Current plans show that the project will combine exhibits, performance, learning, play, immersive experiences, ‘world-class’ horticulture, live music, art, and food, beverage, and retail spaces, all integrated as essential parts of the overall experience.

The Eden project team, which was behind the Eden Project in Cornwall which attracts over one million visitors annually, said that the Eden Dundee will be a ‘landmark’ development for the city and encourage visitors to think, feel, and act differently by revealing how we can learn and be inspired by nature.

Work would include the conversion of the existing gasholder at East Dock Street, demolition of other buildings on the site, and the construction of a pedestrian bridge.

Face-to-face public engagement sessions and online feedback tools present an opportunity for the city of Dundee to help shape the planning application and “act as a co-creator of Eden Project Dundee”.

There will be three in-person community meetings across the city ahead of submission:

• Wednesday July 26, 2023 at Arthurstone Library
• Friday August 18, 2023 at Douglas Community Centre
• Wednesday September 13, 2023 at the Ardler Complex

The Eden Project will also be providing the opportunity for online feedback. To allow all the residents of the Dundee the opportunity to engage with the project there may be further consultation events added if demand is high.

The community events will give people an opportunity to hear the latest from Eden Project leaders and provide detailed feedback over a range of subjects.

Darren Hoare, the Eden Project’s head of programme delivery, said: “We are hugely excited to be embarking on a new phase of development for Eden Project Dundee with the preparation and submission of our scheme’s planning application.

“We continue to be bowled over by the enthusiasm for this project from the people of Dundee and we’re now ready to have a full conversation with the city to embed their thoughts and aspirations for the project into the designs we submit in the planning application later this year. We hope that the community is as excited as we are for this opportunity to formally contribute to the development process.”

Dundee City Council leader, councillor John Alexander, added: “This is another important milestone in a world-class project which will deliver hundreds of jobs, huge visitor numbers and tens of millions of pounds into the local economy.

“And it’s so much more than that too, with tremendous opportunities for education, inspiration and connecting our diverse communities.

“Although it will attract people from far and wide, Eden is very much for the people of Dundee. So it’s really important that citizens and communities can have their say and co-create what will be a truly incredible facility.”

Following a six-month “pollination” process at the beginning of the Eden Project Dundee journey, the site of former Dundee Gasworks was identified as the preferred home of the project.

In May 2021, a memorandum of understanding between the Eden Project and the owners of the site - energy companies National Grid and SGN - was signed to begin the process of exploring the practicalities of converting the post-industrial site on the city’s East Dock Street into Eden’s home in Scotland.

The site is set back from the Dundee waterfront on the bank of the River Tay. It has good public transport links, the potential for a new pedestrian connection to the city centre and is less than a mile away from V&A Dundee and the train station.

The existing tall brick walls on the site suggested to the Eden team the potential to create walled gardens, making for a striking contrast to the industrial heritage of the Gasworks. Eden envisages this as a powerful symbol of regeneration, echoing the project’s home in Cornwall which is located in a former clay quarry.