Birmingham Botanical Gardens calls for public support as landmark restoration progresses in turbulent times

Birmingham's historical Botanical Gardens is issuing a rallying call for the general public to get behind its ambitious Growing Our Green Heritage restoration project, in the face of world events. 

Sara Blair-Manning, Chief Executive at Birmingham Botanical Gardens, is also available for interview should you wish to find out more about the project. 

Birmingham Botanical Gardens is issuing a rallying call for the public public to get behind its ambitious Growing Our Green Heritage restoration project, in the face of world events. 

The project, which represents the biggest transformational change in the Gardens’ near 200-year history, will safeguard the Gardens and its amazing Global Living Collection of 30,000 plants, restore the stunning listed buildings and modernise visitor services to ensure this much-loved Birmingham landmark can thrive for generations to come. 

As a small, independent charity, Birmingham Botanical Gardens receives no regular external funding and generates 100% of its annual income. While there is currently no immediate impact on the project and with work continuing as planned, final costs of the restoration will not be known until the new year. The Gardens is preparing for the possibility that the project budget could increase in response to wider economic pressures.

To date, the Gardens has raised £18.5 million towards the Growing Our Green Heritage project, with a significant £9.075 million awarded from The National Lottery Heritage Fund last year. Despite this, continued support from individuals, businesses and public and private donors will be essential to help secure the Gardens’ long-term future.

General public, businesses and organisations are being encouraged to support the Gardens and to consider taking up an annual Green Futures Membership, priced at £100 per adult, to help fund the capital project. The membership offers the same perks as a standard £60 adult membership, including unlimited entry throughout the year, free parking and gift shop discounts. The additional £40 goes directly towards the restoration work. 

Sara Blair-Manning, Chief Executive at Birmingham Botanical Gardens, told That's Green: “The planned restoration project is essential to ensure the City’s Garden will stay accessible, thrive in the future, and remain at the heart of Birmingham’s natural, physical and cultural landscape for many generations to come.

"The successful delivery of this project will allow the Gardens to continue welcoming local and international visitors, secure and grow our award-winning learning programme and develop ongoing engagement with the city’s diverse communities.

“As with all such large-scale masterplans, budgets and timescales can change, and with the continuing significant world events and their impact on all materials and supplies, this may be the case with the Growing Our Green Heritage project. We will know what the final costs will be in the new year, and we hope that they will not significantly increase, but if our grocery baskets and household energy bills are anything to go by, then we could see them rise.

“We’re extremely grateful for all the support we receive from our members, visitors, supporters and the wider Birmingham community - it’s this continued generosity that helps us to protect and preserve the Gardens for future generations. W know how proud Brummies are of their city and how they always come together to support the places and projects that make Birmingham special, so we hope they will get behind the Growing Our Green Heritage project and help us secure the future of the Gardens for all.”

Currently there are no immediate impacts on the project, with several areas being finalised, including a new learning space, The Barn, which will provide new accommodation for the charity’s schools and community engagement programme. Work has also begun on installing a new Nursery glasshouse, which will provide a home for the incredible collection of global plants that are currently in the Gardens’ main glasshouses whilst these buildings are restored.

To find out more about Birmingham Botanical Gardens’ Green Futures Membership and how to become a member, visit https://birminghambotanicalgardens.org.uk/memberships/. 

The Impact of Storm Boelo. What Can Be Done?

An AI-generated illustration

Tonnes of seaweed, plastic and wood washed up at the head of Loch Long after Storm Boelo, leaving debris across Arrochar’s foreshore, footpaths and car parks. 

The scale of the build-up has prompted calls for Scottish Government help with the immediate clean-up and a longer-term plan for a village where litter has been washing ashore for decades.

Councillor Iain Shonny Paterson brought together community leaders, Argyll and Bute Council officers, Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park representatives, landowner Luss Estates and local charities on 5 November. According to the Friends of Loch Lomond and The Trossachs, those at the meeting agreed that the volume of debris amounted to a local emergency and could hurt tourism beyond the village.

