At a former china clay pit near St Austell, two vast biomes were built to bring rainforest and Mediterranean environments into view. The Eden Project opened in 2001, turning a disused industrial site into an attraction with an educational purpose. Its co-founder, Tim Smit, had already helped restore another Cornish landmark: the Lost Gardens of Heligan. His career, from archaeology and the music business to heritage and environmental projects, joined ambitious public attractions to the question of how people might better understand the natural world.

From archaeology to Heligan

Smit was born in Scheveningen, The Hague, in the Netherlands, in 1954. His father was Jan Smit, chief executive of the airline KLM, and his mother was English. He was educated at Vinehall School in East Sussex and Cranbrook School in Kent, then studied archaeology and anthropology at Hatfield College, Durham. His early working life included archaeology, followed by songwriting and music production; his work in music earned seven platinum and gold discs.

In 1987, Smit moved with his family to Cornwall. There he became involved with Rob Poole, John Nelson and the Lost Gardens of Heligan, helping bring the neglected gardens back to public attention. He wrote a book about the project. Heligan gave him experience in making a historic place accessible to visitors, and became an important step towards the larger development that followed.

Building the Eden Project

Smit jointly created the Eden Project with architect Jonathan Ball. The £80 million project was built at Bodelva, near St Austell, in an old china clay pit. Its two transparent biomes contain rainforest and Mediterranean environments; the wider site also includes outdoor areas, among them Wild Cornwall. The architectural design was by Nicholas Grimshaw, while Smit raised the funds for the project.

The project opened in 2001 with an educational aim: to encourage greater understanding of environmental issues and a stronger connection with the natural world. Rather than treating the biomes simply as display greenhouses, Eden presented distinct climates and plant life as a way into the subject of how ecosystems work and why they matter. Its location also made the site itself part of the story: an industrially used landscape had been adapted for a public attraction centred on plants, people and resources.

Smit set out the story of the project in Eden, published in 2001 and updated for the tenth anniversary of the opening in March 2011. He has claimed that the Eden Project contributed more than £1 billion to the Cornish economy; that figure is his claim, rather than an independently established measure in this account. Its scale and purpose made Eden a prominent example of how a visitor attraction could combine tourism with public engagement in environmental subjects.

Public engagement and recognition

Smit has been outspoken about social enterprise and entrepreneurship. In a 2008 interview, he argued that Britain was risk-averse and that the stigma attached to failure could deter entrepreneurial activity. In the early twenty-first century, he became a Social Enterprise Ambassador. The comments reflect an interest extending beyond Eden’s gardens and buildings: he also spoke about the conditions that help people turn ideas into ventures.

His public profile reached television in 2001, when he was the subject of This Is Your Life, surprised by Michael Aspel at the Eden Project. In 2002, he was appointed an Honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire. He received the Kilgerran Award of the Foundation for Science and Technology in 2003, followed in 2006 by an honorary Doctor of Design degree from the University of the West of England. The university recognised his work in promoting responsible management of the relationship between plants, people and resources, and its contribution to sustainable development, tourism, architecture and landscape architecture.

In January 2011, Smit was appointed an Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to public engagement with science. The distinction became substantive in May 2012, when he became a British citizen and could use the title “Sir”. Bournemouth University awarded him an honorary Doctor of Education degree in November 2016.

Projects beyond Cornwall

Smit’s later development work included backing Eden Westwood, a proposed leisure and tourism destination developed jointly by the Eden Project and Westwood. Planned for 175 acres at Junction 27 of the M5 in Devon, it was included in the Mid Devon Local Plan adopted in July 2020. In January 2021, Smit also submitted plans for a development in Lostwithiel. The proposal included an orchard with 3,000 fruit trees, a pottage garden, a multi-use building with a cookery school, microbrewery, distillery and cider press, and 20 accommodation units.

His work has also taken him into political debate. In 2014, he signed a letter opposing Scottish independence ahead of that year’s referendum. Before the 2015 general election, he endorsed Green Party candidate Caroline Lucas. These interventions sit alongside his better-known projects as evidence of his public activity, though it is the gardens and Eden that define his work in Cornwall.

Why Tim Smit deserves a place in British Legacy

Tim Smit’s place in British Legacy rests on two substantial Cornish projects and the different challenges they represent. At Heligan, he worked with Rob Poole and John Nelson on the recovery of a neglected historic garden, helping return it to public view. At Eden, he helped raise the funds for an £80 million development that put two large climate biomes in a former china clay pit. These were not simply private achievements: both projects were made for visitors, and Eden’s stated purpose includes encouraging understanding of environmental matters.

His biography also makes the British connection specific rather than simple. Smit was born in the Netherlands to a Dutch father and an English mother, moved to Cornwall in 1987 and later became a British citizen. The projects with which he is associated have their foundations in Cornish places and histories, while Eden links a former extractive landscape with education about plants, ecosystems and resources. His work joins heritage, tourism and environmental engagement in a tangible setting. It offers a useful example of how restoring a site or adapting an industrial landscape can create places where the public encounters history and environmental questions directly. That record, rather than broad claims of global influence, gives Smit a clear and lasting connection to Britain’s cultural and environmental story.

Sources

Tim Smit — revision 1372622068

Adapted in part from Tim Smit by Wikipedia contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Text has been edited and combined with the existing article; this adapted text is shared under the same licence. Contributor history.