Eden Project global expansion to deliver Macquarie Point Antarctic experience

A WORLD-CLASS Antarctic experience appears more likely for Macquarie Point with proponent announcing global expansion.

The Eden Project building as seen in the Mona Macquarie Point 2050 Vision Rendering: Fender Katsalidis Architects with Rush Wright Associates.

A MACQUARIE Point Antarctic experience so realistic it could be “life-threatening” is in the advanced design stage as UK eco-tourism venture the Eden Project expands internationally.

The environmental charity, world renowned for its domed visitor centre in Cornwall, has engaged a multinational architecture firm to design its proposed Hobart attraction.

But Tasmania looks set to lose an advantage as Eden’s only southern hemisphere franchise, with an experience in New Zealand also being planned.

Both will be part of a global expansion after a new company, Eden Project International Ltd (EPIL), was unveiled last month.

Eden plans to open centres on every continent but Antarctica, founder Dr Tim Smit said.

“That’s because we’re already working on ideas for a centre in Tasmania looking at Antarctica,” he told British media.

“That one is going to be fantastic.

“It will be in a warehouse, and it could be life-threatening — if you don’t grease up properly and dress warmly enough, the low temperatures and the ferocity of the wind could kill you.”

EPIL will partner with “like-minded organisations” for three centres in China as well as one each in Christchurch and Hobart.

The Christchurch attraction is being proposed for the city’s earthquake-damaged zone around the themes of “nature and culture”.

Projects in North America and the Middle East are due to be announced in coming months, the organisation said.

Eden’s interest in Hobart, which the Mercury revealed last year, came after an approach from the Macquarie Point Development Corporation.

“MPDC contacted Eden as they were seeking a flagship/anchor for the mixed use development,” an Eden statement said.

“Hobart itself is a rapidly developing city with an alternative side, which has been brought to the fore by Mona.

“This project fits with Eden’s ethos as it will transform a polluted, discarded site.”

An Antarctic precinct remained part of the Mona reset of Macquarie Point when it was unveiled last year.

EPIL has engaged Grimshaw Architects, which designed the Cornwall domes and has offices in Melbourne and Sydney.

The company has already designed a $170 million centre for the Chinese city of Qingdao, where construction is expected to start this year.

A MPDC spokeswoman said the concept team for Hobart were UK-based and were yet to visit the site.

Mr Smit and Eden executive director David Harland have both toured Macquarie Point, and Mr Harland will be in Australia again later this month.

Mr Smit told media earlier this year that a feasibility study and design for the Macquarie Point project were two-thirds complete, but the final go-ahead would depend on government support.

He has said each new Eden centre would be designed differently, and would not replicate the original domes.

“If Australia was brave, it could be the coolest project in Australia’s history,” Mr Smit told an audience at the WOMADelaide festival in March.

The MPDC says it is working with Eden on a business case for the project, which will determine how it might be funded.

“We believe the philosophy for Eden Hobart would be similar to the successful project in Cornwall, with the overall experience being interactive, making visitors think differently about the world in which they live,” the MPDC spokeswoman said.

Expansion to New Zealand and other countries would enhance the Eden brand and increase visitor interest in Hobart’s unique attraction, she said.