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 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 ...
, the
Eden Project
The Eden Project ( kw, Edenva) is a visitor attraction in Cornwall, England, UK. The project is located in a reclaimed china clay pit, located from the town of St Blazey and from the larger town of St Austell.Ordnance Survey (2005). ''OS ...
, and the Charlestown Shipwreck & Treasure Centre, all in Cornwall, England.
Early life
Tim Smit was born in
Scheveningen
Scheveningen is one of the eight districts of The Hague, Netherlands, as well as a subdistrict (''wijk'') of that city. Scheveningen is a modern seaside resort with a long, sandy beach, an esplanade, a pier, and a lighthouse. The beach is po ...
, the son of
airline
An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines for ...
pilot Jan Smit and his English wife. He was educated in England at
Vinehall School
Vinehall School is a co-educational day, boarding school and nursery located near the town of Robertsbridge, East Sussex. It takes children from ages 2 to 13.http://www.vinehallschool.com Vinehall School Homepage The school received an Indepe ...
,
East Sussex
East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East Su ...
, and
Cranbrook School, Kent, before going on to study
archaeology
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
and
anthropology
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...
at
Hatfield College, Durham
, motto_English = Either the first or with the first
, scarf =
, named_for = Thomas Hatfield
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, master = Ann MacLarnon (2017–)
, undergraduates = 1010 (2017/18)
, postgradu ...
.
Career
He worked as an archaeologist before entering the music business, working as both a songwriter and producer receiving seven
platinum and gold discs.
In 1987 he moved with his family to Cornwall and became involved with Rob Poole, John Nelson and
The Lost Gardens of Heligan. During his time at Heligan, Smit wrote a popular book about the project.
Later he created the
Eden Project
The Eden Project ( kw, Edenva) is a visitor attraction in Cornwall, England, UK. The project is located in a reclaimed china clay pit, located from the town of St Blazey and from the larger town of St Austell.Ordnance Survey (2005). ''OS ...
, near
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 ...
, an £80 million initiative to build two transparent
biomes in an old
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 near the village of
Bodelva
Bodelva ( kw, Boselwydh) is a hamlet in south Cornwall, England, UK, in the civil parish of St Blaise. It is about west of St Blazey.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 200 ''Newquay & Bodmin'' Bodelva is the location of the Eden Project, ...
. The biomes contain different eco-climates; rainforest and Mediterranean. The outside area is also described as a biome and features areas such as "Wild Cornwall". Eden aims to educate people about environmental matters and encourages a greater understanding and empathy with these matters. Smit raised the needed funds and was the driving force, pulling the team of people together to build what has been described as "the eighth wonder of the world": the site design was by
Nicholas Grimshaw
Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, CBE, PPRA (born 9 October 1939) is a prominent English architect, particularly noted for several modernist buildings, including London's Waterloo International railway station and the Eden Project in Cornwall. He was Pre ...
. Smit has claimed that The Eden Project has contributed over £1 billion into the Cornish economy.
Smit's book about the creation of the Eden Project, ''Eden'', was first published in 2001 and updated on the 10th anniversary of the opening in March 2011.
Smit was appointed an honorary
Commander of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(CBE) in the
2002 New Year Honours
New Years' Honours are announced on or around the date of the New Year in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country. All are published in supplements to the London Ga ...
and awarded the Kilgerran Award of the
Foundation for Science and Technology
The Foundation for Science and Technology is a UK charity, providing a neutral platform for debate of policy issues that have a science, technology or innovation element.
Established in 1977, the Foundation brings together Parliamentarians, civi ...
in 2003. In 2006 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Design degree by the
University of the West of England
The University of the West of England (also known as UWE Bristol) is a public research university, located in and around Bristol, England.
The institution was know as the Bristol Polytechnic in 1970; it received university status in 1992 and ...
"in recognition of his outstanding achievements in promoting the understanding and practice of the responsible management of the vital relationship between plants, people and resources, which have made a major contribution regionally, nationally and internationally to sustainable development, tourism, architecture and landscape architecture".
Smit has been outspoken in his views on issues such as
social enterprise
A social enterprise is an organization that applies commercial strategies to maximize improvements in financial, social and environmental well-being. This may include maximizing social impact alongside profits for co-owners.
Social enterprises ca ...
and
entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...