Can storm debris be put to use?

John Ritchie of 4c Design outlined a pilot backed by the Scottish Government’s CivTech programme and sponsored by the GRAB Trust. 

It will test whether anaerobic digestion can turn organic material such as seaweed into biogas and a nutrient-rich residue with potential use as fertiliser. Plastic and wood would be separated for recovery or disposal.

The pilot would be too small to handle the waste already on the shore, the charity said. Clearing it mechanically would mean lifting and transporting large quantities of mixed material, with disposal and potential landfill costs adding to the bill.

A causeway across Loch Long?

John Urquhart, chairman of the Friends, proposed a curved causeway across the head of the loch. The charity’s idea is to intercept floating debris and carry the A83 above projected storm-surge levels, taking heavy traffic out of Arrochar. It also envisages a sheltered tidal lagoon and wetland that could provide habitat for wildlife.

The proposal brings together three problems that often get dealt with separately. Where does the rubbish end up? How does the village cope with heavy traffic? How can the shoreline adapt to rising seas? The National Park’s climate risk assessment already identifies the A83 at Arrochar as an area at risk of flooding.

Urquhart said residents had lived with the problem for decades and that Storm Boelo had brought debris ashore on a different scale. “This is a wake-up call for the politicians in Edinburgh. It is time to get a grip!”

For Arrochar, the immediate question is who will fund the work to clear the shore. The longer-term question is how to stop the same debris building up again after future storms.

https://www.lochlomondtrossachs.org.uk

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World Animal Day: See the Forest Fires Through an Orangutan’s Eyes

Imagine carrying your baby to safety while the forest around you burns. 

The air is thick with smoke, the ground scorches your feet, and familiar routes to food and shelter have disappeared.

For orangutans in Indonesia’s West Kalimantan, this is a heartbreaking reality.

This year’s World Animal Day, on 4 October, carries the theme “See the World Through Their Eyes”. 

International Animal Rescue (IAR), based in Sussex, is urging us to do exactly that as its Indonesian partner, Yayasan Inisiasi Alam Rehabilitasi Indonesia (YIARI), responds to devastating forest fires.

IAR’s current appeal reports that YIARI has rescued 38 orangutans from the fires. Behind that number are individual animals, including mothers desperately trying to keep their babies alive.

Among them is Mama Penja, rescued with her infant after they were found weak and severely undernourished. She had serious burns to both feet, thought to have resulted from walking across burning peat soil. Veterinary staff administered oxygen and fluids before taking the pair to the rescue centre for intensive care.

Another mother, Mama Man, was evacuated with her baby after fires left them isolated, with nowhere safe to escape. Although she had no visible burns, her infant showed worrying signs of smoke exposure.

These stories bring the scale of the emergency painfully close. A forest is an orangutan’s home, food supply, shelter and network of safe routes. When it burns, all of those essentials can vanish together.

Animals driven into plantations and closer to communities face further dangers, including hunger, injury and conflict with people. Smoke adds another threat, damaging the lungs of wildlife and affecting the communities living nearby.

IAR chief executive Gavin Bruce says a mother orangutan’s world should be somewhere she can find food and protect her baby. Instead, rescue teams are finding mothers and youngsters surrounded by fire and struggling to breathe.

YIARI works with authorities and local communities to locate animals in danger. Emergency treatment is vital, but so is protecting the remaining forest and preventing further fires, giving survivors somewhere safe to return.

For That’s Green readers, World Animal Day offers a moment to look beyond the flames and recognise the lives caught within them.

If you can help, consider supporting the rescue appeal or sharing it with others. Compassion begins with seeing their world; action can help protect it.

Find out more and support the International Animal Rescue Urgent Fire Crisis Fund.

https://www.internationalanimalrescue.org/appeal/urgent-fire-crisis-fund

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