In the 1980s, Cornwall’s Bodelva china-clay quarry had ceased operation after 160 years. Its barren 60-metre-deep pit wasn’t the only scar on the landscape. By the 1990s, rampant road building and degrading peatlands were changing the British countryside, triggering grassroots environmentalism as climate change hit the global stage. Into this atmosphere, the Eden Project was born.
Opened in 2001, its cluster of gargantuan bubbles spanned the former quarry, incubating a botanical garden with an expansive, optimistic mission established by founder Tim Smit to illuminate our reliance on nature and demonstrate solutions to the environmental problems we had created. ‘There was a real mood shift going on,’ says Dr Jo Elworthy, chief science engagement officer at the Eden Project, reflecting on its genesis. During the 1990s, the concept of ‘sustainability’ was entering the public consciousness; Elworthy was making TV shows about organic gardening (one was titled Loads More Muck & Magic). She interviewed Smit, who invited her to join him on the Eden Project.
Around the same time, in 1995, Smit sat down at the Chelsea Arts Club in London with a small group of architects, including Andrew Whalley of Grimshaw, the studio leading Britain’s high-tech movement. Whalley, a sci-fi lover who had studied the 1960s geodesic domes of the architect Buckminster Fuller, began sketching on a napkin and imagining amphitheatres, ice-rinks and skywalks.
Whalley returned to the Grimshaw office to fire up their brand-new supercomputer, which would use new three-dimensional-design software to map the quarry’s topography and domed architecture. Finally, he was able to build the futuristic forms that architects of the past century had only dreamed of. When construction began in 1998, visitors were invited to peer down into the pit. ‘It was extraordinary to watch the expressions of people who became strangely quite emotional as they took it all in,’ says Whalley.
The Eden Project’s lightweight hexagonal steel structure frames hundreds of ETFE (ethylene tetrafluoroethylene) plastic pillows across two main biomes, with the largest stretching 200 metres across and 50 metres high. It integrated water harvesting and energy efficiency – Grimshaw’s very first example of ‘regenerative architecture’ with net positive ecological and social impact, that, once radical, is standard today. For him, the architecture’s enduring utopian appeal is all down to the organic science of the bubble: ‘Nature always does things optimally and that, I think, gives it inherent beauty and elegance.’
A quarter of a century on, the Eden Project has had more than 25 million visitors. It has influenced school curriculums and university courses, with many people who visited as children inspired to pursue careers in environmental science, sustainability and horticulture. It has hosted stars including Oasis, Amy Winehouse and Elton John on its stages, as well as global events from Live 8 to Africa Calling; and, since 2022, climate leaders have gathered for the annual Anthropy conference, immersed in the infectious energy of nature.
What's everyone reading?
‘It’s 25 years old, yet it still holds that futuristic look and feel,’ explains Andy Jasper, chief executive officer since 2024. It has always been more than a botanical garden – more like a campus or an Expo. ‘We’re a living project, always trying new ideas,’ Jasper adds. Initiatives taking place this decade look both inwards and outwards: an innovative geothermal-energy plant opened in 2023 and plans for a low-energy hotel are in progress, while the project continues to influence UK government policy through the Biodiversity Net Gain initiative and the National Wildflower Centre.
Smit’s founding pillars of Eden have stayed the same since 2001, yet the tech and globalisation of the 21st century have expanded its reach. When it opened, YouTube and iPhones weren’t even invented. Now, digital platforms amplify the project’s education and research. Yet nothing compares to learning about plants firsthand, so Smit has gone global with a franchise of new Edens from China to Costa Rica; and national, with Eden Morecambe in Lancashire set to open in 2028.
Celebrated with a launch at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Eden Morecambe’s seafront garden of coastal and pollinator-friendly species designed by Harry Holding and Alex Michaelis will surround a biome and ‘clam crete’ pavilion made with shells from fishing-industry waste. A whole new community of young people will learn about foraging, craft and horticulture; who knows what stories they will return to tell after another 25 years?
Since 2001, however, there’s been another mood shift. In 2026, utopian potential has been replaced by climate anxiety, especially in young people and those who have experienced the impact of floods, storms and heatwaves. ‘There is fear,’ says Elworthy. The stakes are higher: ‘Since Eden started 25 years ago, there’s another 2.3 billion people on this planet.’
After working at the forefront of several cycles of climate issues, from the ozone hole to acid rain, Elworthy remains optimistic about tackling today’s battles, which she identifies mainly as climate change and biodiversity loss. ‘Instead of talking about the problems, the Eden Project demonstrates solutions to give people hope and agency,’ she says. ‘That’s always been our mission, but it’s all the more urgent today.’
