One of Cornwall's most famous tourist and environmental attractions has confirmed it will slash dozens of jobs. Eden Project at Bodelva near St Austell, has confirmed it is cutting up to 80 roles.
The job losses represent about 20 per cent of its current 400-strong workforce, meaning that one in five jobs will be lost. It is also the second wave of job losses announced by the loss-making attraction in less than two years.
In May 2023 Eden Project said 20 jobs would be at risk of redundancy but insisted at the time that it had tried to mitigate job losses through voluntary redundancies
Back then bosses at Eden said the proposed redundancies had been brought about due to the impact of the cost of living crisis on Eden’s visitor levels and revenues over the previous 12 months, and as a result of a review of the organisation’s structure, which would see some functions brought together to "create more streamlined ways of working, to establish a stable base to support Eden’s plans for future growth".
Now the attraction, famous for its tropical and Mediterranean biomes, its environmental work and also for hosting Eden Session music gigs, has confirmed that it is again cutting jobs because of the "considerable economic challenges" it faces.
Eden has blamed a slump in tourism and a drop in visitor numbers as well as the rising operational costs for the tough decision.
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In a statement to CornwallLive, a spokesperson for Eden said: "The Eden Project is initiating proactive measures to ensure the long term economic stability of the organisation. We have explored every option and will create a new structure as a result of considerable economic challenges. This will involve reducing our payroll by an estimated 20 per cent, equivalent to around 80 redundancies, including 19 who have elected to leave voluntarily through voluntary redundancy or retirement.
"A number of factors including the contraction of the visitor economy across the south west as well as significantly increased costs to businesses have made this process necessary. This process will set us on a path to continue our vital work as an environmental charity and a thriving visitor destination for our second quarter century and beyond.
"The Eden Project will now begin a consultation period lasting at least 45 days. Affected team members will be supported by the Members Assembly, the Eden Project's staff representative body, and every effort will be made to minimise the number of job losses, with alternative roles or retraining offered where possible."
As reported by our colleagues at BusinessLive the news comes as the charity posted a £1.5 million loss for its latest financial year despite a surge in visitor numbers. The attraction saw over 604,000 visitors in the year to March 31, 2024, up from just over 551,000 in the previous 12 months.
This led to a rise in turnover from £23.2m to £24.2m. However, the increase in visitors did not prevent the pre-tax loss from nearly doubling from £868,000 to £1.5m, as revealed by recently filed accounts at Companies House.
The figures, announced earlier this month, come ahead of the anticipated opening of a new Eden Project site in Morecambe, Lancashire, between 2027 and 2028. Lancashire City Council granted planning permission for the £125m project at the end of January 2022.
The project, which was initially expected to open in 2024 but has faced several delays, is set to employ more than 400 people directly and support 1,500 jobs in the region. The Eden Project North will be situated on the former Bubbles leisure complex site near the Winter Gardens and Midland Hotel.
When the local authority approved the development, it was projected that the project would boost the local economy by £200m annually.
About the financial loss, in a statement approved by its board, Eden said: "During this financial year, we emerged from the aftershocks of Russia invading Ukraine and the knock on effect on global energy prices, to a period of receding inflation and lowering interest rates.
"However, consumer confidence is still negative, but significantly improved over its all time low in October 2022. "All of these factors impacted the trading results of Eden Project Limited during 2023/24. Eden Project added: "Given the challenging conditions from last year and ongoing macro-economic uncertainty, we will continue to diligently control our resources but invest back into our principal asset, the Eden Project site, where necessary."
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