Eden Project’s the Edge; Sherwood: The Living Legend and ‘A Million People: Black Country as an Urban Park’ - all three of which are Davis Langdon projects - as well as Sustrans' Connect2, came one step closer to winning the single biggest donation of BIG Lottery funding through public vote, when they reached the final shortlist of the BIG Lottery Fund’s: The People’s £50 million contest.

Voting for the projects started online at www.thepeoples50million.org.uk this week with voting lines opening at 9am on Friday 7th December following a series of programmes about each of the projects due to be shown on ITV1 at 11pm from 3rd-7th December. Online and phone voting will close at 12 noon on 10th December 2007 with the winner due to be announced on Wednesday 12th December.

• Eden - a project that Davis Langdon has been heavily involved with as Project Manager and Cost Consultant since its inception and home of the world’s biggest greenhouses - was recently declared Britain’s best building of the last 20 years and its new phase the Edge is one of four projects competing for the greatest prize in TV history.
  
• Sherwood: The Living Legend – for which Davis Langdon is acting as Cost Manager and CDM Coordinator – is a regeneration scheme which will protect and expand the ancient Sherwood Forest, the legendary home of Robin Hood, and create one of the largest multi-user path networks in Europe whilst providing a world class sustainable visitors centre.
  
• The Black Country as an Urban Park project is the starting point for what will be the long term transformation of the Black Country, aiming to improve the open green spaces and canals for people and wildlife across the Black Country.

Eden Project chief executive Tim Smit said that winning the £50 million would fund the Edge, the landmark new building in the last undeveloped corner of the former china clay pit at Bodelva in Cornwall, and mark the completion of Eden, making it the best environmental centre in the world.
 
He said:  “First of all it is an honour to be included among such great projects, all of whom would be fabulous additions to the nation’s wealth.  To win such a prize would be the most fantastic accolade, as it would be chosen by the general public, the very people at whom the project is aimed - us!”
 
The Edge will be a model of cutting-edge architecture and technology, harvesting water and energy from the sun, wind and rain to show how we all might live in the future. It will be a testament to one-planet living, built to the lowest possible carbon footprint and designed to last.  Inside there will be amazing desert, oasis and water gardens on a scale never attempted undercover. Underneath there will be a series of  interlocking underground chambers  providing spaces to be curated by  some of the great voices of the age – artists, writers, scientists and musicians -  working  with communities, organizations and individuals and sharing the best ideas they have for improving their lives and environments, now and in the future.

Eden has attracted more than nine million visitors and generated £800 million for the regional economy since fully opening in March 2001.  For more information visit www.theedge.org

Sherwood: the Living Legend is an ambitious plan to put Robin Hood’s forest home back on the map.  The project will expand the ancient forest; provide iconic, world-class and environmentally friendly visitor facilities and create one of the biggest walking, cycling and horse riding networks in Europe. 

At the heart of the new Sherwood would stand ‘The Tree’, an iconic structure housing a new visitor complex and at the top, a 100ft high viewing platform overlooking Sherwood Forest.

Austin Brady, Chair of the Sherwood: the Living Legend project board, said:

"We're over the moon that the general public now have the chance to give Sherwood Forest a brighter future. Sherwood Forest means a lot to people. This is a £50m, once in a lifetime opportunity to restore this Forest. We could replant 700 acres of woodland and heathland, stitching together the ageing and fragmented Forest; create a 250km network of walking, cycling and horse riding paths connecting Sherwood to towns and counties in the heart of England; provide world class and environmentally friendly visitors facilities where you can learn all about Robin and Sherwood; and invest in our local communities, empowering them to celebrate their connections to Sherwood and our local legends.  This is the best chance we will ever have to give Sherwood Forest the recognition and investment that it richly deserves - it really is, in every sense, a Living Landmark."

Sherwood Forest Country Park welcomes around half a million visitors a year and the wider Sherwood attracts over two million.  More details can be found at www.robinhood.co.uk

The Black Country as an Urban Park project is set to inject “a breath of countryside into the Black Country” and open up a world of underground canals.  The programme includes the protection and opening up of one of the world’s most important geological features – ancient limestone caverns at Wren’s Nest National Nature Reserve and the opening up of 1,500 hectares of green space across the Black Country.    For further details visit www.blackcountryup.co.uk

Davis Langdon Partner Derek Johnson comments: “It is fantastic to be involved in such inspirational projects and although, sadly, there can only be one winner, our collective Davis Langdon fingers are well and truly crossed for all.”