Eden Project will set its budget and timeline this year if it gets a positive planning decision from Dundee City Council.
The planning application for the eco attraction is to be debated by the local authority next month.
A positive outcome would act as a starting gun for the project, which it is hoped will help transform the city’s tourism appeal.
However, one of the people leading the Eden Dundee project said the Eden team could then be quiet for a few weeks – while they figure out how much it’s going to cost.
Making the project a reality has previously been estimated at £130 million.
Blair Parkin, chief experience development officer at Eden Project, said a more precise figure will be known in the coming months
He said: “Until we get planning approval, it’s quite difficult to know how much more design we’ve got to do.
“It’s therefore impossible to be definitive about timescales and cost.
“If we get a positive decision, we will probably keep our heads down for around six weeks because we’ve got a lot of work to do to figure out the cost and timescale.
“We know we’ll have to raise north of £100m, but we don’t know how far north we’ll have to be.”
With a budget and timescale known, Eden will then mount a fundraising campaign.
Mr Parkin said more engagement, which Eden calls co-creation events, will take place with people in Dundee to inform the content within the site.
Eden Project plans “greening” of Dundee
Mr Parkin said the Eden Project team will be increasingly active in Dundee. They are close to securing city centre premises to have a base to work from.
Engagement will schools, which is already under way, will significantly ramp up.
Eden is also hoping to make progress on establishing the nine new guilds of Dundee, with local interest groups, which will supply some of the content for the finished Eden site.
Another project that will push forward is the “greening” of Dundee with Eden looking to encourage more biodiversity within the city.
Blair explains: “Over a 10 year timescale, street improvements like repairing pavements and lighting improvements have to be made. We’re not asking people to deliver something new.
“We’re asking them to incorporate the Eden way of thinking and ideas into what they’re doing anyway.
“We are already running schools and community programmes but we are going to be shouting about these more to make people more aware of them and get involved.”
The Eden Project’s impact in Dundee was the subject of The Courier’s Business Conference last month.
Bridge required to ‘connect Eden to culture’
Mr Parkin said connecting Eden to the city and other attractions in Dundee was a big part of the plans.
He sees a 50 metre bridge spanning over East Dock Street and railway line as an essential part of joining Eden to the city.
“We need to connect to the Waterfront so people can walk from McManus to Discovery, the V&A, and the Unicorn.
“We need to link all of that up and deliver an ambition the city has of becoming a destination for more than one night.
“The bridge is vital for that ambition to connect Eden to community and to connect Eden to culture.”
Conversation