The Eden Project team agree that traffic is always a key consideration with any Eden Project - or other - development. ‘Similar issues and concerns have been overcome in Cornwall and we believe this can be managed here, particularly considering the use of the existing Coalmine Road access from the Great Ocean Road.’

The project plans to attract those already passing through on the Great Ocean Road and does not anticipate bringing any extra vehicles to local roads.

Both Alcoa and the Eden Project team feel it is important to work with the community to determine the way visitors to Eden Project Anglesea are able to also access or interact with Anglesea. Often the solutions come from the local community, as was the case with the Eden Project in Cornwall.

There have been some early discussions with local government and initial traffic assessments are underway. The Eden Project team and Alcoa will work closely with both traffic consultants and the community, Council and the other key stakeholders to ensure a robust plan is developed that could be implemented.

The Eden Project team and Alcoa have a joint belief in the need and power of working with local businesses for the betterment of both the project and the local community.

It is hoped that Eden Project Anglesea will be a catalyst for the broader community. The Eden Project Anglesea concept is modelled on 750,000 visitors annually and 300+ year-round direct jobs and many more in the supply chain. The economic impact model used for Anglesea is similar to that of Cornwall, in which there has been more than £2 billion economic impact directly to the region since the attraction opened in 2001.

The Eden Project team wants to tap into the regional tourism market by encouraging existing tourists who are heading down the Great Ocean Road to stay an extra day and visit the site. There are currently 5.8 million visitors to the 12 Apostles annually and this is projected to increase to 10 million by 2028 with or without Eden Project Anglesea.

Eden Project Anglesea will have a retail offer but not a normal tourist shop, and it will have catering facilities for patrons and staff. The Eden Project team is not looking to compete with any existing businesses in the area, and where this is of interest it would look to work with them or signpost its visitors to them.

Both the Eden Project team and Alcoa believe that the Anglesea site has the capability to inspire people to make life-changing environmental and social decisions and that the greater the numbers reached, the greater the potential for wide-ranging positive impacts in the broader community.

In terms of protecting existing flora and fauna, the Eden Project team has committed to send out a research team in the near future and groups such as ANGAIR will be a key part of this research.

During the recent visit to Anglesea, local community members took the Eden Project team on a tour of the local environment, including the Anglesea Heath and marine environments. It is the intent of the Eden Project team to showcase these ecosystems and ‘bring to life the elements that shape the world we live in and to demonstrate that we are a part of nature, not apart from it.’ The Eden Project team is also engaging with a number of university experts and are discovering a number of research stories the project team is excited to tell.

The Eden Project team believes that the Eden Project and the quiet coastal Anglesea township can co-exist either through creating connections that allow people to come into Anglesea so that the town can reap the benefits, or through lessening those connections. Given the differing views on this issue, it is critical to find a solution that works.

The Cornwall region is a tourism location with approximately 4.5 million visitors per year. Around one million people visit the Eden Project in Cornwall per year. Whilst the small surrounding villages in Cornwall have not changed a lot physically, there is now an increased level of confidence and character in these towns. Other Eden Project developments have had different but equally positive outcomes. For example, the Eden Project in Costa Rica, a rural-based economy, is aimed at creating an environment where local farmers can grow niche crops inside the rainforest to produce value-added products. The Eden Project in Qingdao, China, is aimed at creating a marine technology and research venue whereby Qingdao and, the university within it, becomes a centre of expertise for that research.

The Eden Project team is aware that it needs to be conscious of the local impacts on Anglesea and acknowledges it is at the early stages of understanding what that means. It sees that the challenge will be to work out how to achieve economic, environmental and community enhancement without also bringing undesirable outcomes. Both the Eden Project team and Alcoa want to keep listening and working with all those who reside in and use Anglesea.

The Eden Project team notes that while the Eden Project Anglesea concept encourages visitors to stop and stay, bringing the local economic and social activity benefits of tourism, it also understands that not all local businesses desire this.

Eden’s mission is to connect people to the natural world, and the education focus is to blend arts and science and traditional thinking.

Alcoa and the Eden Project team understand the strong ‘camping economy’ in Anglesea, amassing around 40,000 visits each year to the school camps with 1,000 beds. In early discussions the project team was told that a day out at the Eden Project Anglesea would add value to school children attending the camps already.

