancaster () is a local government district of Lancashire, England, with the status of a city and non-metropolitan district. It is named after its largest settlement, Lancaster, but covers a far larger area, which includes the tow ...
. In December 2018, the four local partners agreed to provide £1 million to develop the idea, which allowed the development of an outline planning application for the project. It is expected that there will be 500 jobs created and 8,000 visitors a day to the site. Having been granted planning permission in January 2022, subject to funding being secured, it is due to open in 2024 and predicted to benefit the North West economy by £200 million per year.


Dundee

In May 2021, it was announced that the Eden Project had chosen the site of the former gasworks in
Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...
as the location where it hoped to establish its first attraction in Scotland. It was planned that the new development would result in 200 new jobs and "contribute £27m a year to the regional economy".


South Downs

In 2020,
Eastbourne Borough Council Eastbourne Borough Council is the local authority for the borough of Eastbourne in East Sussex. Eastbourne is divided into 9 local wards, which each elect 3 borough councillors as local representatives, creating a total of 27 councillors. The B ...
and the Eden Project announced a joint project to explore the viability of a new Eden site in the
South Downs National Park The South Downs National Park is England's newest national park, designated on 31 March 2010. The park, covering an area of in southern England, stretches for from Winchester in the west to Eastbourne in the east through the counties of Hamp ...
.


Qingdao, China

In 2015, the Eden Project announced that it had reached an agreement to construct an Eden site in
Qingdao, China Qingdao (, also spelled Tsingtao; , Mandarin: ) is a major city in eastern Shandong Province. The city's name in Chinese characters literally means " azure island". Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, it is a major nodal city of the One Belt ...
. While the site had originally been slated to open by 2020, construction fell behind schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the opening date was delayed to 2023. The new site is expected to focus on "water" and its central role in civilization and nature.


Eden Sessions

Since 2002, the Project has hosted a series of musical performances, called the Eden Sessions, usually held during the summer. The 2022 sessions, which were mostly made up of the rescheduled 2020 sessions that was postponed due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
and the temporary closing of the Eden Project, was headlined by original 2020 lineup acts
Diana Ross Diana Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups o ...
,
Nine Inch Nails Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN and stylized as NIИ, is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland in 1988. Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Trent Reznor was the only permanent member of the band ...
,
Bryan Adams Bryan Guy Adams (born 5 November 1959) is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, composer, and photographer. He has been cited as one of the best-selling music artists of all time, and is estimated to have sold between 75 million and mor ...
and
My Chemical Romance My Chemical Romance (commonly abbreviated to MCR or My Chem) is an American rock band from Newark, New Jersey. The band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist Gerard Way, lead guitarist Ray Toro, rhythm guitarist Frank Iero, and bassist Mi ...
, with the latter returning to touring after a six-year hiatus, along with Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds and
Stereophonics Stereophonics are a Welsh rock band formed in 1992 in the village of Cwmaman in the Cynon Valley, Wales. The band consists of Kelly Jones (lead vocals, lead guitar, keyboards), Richard Jones (bass guitar, harmonica, backing vocals), Adam Zind ...
, who were both later added to the 2022 lineup.
Lionel Richie Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a songwriter and the co-lead singer of funk band the Commodores; writing and recordi ...
, who was apart of the rescheduled 2020 lineup, would announce that his show was cancelled before the 2022 sessions began.


Lineup history


In the media

The Eden Project has appeared in various television shows and films such as the
James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...
film ''
Die Another Day ''Die Another Day'' is a 2002 spy film and the twentieth film in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions. It was produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, and directed by Lee Tamahori. The fourth and final film starrin ...
'', ''
The Bad Education Movie ''The Bad Education Movie'' is a 2015 British comedy film directed by Elliot Hegarty and written by Freddy Syborn and Jack Whitehall. The movie is based on Whitehall's sitcom of the same name, and follows a similar plot-line, with young teach ...
'', in the
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
series '' The Last Bus'' and in the
Cbeebies CBeebies is a British free-to-air public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 years and under. Its sister channel CBBC is aimed at older childr ...
show ''Andy's Aquatic Adventure''. A weekly radio show called ''The Eden Radio Project'' is held every Thursday afternoon on
Radio St Austell Bay Radio St Austell Bay (RSAB, often incorrectly called St Austell Bay Radio) is a non-profit, community radio station. The radio station is funded by a combination of grants from the National Lottery and the Arts Council, alongside a small amount ...
. On 18 November 2019, on the ''
Trees A Crowd ''Trees A Crowd'' is a natural history podcast presented by actor David Oakes. Creation and reception of the podcast Oakes, as an environmentalist and an ambassador for the Woodland Trust and The Wildlife Trusts, started ''Trees A Crowd'' as a ...
'' podcast,
David Oakes Rowan David Oakes (born 14 October 1983) is a British actor. He is best known for his roles in the series ''The Pillars of the Earth'', '' The Borgias'', '' The White Queen'', ''Victoria'', '' Vikings: Valhalla'', and for his discursive Natural ...
would interview the Eden Project's Head of Interpretation, Dr Jo Elworthy, about the site.


