Tim Smit

Who is Tim Smit?

Sir Timothy Bartel Smit KBE is a Dutch-born British businessman, famous for his work on the Lost Gardens of Heligan and the Eden Project, both in Cornwall, Britain.

Born in Scheveningen, Smit was educated at Vinehall School, East Sussex and Cranbrook School, Kent, in England, and studied archaeology and anthropology at Durham. He worked as an archaeologist before taking an unexpected leap into the music business, working as both a song-writer and producer receiving seven platinum and gold discs.

In 1987 he moved with his family to Cornwall and became involved with Rob Poole, John Nelson and Heligan. During his time at Heligan, Smit wrote a popular book about the project.

Later he dreamt up and then created the Eden Project, near St Austell, an £80 million initiative to build two transparent biomes in an old china clay pit near the village of Bodelva. The biomes contain different eco-climates; rainforest and Mediterranean. The outside area is also described as a biome and features areas such as "Wild Cornwall". Eden aims to educate people about environmental matters and encourages a greater understanding and empathy with these matters. Smit raised the needed funds and was the driving force, pulling the team of people together to build what has been described as 'the eighth wonder of the world' ; the site design was by Nicholas Grimshaw. Smit's book about the creation of the Eden Project, 'Eden', was first published in 2001 and updated on the 10th anniversary of the opening in March 2011. It is the bestselling environment book of the century to date.