The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Eden Project bosses in Dundee site talks as part of global plan
Organisation behind Cornwall’s major tourist attraction details ambitions for international expansion projects
The organisation behind a major UK tourist attraction has held exploratory talks over a future project in Dundee, The Courier can exclusively reveal.
The Eden Project’s existing Cornwall site, which hosts a “global garden” in tropical biomes across a space the size of 30 football pitches, has attracted more than 21 million visitors and provided a major boost for the local economy.
It is understood the organisation’s executive director, David Harland, has held a number of conversations with individuals in Dundee about bringing a new project to the City of Discovery, although talks remain at an early stage.
The Eden Project announced in 2017 the launch of Eden Project International to “drive the establishment of Edens around the world” and hopes to create new initiatives in cities such as Christchurch and Anglesea.
It is believed any project in Dundee would be fulfilled under an Eden Project International banner, with the company already working with partners in Derry, Northern Ireland, to turn a contested historic location along the banks of the River Foyle into an “internationally important visitor site with world-class built and natural heritage”.
Mr Harland, who is also chief executive of the international company, visited Tayside in June to present a lecture at Dundee University on the brand’s global expansion and how major visitor attractions can help change the perceptions of a city.
Professor Andrew Atherton, the university’s principal and vicechancellor, played a major role in delivering plans for the £85 million Eden Project North in Morecambe when he was deputy vice-chancellor at Lancaster University.
The extent of his involvement in the Dundee project, if any, is not yet known but Prof Atherton hailed Lancaster’s involvement as an official partner of the North project, which he described as a “game changer” for the local area.
All of Eden Project International’s projects so far have involved significant visitor attractions and learning spaces, with centres focused on “big global challenges as defined by their specific localities, such as soil, water, food, and biodiversity”.
It is understood Camperdown is one of a number of areas mooted as a potential site for any future project, although no specific area has been confirmed by Eden Project or any other party involved.
Captain James Crawford, chairman of Friends of Camperdown House, said he did not believe it would be suitable.
“We have a beautiful 200-acre site and to start filling it full of things like that would completely spoil the whole area,” he said.
Eden Project did not respond to a request for comment.
Nobody in Dundee needs to look very far to see what the result of thinking big can be. At a cost of £80 million, V&A Dundee may not have come cheap but its impact on the city cannot be underestimated.
The museum has enticed hundreds of thousands of visitors to Dundee and changed perceptions of Scotland’s fourth city at home and abroad.
But it should never be forgotten that it was Dundee that convinced the V&A that opening an outpost on the waterfront could and would work.
Now, there have been talks – relatively informal at this stage – about developing a new attraction in the city in conjunction with the world-famous Eden Project in Cornwall.
If these plans ever come to fruition, then it would be another major coup for Dundee and help raise its profile even further.
The fact that such proposals are even being mooted is, however, encouraging in itself and shows Dundee’s ambition for future growth.
While V&A Dundee has done wonders for the city and the wider Tayside and north-east Fife areas, the city cannot afford to stand still.
So while any plans for a Dundee Eden Project may be a long way off, there is already evidence in the city of what can grow from even the smallest of acorns.