See also

*
BIOS-3 BIOS-3 is an experimental closed ecosystem at the Institute of Biophysics in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. Its construction began in 1965, and was completed in 1972. BIOS-3 consists of a underground steel structure suitable for up to three persons, and ...
*
Biosphere 2 Biosphere 2 is an American Earth system science research facility located in Oracle, Arizona. Its mission is to serve as a center for research, outreach, teaching, and lifelong learning about Earth, its living systems, and its place in the univers ...
*
Closed ecological system Closed ecological systems (CES) are ecosystems that do not rely on matter exchange with any part outside the system. The term is most often used to describe small, manmade ecosystems. Such systems are scientifically interesting and can potential ...
*
IBTS Greenhouse The IBTS (“Integrated Biotectural System")-greenhouse is a biotectural, urban development project suited for hot arid deserts. It was part of the Egyptian strategy for the afforestation of desert lands from 2011 until spring of 2015, when geopol ...
*
Montreal Biodome The Montreal Biodome (french: Biodôme de Montréal) is a facility located at Olympic Park in the Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve neighbourhood of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, that allows visitors to walk through replicas of four ecosystems found ...
*
Montreal Biosphère The Biosphere (french: La Biosphère), also known as the Montreal Biosphere (french: La Biosphère de Montréal), is a museum dedicated to the environment in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is housed in the former United States pavilion constructe ...
*
Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory (Mitchell Park Domes or The Domes) is a conservatory located at Mitchell Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It is owned and operated by the Milwaukee County Park System, and replaced the origina ...
("The Domes" of Milwaukee) *
Ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...
*
Vivarium A vivarium (Latin, literally for "place of life"; plural: ''vivaria'' or ''vivariums'') is an area, usually enclosed, for keeping and raising animals or plants for observation or research. Water-based vivaria may have open tops providing they a ...
* The
Lost Gardens of Heligan The Lost Gardens of Heligan ( kw, Lowarth Helygen, meaning "willow tree garden") are located near Mevagissey in Cornwall, England and are considered to be amongst the most popular in the UK. The gardens are typical of the 19th century Ga ...
*
List of topics related to Cornwall The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Cornwall: Cornwall – ceremonial county and unitary authority area of England within the United Kingdom. Cornwall is a peninsula bordered to the north and wes ...
* Earthpark * Sir Richard Carew Pole * Thin-shell structure *
List of thin shell structures Thin-shell structures are lightweight constructions using shell elements. Notable projects Asia/Pacific * Nagoya Dome, Nagoya, Japan * Parish of the Holy Sacrifice at the University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines * ...


References


Further reading

* Philip McMillan Browse, Louise Frost, Alistair Griffiths: ''Plants of Eden (Eden Project)''. Penzance 2001: Alison Hodge. *
Richard Mabey Richard Thomas Mabey (born 20 February 1941) is a writer and broadcaster, chiefly on the relations between nature and culture. Education Mabey was educated at three independent schools, all in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire. The first was at Roth ...
: ''Fencing Paradise: Exploring the Gardens of Eden'' London 2005: Eden Project Books. * Hugh Pearman, Andrew Whalley: ''The Architecture of Eden''. With a foreword by Sir Nicholas Grimshaw. London 2003: Eden Project Books. * Eden Team (Ed.): ''Eden Project: The Guide 2008/9.'' London 2008: Eden Project Books. * Tim Smit: ''Eden''. London 2001: Bantam Press. * Paul Spooner: ''The Revenge of the Green Planet: The Eden Project Book of Amazing Facts About Plants''. London 2003: Eden Project Books. *
Alan Titchmarsh Alan Fred Titchmarsh HonFSE (born 2 May 1949) is an English gardener, broadcaster, TV presenter, poet, and novelist. After working as a professional gardener and a gardening journalist, he established himself as a media personality through a ...
: ''The Eden Project''. United Kingdom: Acorn Media, 2006. .


External links

*
Eden Sessions Website
€”Official site for live gigs {{Authority control Buildings and structures completed in 2000 Nicholas Grimshaw buildings High-tech architecture Botanical gardens in Cornwall Building engineering Buildings and structures in Cornwall Ecological experiments Environmental design Geodesic domes Greenhouses in the United Kingdom Tourist attractions in Cornwall 2000 establishments in England St Blazey