. In a 2008 interview, he said:
Britain is crap at being entrepreneurial because (a) it's a risk averse country, and (b) the stigma of failure is so high that if you fail you're considered to be a loser. Entrepreneurism is a word that has been stolen by people who don't understand it. The truth is that people who are entrepreneurial take risks, and risk is something that is un-British, and if you're successful with it they'll hate you for it.
In the early 21st century, Smit became a Social Enterprise Ambassador.
He was the subject of ''
This Is Your Life'' in 2001 when he was surprised by
Michael Aspel
Michael Terence Aspel (born 12 January 1933) is an English retired television newsreader and host of programmes such as '' Crackerjack'', ''Aspel & Company'', ''Give Us a Clue'', '' This is Your Life'', '' Strange but True?'' and ''Antiques Ro ...
at the
Eden Project
The Eden Project ( kw, Edenva) is a visitor attraction in Cornwall, England, UK. The project is located in a reclaimed china clay pit, located from the town of St Blazey and from the larger town of St Austell.Ordnance Survey (2005). ''OS ...
.
Smit was appointed Honorary
Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...
(KBE) in January 2011 in recognition of his services to public engagement with science. In May 2012, the award was made substantive when he became a British citizen, allowing Smit to use the title "Sir".
[
In November 2016, Smit was awarded an honorary Doctor of Education degree by ]Bournemouth University
Bournemouth University is a public university in Bournemouth, England, with its main campus situated in neighbouring Poole. The university was founded in 1992; however, the origins of its predecessor date back to the early 1900s.
The univer ...
.
Smit has embarked on a number of other projects. He is one of the backers of the Eden Westwood project, a joint project between the Eden Project and developers Westwood to build a 71 hectares leisure and tourism destination at Junction 27 of the M5 in Devon. The development was included in the Mid Devon Local Plan which was adopted in July 2020. In 2018 he bought the 23-acre Charlestown harbour near 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 ...
, a site used in filming the Poldark
''Poldark'' is a series of historical novels by Winston Graham, published from 1945 to 1953 and continued from 1973 to 2002. The first novel, '' Ross Poldark'', was named for the protagonist of the series. The novel series was adapted twice ...
films, this complements his The Shipwreck and Heritage Centre at the site which he bought in 2016. His most recent plans are for a development in Lostwithiel
Lostwithiel (; kw, Lostwydhyel) is a civil parish and small town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom at the head of the estuary of the River Fowey. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 2,739, increasing to 2,899 at the 2011 c ...
consisting of an orchard with 3,000 fruit trees, a pottage garden, a multi-use building with cookery school, microbrewery, distillery, cider press and 20 accommodation units.
Politics
In August 2014, Smit was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' opposing Scottish independence
Scottish independence ( gd, Neo-eisimeileachd na h-Alba; sco, Scots unthirldom) is the idea of Scotland as a sovereign state, independent from the United Kingdom, and refers to the political movement that is campaigning to bring it about.
S ...
in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue.
Prior to the 2015 UK general election, he was one of several celebrities who endorsed the parliamentary candidacy of the Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...
's Caroline Lucas
Caroline Patricia Lucas (born 9 December 1960) is a British politician who has twice led the Green Party of England and Wales and has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Brighton Pavilion since the 2010 general election. She was re-elected ...
.
Portraits of Smit
The National Portrait Gallery collection has two photographs of Tim Smit from 2002. In 2008, Smit agreed to sit for sculptor Jon Edgar
Jon Edgar is a British sculptor of the Frink School. Improvisation is an important part of his reductive working process and developed from the additive working process of Alan Thornhill. Final works are often autobiographical, perhaps referenc ...
in Fowey as part of his Environmental series, and a terracotta head exists.
Controversy
In February 2022, Smit criticised what he regarded as the backward-looking tendency of some Cornish people.
References
External links
Patron of Educational Wealth Fund
(2018)
Tim Smit – A new eden
talk at the Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
BBC Four profile of Tim Smit
Tim Smit
on BBC's ''Desert Island Discs
''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942.
Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight recordings (usu ...
''
Tim Smit: Garden of Wales is a National Treasure
Social Enterprise Coalition
Eden Project website profile of Tim Smit
profile/interview of Smit by Fran Monks; How to Make a Difference
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smit, Tim
1954 births
Living people
Alumni of Hatfield College, Durham
English gardeners
Dutch emigrants to England
Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom
People educated at Cranbrook School, Kent
Articles containing video clips