Hope Gardens to get improved entrance

Alfred Thomas, chairman, Nature Preservation Foundation, the entity that oversees the operations of Hope Royal Botanical Gardens in St Andrew, has outlined plans to put the gardens on par with visitor attractions such as Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in London and the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Gardens in Miami, Florida.

Construction of a newly designed eastern entrance for the attraction is set to take place over the next eight weeks. Thomas said that the project is being financed by the Culture, Health, Arts, Sports and Education Fund, and is in keeping with the reimaging of the gardens, making it more attractive to visitors.

"We want to give school children the opportunity to come here to enjoy the beautiful garden that is here. Our objectives are clear. We want to explore the economic benefit of growing medicinal trees here. That's why we are partnering with the Indian government, because they have perfected that," he pointed out.

"What we want to do is to expand the number of trees that are growing here to support the environment, which is very, very important. We want to partner with University of Technology, Jamaica and The University of the West Indies for the students who are doing science to come here, and to do research like they do in [Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew] and Fairchild," Thomas added.

Architectural and urban designer Jacqueline Douglas Brown said her team is pleased to be involved in the creation of a new-look entrance.

"They saw it as a catalyst in renewing what is already a beautiful Hope Gardens. Our entrance tells us a lot about who we are [and] we don't like the story it is telling now, so we are hoping with this new entrance to invite more children and more people into the gardens by virtue of what we have designed," Douglas Brown said.