Kew’s Palm House to Undergo Major Renovation
The Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew has started a public fundraising appeal to save the historic Palm House and its tropical plant collection.
Kew’s Palm House, designed by Decimus Burton and constructed by Richard Turner in 1844, is one of the Gardens’ most recognizable buildings. Known for its elegant walls of glass and iron, the structure was highly innovative for its time and was rooted in methods and forms used in shipbuilding. Today, the Victorian landmark is home to an internationally significant collection of plants from around the world, enabling visitors to experience parts of a tropical rainforest in London.
Now, the Royal Botanic Gardens is embarking on an ambitious project to conserve its most iconic buildings - the Palm House and Waterlily House - with the aim of becoming the first net-zero buildings of their kind.
Together with World Monuments Fund, Kew is at the beginning of the journey to set the standard for the sustainable restoration of complex heritage buildings and engage a new generation with the extraordinarily important ecosystems of the tropics. Successful implementation of new systems in Kew’s glasshouses could lead to a new model for the energy transition of other historic buildings around the globe.
The Victorian glasshouse, which stands at the heart of the west London gardens, is considered to be one of the world's most important of its kind. Now showing signs of deterioration, it needs a £66m renovation project. So far, about half the funds have been secured from philanthropists, grants and individuals. The gardens now hope to raise a further £1m from the public.
