The Scottish Executive has awarded £10m towards the new visitor centre at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE), in Scotland, permitting work on site to get underway.
The £15.7m all-weather visitor attraction – called The Gateway: Scotland’s National Biodiversity Centre – at the capital city’s renowned botanical gardens aims to put the public in touch with nature and environmental issues through interactive exhibitions, sensory gardens, a real-life studio with live web links to scientists as well as informative energy efficiency displays.
Professor Stephen Blackmore, regius keeper at RBGE, said: “By expanding upon an already diverse programme of educational and cultural events and exhibits we aim to communicate science and conservation at every level and demonstrate how we can all help conserve our fragile environment for future generations.”
The Gateway’s 2,746sq m (29,560sq ft) entrance building at the garden’s West Gate will also house a new reception, interpretive area, shop, café/restaurant, teaching classroom and administration and welfare facilities.
The centre will open mid-2009.