The Eden Project team intends to engage with Anglesea Primary School, other local schools and the local camps. Research opportunities with tertiary institutions will be explored.

At Eden Project in Cornwall around 50,000 school students visit each year. Many are from the local area, but a significant number come from further afield including many international visits. In Cornwall the program is linked to the formal curriculum.

To date the Eden Project team has produced a number of concept images. Apart from the ‘apostle’, which is proposed to emerge from the water body, the remaining built form will be low impact and nestled into the existing landscape and topography. There is no intention to build anything that can be seen over the ridges of the mine.

The total Eden Project Anglesea concept site is approximately 40 hectares, and the actual physical built form (including pavilions, paths, car parks) comprises less than 10 per cent of that overall footprint.

As part of the next steps, more detailed concept designs need to be developed, incorporating aspects such as built form and scale principles. The community will be further engaged on these aspects.

The Eden Project team aims to drive sustainability to the highest level. The buildings will be exemplary and will go beyond carbon-neutrality with a vision of being carbon positive. The idea of the site being ‘off grid’ is an exciting proposition that the team is keen to explore. A key feature of Eden Projects is that they are not copies but are important parts of a jigsaw that can inform and be informed by other Eden Projects around the world.

The Eden Project and Alcoa team had positive early discussions with the Wadawurrung during their May 2019 visit and are excited about working with them in an appropriate and exemplary way. The team is committed to work with the Wadawurrung to determine the best way for them to tell the cultural heritage story and be part of the project team.

Local Alcoa team members have also recently participated in cultural education with Traditional Owner Corrina Eccles, and Eden Project team members will do so when they are next in the country.

As emphasised throughout its previous and ongoing engagement with the community, Alcoa supports the transition of its landholdings to future uses which benefit the Anglesea and wider regional economy, environment and community while acknowledging its significant cultural heritage, environmental values and industrial past.

The Eden Project Anglesea concept brings this transition to life and reflects the guiding principles Alcoa developed in partnership with the Anglesea community in 2016 to shape the transformation of the former mine site. It also aligns well with the Victorian Government’s Anglesea Futures Land Use Framework.

The concept presents an outstanding opportunity to showcase the site’s unique natural values while making a significant and lasting contribution to the region for generations to come.

Alcoa sees that the Eden Project has a wealth of experience in environmental, social and economic regeneration and is recognised globally for creating landmark eco-tourism facilities and experiences.

The Eden Project Anglesea concept is set within Alcoa’s former mine site, adjacent to the water body.

The key vision of Alcoa's draft Anglesea Mine Rehabilitation and Closure Plan is the rehabilitation of the mine void to form a large water body, extensive rehabilitated areas, and to provide access for potential future alternative uses of the land adjacent to the mine. It is intended that shared trails will eventually run around the entire extent of the former mine.

The tall stack is located on Alcoa freehold land at the former power station site, not on the former mine site area where the Eden Project Anglesea concept is located.

As part of future land planning, Alcoa has retained the tall stack for the time being to allow for consideration of possible repurposing options for the structure. This could include as a lookout, for public art, a sundial, or a zip line to the mine site. If no genuine opportunity to repurpose the structure is determined Alcoa will remove it.

The former power station is not part of the Eden Project Anglesea concept however Alcoa wants to work closely with the community and local businesses to create a valued visitor and parkland destination that offers a range of community facilities to complement the Anglesea community and environmental values of the site.

As outlined in the Alcoa Freehold Concept Master Plan, the power station site would complement the Eden Project Anglesea (referred to in the Plan as an ‘eco-tourism concept at the former mine site’), and link into the Anglesea township.

If the Eden Project Anglesea concept is realised, it would create an opportunity for Eden Project to provide their input into the power station site development.

The remainder of Alcoa’s freehold landholdings in Betleigh/Wilkins Streets and Fraser Avenue are not part of the Eden Project Anglesea concept. The Alcoa Freehold Concept Master Plan provides Alcoa’s vision for these areas including a proposed residential area in the Betleigh/Wilkins Streets precinct, and each area is also included in the Anglesea Futures Land Plan.