The Eden Project is to plant over 25 football fields’ worth of wildflower meadows across Dundee.
Swathes of colour have been promised as part of the project’s presence in the city, with sites like Camperdown Park and the Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc identified to host the 14 hectares of new wildflower habitats.
The first of the new meadows will be developed at Seabraes, a mile from the former gasworks on East Dock Street, the proposed site for the Eden Project’s home in Dundee.
A further seven sites have been identified by Dundee City Council that will be developed and maintained through the Nature Restoration Fund.
These meadows will be at Magdalen Green and Dawson Park, Lochee and Myrekirk Parks, Claypotts Pond, Caird Park and Claverhouse Industrial Estate.
The meadows will be planted from spring next year and will start blooming in the summer.
The planting programme is part of Eden’s commitment to the city ahead of the opening of Eden Project Dundee in 2024.
Planting programme supported by Eden Project partners
The funding for the project is being provided by the Alexander Moncur Trust, a grant-making charity based in Dundee, and NatureScot,
To mark their anniversary, the Alexander Moncur Trust wanted to make a significant award to an initiative in Dundee that would reflect its objectives.
NatureScot is supporting the start of the project at Seabraes with the area’s central location, allowing the project to form part of the city’s tourism strategy.
The developed area, around 2.4 hectares in size, will have the potential to host community markets, student pop-ups and other community events.
Dan James, Eden’s development director, said: “We are delighted to announce this fantastic project which will deliver community engagement, biodiversity, wildlife habitat and nature spaces for people to access for wellbeing, health, joy and beautification.
“This project represents hope for a green future.
“Every community deserves to have green space and nature to explore and it demonstrates our commitment to Dundee to make a real difference to people and the places they live.”
Wildflower projects represents ‘hope for a green future’
Marjory Knowles, chairwoman of the Alexander Moncur Trust, said the group has been setting funding aside to make a large, two-year grant.
“During 2021 the trust made 57 awards to charitable organisations which provide a service to people living in the Dundee area,” she said.
“The application we received from Eden perfectly fits our objective. Our support should pump-prime the wildflower initiative.
“The project will make a visible impact in many of the cities most disadvantaged communities and it will work with existing community groups and has the potential to be of both environmental and educational benefit.”
Denise Reed, NatureScot’s Tayside and Grampian area manager, said: “It’s wonderful to collaborate on this exciting project for the city, helping to bring nature into central Dundee.
“The wildflower meadow at Seabraes will not only be a special space for people to enjoy, but it will also help our struggling pollinators, such as bees, butterflies and ladybirds.”
Each of the wildflower areas will contain different, carefully selected mixes of annuals and perennial flowers, chosen due to their adaptation to local soil and environmental conditions.
Other wildflower areas were announced in the city earlier this year, with the city council detailing plans to convert 30 areas into “biodiversity zones”.
The proposals attached some criticism, with two city groups, Friends of Clatto and Friends of Magdalen Green, blasting the plans as a “cost-cutting exercise” to avoid mowing grass.
It was announced in May that the former Dundee Gasworks on East Dock Street was the project’s preferred site for its presence in the city.
Eden predicts that the project could create 200 jobs, with an additional 300 indirectly created as a result.
