New Eden Project to go ahead in Morecambe

A new Eden Project will be built in Morecambe, Lancashire after receiving £50m in funding.

Eden Project Morecambe (previously known as Eden Project North) will be a coastal eco-tourism attraction and sister site to the Eden Project in Cornwall, which is recognised as one of the most celebrated and innovative projects of recent times. The new project will create 300 high-quality green jobs and support over 1,000 additional new jobs in the region.

The funding is from the UK Government’s levelling up fund and represents half the £100m needed for the project. The funding bid was submitted by Lancaster City Council, one of the Eden Project’s key partners on the Morecambe attraction, and was chosen as a recipient of the largest investment possible under the fund, earmarked for large-scale cultural regeneration projects.

Preparatory ground work will now be undertaken. An expanded project delivery team will be created in preparation for the construction phase. The aim is for Eden Project Morecambe to be open to visitors by 2026.

Eden Project Morecambe is being delivered by the team behind the first Eden Project in Cornwall, which was co-founded by APM Honorary Fellow, Sir Tim Smit KBE. Sir Tim was previously quoted as saying: “I'm very excited about it… Everything that I'm seeing is really optimistic.”

Eden Project Morecambe is one of more than 100 projects that will receive a share of £2.1bn of the second round of levelling up funding. Others include train services in Cornwall, a carbon-neutral education campus in Blackpool and new ferry services in the Shetland Islands.

Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove said: "This new funding will create jobs, drive economic growth, and help to restore local pride. We are delivering on the people’s priorities, levelling up across the UK to ensure that no matter where you are from, you can go as far as your talents will take you."

Image courtesy of The Eden Project

This article first appeared on the APM news and blog site as "New Eden Project to go ahead in Morecambe" on January 19 2023.

--Association for Project Management

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