Westonbirt Arboretum

The National Arboretum receives 350,000 visitors a year and a £1.9m HLF (Heritage Lottery Fund) grant was awarded to the Forestry Commission in 2012; our role was to prepare a £40,000 audience development and access plan within Stage 2 of the HLF project development process.

Westonbirt, The National Arboretum is one of the world’s finest collections of trees and shrubs with over 18,000 listed specimens. It is also a major visitor attraction with over 350,000 people visiting each year. The recognition of these two points has led to three guiding principles for Westonbirt’s current and future development: preservation, education and recreation.

The £1.9m grant from the HLF meant that phase one of the Westonbirt Project – a development plan which included restoration of the Grade I registered landscape and the construction of a new welcome building and car park could begin in 2013 and was opened to the public in 2014.