The Eden Project, Cornwall

Eden Project

The Eden Project, near St Austell, Cornwall opened in 2001 to a fantastic reception. It's really a group of three massive greenhouses, (called 'biomes'), all housing different climate zones: humid tropical zone, warm temperate zone, and cool temperate zone.

The project, which cost a whopping £86 million to complete, is proving to be a huge success, not only helping to shape and improve the local environment, but also the local economy.

The biomes were designed with the help of civil engineers to span over 100m without internal supports. They are built on top of a disused clay pit that had to be filled with 170,000 m2 of foundation material to make the ground secure. The transparent hexagonal membranes of the biomes are made of a special thin material called EFTE (ethyene tetra fluoro ethylene co-polymer foil, to be precise!) which allows more light to penetrate it than glass (and light is of course essential for a greenhouse!), can be recycled, is anti-static, cleans itself and lasts at least 30 years. 
  
Environmental Issues

  • There is a small breeding programme to maintain stocks of endangered plants.
  • Rainwater is collected and used to create the misty atmosphere of the rainforest.
  • ETFE is recyclable and has a life span of 30 years.
  • The project used 85,000 tonnes of soil made from recycled waste to support over 5,000 types of plants


Fast Facts

  • The Humid Tropics Biome, which could hold the Tower of London, is 11 double-decker buses high and 24 long, with no internal supports. When the project was being built there were around 200 construction workers employed on site by McAlpine JV.
  • By June 2001 the millionth visitor passed through the gates of Eden and they are now averaging 1.8 million visitors a year - on average nearly 5000 visitors a day. The Project employs 600 staff.
  • It is estimated that the Project will create at least an extra £36m for local business, which will in turn create around 1,700 jobs in the surrounding area.
    At 200 metres long, 100 metres wide and 55 metres high, they are the largest biomes in the world.

For more information visit the official Eden Project web site http://www.edenproject.com/