Connecting the city: How Eden Project could change the way Dundee moves

Progress is beginning at the Eden site. (Picture: Eden Project)

Planning permission is in place for Eden’s Scottish home on East Dock Street. The promise is big. The question is how Dundee turns approvals and concepts into something that works for people, places and the wider culture scene.

Walk past the old gasworks and you can already picture the shift. Where rust and rubble sat for years, Eden Project Dundee now has consent for a nature-led attraction that blends exhibits, performance, learning and play.

Planning permission was granted on 17 June 2024 after a pre-determination hearing and citywide engagement, a milestone in a long campaign to bring Eden north. The scheme takes one of Dundee’s most polluted industrial relics and reimagines it as a cultural and environmental landmark.

The site’s design anchors around three main venues. The Valve is the entrance hub with ticketing, café and plant retail. The Lush Bunker rises from the retained gasholder, layering an exhibition called The Seam with a planted environment beneath a tilted transparent roof. On the upper terrace, a third venue will host galleries and interactive learning spaces.

Around them, landscape interventions include the Water Line tracing the old Tay shoreline, and the Gathering Meadows, a flexible green arena designed for outdoor events of up to 6,000 people.

Eden has also underlined its commitment by opening new offices in Dundee, moving into a refurbished former school building. It’s a symbolic choice – embedding Eden in the community rather than parachuting in from a distance.

As The Courier reported, the office signals Eden’s intent to be a long-term player in the city, not just a visiting attraction.

A project to connect the city

Movement has been designed into the plans from the start. On-site parking will be minimal, with provision limited mainly to disabled bays, while cycle capacity is generous. A pedestrian bridge across East Dock Street is proposed to link Eden to City Quay, knitting the attraction more directly into the waterfront fabric.

In August 2025, the council launched its “Eden Connections” consultation, asking the public how best to move people to and from the site.

Routes under discussion include links from the city centre, Olympia Car Park, and the proposed Arbroath Road Sustainable Transport Corridor. The intent is clear: Eden should be a place people walk, wheel or cycle to by default.

The next steps for Eden Project involve a consultation on transport. (Picture: Eden Project)

Yet the consultation also revealed a broader question: how does Dundee want its transport future to look in the decades to come?

Eden has the potential to anchor a new way of moving around the city – but only if those choices are bold, visible and reliable enough to compete with the car.

Could Eden Project bring trams back to Dundee?

Among the ideas floated during consultation was the return of trams to Dundee – not in their old steel-tracked form, but as modern, trackless systems now used elsewhere. These sleek, rubber-tyred vehicles run on existing roads, but with the presence and comfort of light rail.

Belfast’s Glider service has already shown how such systems can work: step-free boarding, high-capacity interiors, and frequency that makes them feel like part of the city’s rhythm.

For Dundee, the question is whether a trackless tram line could become the signature link between Eden and the rest of the city.

One speculative route that was discussed on Dundee Culture was one that runs from Dundee Technology Park along Perth Road, through the city centre, and on to Eden’s East Dock Street site.

The Eden Connections consultation has trackless trams as a possible public transport idea connecting the city centre to the Eden site. (Picture: Supplied)

Such a spine would not only serve visitors, but also connect students, commuters and communities across the west of the city. In time, it could be extended to Broughty Ferry, creating a coherent west–east connection that Dundee has lacked for decades.

The benefits are clear. A high-profile, easy-to-use transport line could reduce congestion, cut emissions and help the city meet its climate goals.

Unlike traditional tramways like in Edinburgh and the old ones Dundee used to have, there would be no costly digging up of roads – trackless systems can be rolled out quickly and at a fraction of the price.

An old traditional Dundee tram. (Picture: Dundee Museum of Transport)

It remains just an idea for now, but the principle is important. If Eden is to be more than a tourist destination, it needs to be stitched into daily life.

A trackless tram line would be a statement that Dundee is serious about sustainable travel and about rediscovering its historic relationship with trams in a modern, affordable and valuable way.

Design, delivery and what comes next

Beyond access, the Eden design language itself matters – it signals who the attraction is for. The concept borrows from Dundee’s Nine Incorporated Trades, reimagining them as contemporary guilds that shape activity within Eden. It suggests a place not sealed off from the city, but one grounded in local skills, crafts and community.

The projected budget sits at around £130 million. Eden has avoided setting a public opening date, but 2030 has become the working target.

That date is ambitious, and the path there will require steady progress on funding, remediation and construction. Already, enabling works are visible, with the gasworks site undergoing remediation and early infrastructure works.

What will matter next is programming. The site has been designed with flexibility at its core, with spaces able to host exhibitions, performances, workshops and community days.

For Dundonians to embrace Eden as their own, it needs to be more than a special-occasion venue. Schools, colleges and local groups must be given regular, affordable access.

The risks are real: construction inflation, delays, and a reliance on tourism that could leave the site underused in winter months. The counter is transparency, early partnerships with local organisations, and programming that places Dundonians first.

Success won’t just be measured in visitor numbers. It will be seen in whether Eden grows networks of gardeners, performers, scientists and makers across the city.

It will be felt in whether Stobswell and City Quay are more connected because of new routes. It will be proven if families on modest budgets can afford to visit regularly, and if Eden becomes a stage for Dundee’s own stories as much as it is a showcase for the world.

The next twelve to eighteen months are crucial. If remediation continues, funding lands, and transport connections are agreed, Dundee could witness an industrial relic become a cultural engine – one that doesn’t just sit beside the city, but actively feeds into it.