Eden Edges closer in £50 Million Big Lottery Fund contest
The Eden Project today (Tuesday October 23) came one step closer to its next great phase the Edge when it reached the final shortlist of the Big Lottery Fund’s: The People’s £50 million contest.
Eden, home of the world’s biggest greenhouses and recently declared Britain’s best building of the last 20 years, is one of four projects competing for the greatest prize in TV history.
In early December there will be a series of ITV programmes featuring the short listed projects and the eventual winner will be decided by a public vote by text or phone or through the internet.
The good news for Eden was made public at a media launch in London today (Tuesday October 23).
Eden Project chief executive Tim Smit said that winning the £50 million would fund the Edge, the landmark new building in the last undeveloped corner of the former china clay pit at Bodelva in Cornwall, and mark the completion of Eden, making it the best environmental centre in the world.
He said: “First of all it is an honour to be included among such great projects, all of whom would be fabulous additions to the nation’s wealth.
“To win such a prize would be the most fantastic accolade, as it would be chosen by the general public, the very people at whom the project is aimed - us!
“To have the privilege of creating a building we believe could be among the most important ever built would be humbling, scary and massively exciting as the opportunity to earth the lightning bolts of genius of the British people in one place, to illuminate how we can best meet the challenges of the coming century would indeed be history in the making.
“For Cornwall and the South West, it would provide an opportunity and a catalyst to inspire us to become a beacon for best practice in living lightly on the earth, while losing none of the colour and richness of a life fully lived.
“For the nation and the world it would be a unique and powerful symbol that 'lil ol homo sapiens' isn't prepared to walk passively through the gates of doom and it is indeed prepared to be worthy of its name.”
Eden has attracted more than nine million visitors and generated £800 million for the regional economy since fully opening in March 2001.
Tim Smit said that the Edge represents the next great evolution of the project. Its scale and ambition will make the Edge an international icon of sustainability, showing that mankind is capable of amazing things.
The building will be a model of cutting-edge architecture and technology, harvesting water and energy from the sun, wind, and rain to show how we all might live in the future.
It will be a testament to one-planet living, built to the lowest possible carbon footprint and designed to last. Inside there will be amazing desert, oasis and water gardens on a scale never attempted undercover.
Underneath there will be a series of interlocking underground chambers providing spaces to be curated by some of the great voices of the age – artists, writers, scientists and musicians - working with communities, organizations and individuals and sharing the best ideas they have for improving their lives and environments, now and in the future.
Tim Smit said: “The point of the Edge is that while resources may be limited, the imagination isn’t. The defence of the planet can only be achieved by co-operation and compassion.”
He said the Edge would look back to understand how people coped with change, look at people living “on the edge” today to learn from the ingenious solutions they have put into practice, and look forward to explore how we can find the spirit, imagination and knowledge to adapt to the challenges facing us.
Tim Smit added: “I believe that if we get it right, the Edge could be one of the most important buildings ever built. Not because of its structural form, but because of its ambition to create a setting for asking big questions of interest to all of us: What makes humans content? What lessons from the past can inform the future? And what might great look like?
“The answers to most of them lie not in the realm of technology, but in the building of healthy, safe and inspired communities drawn together by a narrative for the future they can believe in. In truth it is the theatre for the development of this story that we are wanting to build.”
