Giant palm trees will be brought in from Queensland and then craned in through the roof of the long-awaited 'floating cube' conservatory before it opens to the public next year.
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Construction of the 17-metre-tall Ian Potter National Conservatory at the Australian National Botanic Gardens is expected to finish next May, after which it will be filled up with hundreds of rare and threatened native and tropical plants.
"We've got threatened species from Kakadu National Park, Christmas Island, North Queensland," said Australian National Botanic Gardens manager Peter Byron.
"It'll be the biggest collection of Australian tropical plants in the world."
Mr Byron said the conservatory will not only be a major tourist attraction but also serve as a "living laboratory", where researchers from places like the ANU and CSIRO will be able to study the plants without having to make long trips to remote parts of the country.
"It will certainly make it more accessible for researchers to study a lot of these threatened tropical plants that we have in Australia, understand them, learn how to grow them, learn about preserving them into the future," he said.
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Nursery manager Joe McAuliffe said hundreds of plants have already been flown in from around the country for the conservatory.
He said the conservatory will not only house plants that will be used for research but it will also showcase that research and educate visitors.
"Those stories and what we found with the research ... can be put into the conservatory and you can listen to them," Mr McAuliffe said.
The conservatory is expected to bring in a tourism boost to the region, with Mr Byron anticipating visitor numbers to the botanic garden could grow by an additional 100,000, on top of the botanic garden's annual 500,000 guests.
"There's so much interest in this," he said. "I know VisitCanberra are very excited about the tourism impacts as well, for people coming into Canberra to see a new attraction."
Construction on the conservatory started in mid-2021 but the finish date has been delayed due to a COVID lockdown and above average rainfall last year.
The conservatory forms part of the botanic garden's 20 year plan and is co-funded by the Federal government and philanthropic organisation the Ian Potter Foundation, which has committed $1.5 million to the project.
The design for the conservatory, which resembles a giant floating cube, was created by Sydney architect firm CHROFI, which was chosen through a competition with more than a dozen designers.
"We were just after something really innovative, something really sustainable, low energy use ... a perfect environment for tropical plants," Mr Byron said.
"There's so much concrete in the design that it creates a really stable environment, so that you literally don't need to have lots of heating or cooling throughout the year."
Mr Byron said the design is the first of its kind in the world and has garnered "a lot of international interest".
Mr Byron said once construction is finished, staff will move in the plants and bring in the "really big trees we've got growing up in Queensland".
"They'll get craned in through the roof and then we'll open [the conservatory]," he said.
Natalie Vikhrov
Natalie Vikhrov reports on federal politics and public service for The Canberra Times. Prior to this, she spent several years covering human rights in Eastern Europe, including Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Get in touch via natalie.vikhrov@austcommunitymedia.com.au.
Natalie Vikhrov reports on federal politics and public service for The Canberra Times. Prior to this, she spent several years covering human rights in Eastern Europe, including Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Get in touch via natalie.vikhrov@austcommunitymedia.com.au.
