New project chief to oversee Eden’s delivery

A new project director tasked with delivering the £100m Eden Project in Morecambe is set to be appointed “imminently”.

 News of the pending appointment came after a government minister told the House of Commons that the visitor attraction is now expected to open in 2028 – two years later than was first anticipated.

 The government is contributing £50m to the project after accepting the business case behind it last year, with the rest of the cash set to come from the private sector.

 Local government Minister Alex Norris confirmed all allocated funding for the project would be in place by early 2026.

 He also set out the latest timetable for the project, with construction expected to start in March next year and be completed by August 2028.

 It is anticipated that Eden Project Morecambe will be ready to open its doors to visitors in October 2028.

 A spokesperson for Eden Project told Lancashire Business View that a project director would be appointed “imminently.”

 They said: “Since the approval of the project’s full business case by the government in October 2024, we have been in delivery with the design, cost and programme management teams to further develop this project. The timeline outlined by the government recently is consistent with this.”

 And they added: “A huge amount of detailed work is on-going as part of further project design. We have a world-class external design team and will be imminently appointing a project director.

 “We continue to be grateful to the local community, the government and project partners for their support for a project that will be a positive demonstrator of change.”

 According to reports, Si Bellamy, chief transformation officer at the Eden Project, told a meeting in Morecambe earlier this week that it was 98 per cent of the way towards hitting its £50m private funding target.

 And he reiterated that the Morecambe project was now in the ‘delivery phase’.

 Eden has been described as “once in a lifetime generational investment opportunity” and a “catalyst for significant regeneration” by Simon Lawrence, director of growth and regeneration at County Hall.

 He was speaking at Lancashire Business View’s Built Environment Conference at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool, in September last year. He told delegates the eco-tourism plan was an “amazing” project, not just for the seaside town but for the wider region.

 Around 300 high-quality jobs are forecast to be directly created by the new attraction, with more than 1,000 additional new jobs supported across the region.

 Annual visitor numbers are projected to be 740,000 and additional revenue brought into local businesses by Eden has been predicted to exceed the £50m government investment within months of the project opening its doors to visitors.