THE Eden Project is one of the 200 people and projects past and present which show how engineers have transformed lives for the better.

That’s according to the The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) , which has announced that Eden is one of the top 200 influential people and projects which illustrate how civil engineering has shaped the world.

To mark the ICE’s 200th anniversary, and to support the Government’s Year of Engineering, the Institution is highlighting 200 inspirational and world-changing projects from around the world throughout 2018.

Nominated by members and selected by an expert panel, the chosen projects are meant to illustrate the breadth and depth of civil engineering’s impact.  

The Eden Project, built in 2001, turned a disused Cornish clay pit into a temperature-controlled environment.

The project has brought massive economic and social changes to the region, with 19 million people visiting the site and learning about sustainable construction, green living and the importance of low-energy buildings, said the institute.

Richard Fish, chair of ICE South West, said: ‘The visionary concept behind the Eden Project in the late 1990s can only be described as ambitious; but to set it in an abandoned clay pit and to build the space-age biomes to house it required extraordinary imagination and drive.

‘Turning those dreams into reality was an amazing feat of civil engineering and one which is still breathtaking after almost 20 years.’

Nathan Baker, engineering knowledge director at ICE, said: ‘Our research has shown that the majority of both adults and young people don’t know what a civil engineer does and most can’t identify a single UK civil engineering project.

‘We aim to change these perceptions with 200 People and Projects, explaining not just the importance of civil engineering but how it has directly transformed people’s lives.’

Chosen projects will be published throughout the year on the What Is Civil Engineering? pages of the ICE website, www.ice.org.uk