Repairs costing millions needed at Kew Gardens
10 March 2010
The Grade I listed Temperate House at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is in such a bad state of repair that it may close unless it undergoes urgent restoration, according to a regular assessment of Kew's activities.
The world-renowned Temperate House, the largest surviving Victorian glass structure, houses Kew's collection of tender woody plants from temperate regions, including a Chilean wine palm (Jubaea chilensis) believed to be the world's tallest glasshouse plant. However, the report found, it has not had substantial maintenance since the early 1980s and has now reached a state where total restoration is essential to avoid closure for health and safety reasons.
Kew estimates it will have to spend more than £20 million in the next five years to overhaul its glasshouses which also include the iconic Palm House. A further £60 million is also needed to clear a backlog of repairs and maintenance on other historically important buildings such as the Pagoda.
The 10-yearly independent performance review praised many of Kew's achievements as 'impressive' but also warned that the organisation's status as a world-class scientific institution is 'currently under threat'. Core research effort is, it found, being diverted into fundraising activities with the result that Kew's research base is in danger of 'falling below its critical mass'. Posts have remained unfilled through lack of funds, and overall, the report found, the organisation is trying to do too much with too little.
Also among the 50 recommendations made by the report were that Defra should make a one-off grant to help Kew make the transition to more secure funding for the Millennium Seedbank at Wakehurst Place, whose 10-year funding ran out at the end of last year. The report said the second phase of the Seedbank's work should be treated as 'top priority'.