Birmingham Botanical Gardens secures major grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to Save the Gardens

Birmingham Botanical Gardens (BBG) has been awarded £9.075m from The National Lottery Heritage Fund towards its major restoration

With over 90% of the funding now in place, we are appealing to all those who care about the Gardens to help us finally close the gap! This will mean that over the next 4.5 years, this landmark project will restore the Gardens’ historic Grade II* listed glasshouses, enhance visitor infrastructure and amenities, improve sustainability and expand public access to education, horticulture, heritage and nature in this unique green space. It will increase public understanding of the importance of plant biodiversity to life on Earth and share the importance of plants to people, our places and the planet. 

Birmingham Botanical Gardens’ Chair, Sue Beardsmore says:

“Our uniquely biodiverse natural environment is one of the UK’s most significant historic botanic gardens and part of Birmingham and the West Midlands’, richly diverse cultural

history and way of life. This safe, peaceful space is part of the green heart of Birmingham and a hugely treasured place to the city, the West Midlands region and its communities.

With The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s grant, together with generous pledges of support (£8m) from The Garfield Weston Foundation, The Julia Rausing Trust, The Edward Cadbury Charitable Trust and others, we can now preserve this historic estate, nursery and iconic glasshouses for future generations.

We are immensely grateful to The National Lottery Heritage Fund for this unique opportunity to restore an important part of Birmingham’s heritage, champion biodiversity and the environment, and reconnect people with nature. As we approach our Bicentenary, we can now ensure that BBG, the unique Living Collection and tangible and intangible heritage of this ‘miracle green space’ can be researched, shared and enjoyed by everyone for the next 200 years”.

Growing Our Green Heritage to preserve a nationally significant historic botanic garden and save Birmingham’s priceless heritage for future generations.