The Eden Project to create £100m environmental centre in China

China Eden will be four times the size of the UK attraction, which has brought 16 million visitors to Cornwall since 2001

The Eden Project near St Austell, Cornwall (Getty Images)

The Eden Project, which has brought millions of visitors to its biodomes, which replicate the world’s different climates, in Cornwall, has agreed to create a £100m environmental centre in China.

The contract for the Cornwall-based charity to begin work on creating a new environmental and educational hub was signed in Beijing this week.

China Eden will be four times the size of the UK attraction, which has brought 16 million visitors to Cornwall since it opened in a former clay pit in 2001, generating £1.6bn for the local economy.

The Eden Project’s founder, Sir Tim Smit, said: “It feels like we have been given the opportunity to do something very special and important.

“This project fits perfectly with Eden’s key transformation and regeneration themes and brings life to a currently sterile and derelict site. It has the potential to become instantly recognisable worldwide. We have been approached many times before to create Eden projects, but have always declined as we did not wish to copy Eden in Cornwall.”

The temperature-controlled geodesic domes in Cornwall enclose much of the 2.2-hectare site and are home to a vast collection of rare and exotic plants, including the largest rainforest “in captivity”.

£1.6bn

The amount The Eden Project has generated for the local economy

China Eden will be based in Qingdao, midway between Beijing and Shanghai in the east of the country. It will sit on the convergence of two rivers near the city on a piece of reclaimed land previously left vacant after being ravaged by salt production and prawn farming. The project’s design is unlikely to replicate the iconic bubble-shaped domes of Cornwall’s ecological park.

Grimshaw Architects, which is behind the new design, said in a statement: “The deal’s only just been signed – so design and scope are still being determined.” The London-based firm will be collaborating with the Chinese developer Jinmao for China Eden.