Over 5 Million Visitors to Natural History Museum Gardens in First Year 

Since their transformation and reopening in July 2024, the Natural History Museum’s gardens have welcomed over five million visitors in just 12 months, cementing their place as one of central London’s most celebrated new green spaces.

Spanning five acres around the Museum’s iconic South Kensington building, the reimagined gardens are now home to two outdoor living galleries, the Evolution Garden and the Nature Discovery Garden, supported by the Cadogan Charity. Together, they offer immersive experiences that blend nature, learning and scientific research.

Highlights include Fern, a striking bronze cast of the Museum’s beloved diplodocus, which greets visitors as they explore 540 million years of life on Earth.

The Nature Discovery Garden serves as a unique research hub, where the Museum’s 400 scientists are working on urgent ecological challenges. Biodiversity data is gathered through monitoring techniques such as environmental DNA, acoustic recordings, and visual observations, all fed into a pioneering Data Ecosystem developed in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS).

To celebrate the first anniversary, the Museum hosted a bioblitz on Monday 28 July, inviting the public to explore the gardens, identify local wildlife, and take part in real scientific research. Visitors used microscopes, pond dipping kits and hand lenses to help catalogue urban biodiversity, gaining a unique insight into the city’s natural world through the lens of Museum scientists.

Dr Doug Gurr, Director of the Natural History Museum, said: “We could not be more delighted with the success of our gardens which have helped connect millions of people directly to nature and are already providing critical scientific data to aid our understanding of how to support urban wildlife. The Museum’s gardens are open year-round and are free to visit.”

A landmark year in numbers:

- 5,050,000 visitors to the gardens since July 2024

- Visitor numbers to the Museum were boosted by 20.9% from July (when the gardens opened) to December 2024, an increase of 537,000 people

- 96,954 people engaged via the Nature Overheard Community Science Programme, studying how noise pollution affects insects

- 40,000+ people participated in family garden activities, exceeding targets by 100%

- 13 partners in 4 countries delivering new Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) learning programmes

- 11,000+ downloads of new learning resources

- Partnerships strengthened with 300+ schools and community groups

- 20,000+ pupils involved in and 1,000 teachers trained through the Explore: Urban Nature programme in partnership with the Garfield Weston Foundation nationwide, a three-year education initiative targeting areas of low nature connectedness, through partnerships with 13 museums and nature organisations across the UK

- 9,000+ page views and 3,500+ downloads on the Nature Recording Hub

- 897 members joined the Urban Nature Network, with 365 participants from over 50 organisations, making urban biological recording more accessible

- 94% of Evolution Garden and 95% of Nature Discovery Garden visitors rated them Good or Excellent

The Museum gardens is the first step in the NHM150 campaign in time for its 150th anniversary in 2031, transforming its South Kensington site: placing groundbreaking research at its heart, revitalising four existing galleries, opening two new magnificent galleries and delighting 1 million more visitors a year with the wonders of the natural world.

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Natural History Museum Press Office

Tel: +44 (0)20 7942 5654 / 07799690151

Email: press@nhm.ac.uk

About The Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum is a world-leading scientific research centre and one of the world’s most visited museums. Our mission is to create advocates for the planet – people who act for nature.

Our 400 scientists are finding solutions to the planetary emergency - from reversing biodiversity loss to resourcing the green economy.

We are seeking an additional £150 million to transform our South Kensington building: placing our groundbreaking research at its heart, revitalising four existing galleries, opening two new magnificent galleries and delighting 1 million more visitors a year with the wonders of the natural world.

Supporters and Sponsors

A wide variety of trusts, foundations, companies and individuals are supporting the Urban Nature Project including Amazon Web Services, The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Evolution Education Trust, The Cadogan Charity, Garfield Weston Foundation, Kusuma Trust, the Wolfson Foundation, Charles Wilson and Rowena Olegario, Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, Clore Duffield Foundation, Workman LLP and Accenture.

Amazon Web Services

Since 2006, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has been the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud. To learn more about AWS, visit aws.amazon.com.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund

As the largest dedicated funder of the UK’s heritage, The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s vision is for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future as set out in our strategic plan, Heritage 2033.

Over the next ten years, the Heritage Fund aims to invest £3.6billion raised for good causes by National Lottery players to bring about benefits for people, places and the natural environment.

The Heritage Fund helps protect, transform and share the things from the past that people care about, from popular museums and historic places, our natural environment and fragile species, to the languages and cultural traditions that celebrate who we are.

The Heritage Fund is passionate about heritage and committed to driving innovation and collaboration to make a positive difference to people’s lives today, while leaving a lasting legacy for future generations to enjoy.

Follow @HeritageFundUK on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and use #NationalLotteryHeritageFund www.heritagefund.org.uk.

Evolution Education Trust

The Evolution Education Trust helps raise awareness of the importance of the Theory of Evolution by funding impactful projects in the areas of therapeutics, education, conservation and fundamental research.

The Cadogan Charity

The Cadogan Charity supports communities, contributes to a sustainable environment and protects heritage. It has supported charities involved in animal welfare, education, conservation and the environment, military, medical research and social welfare.

Garfield Weston Foundation

Established in 1958, the Garfield Weston Foundation is a family-founded grant-maker that gives money to support a wide variety of charities across the UK. The Foundation’s funding comes from an endowment of shares in the Weston family business – a successful model that still exists today. The Weston family has a consistent aim. The more successful the family businesses, the more money the Foundation can donate.

Each year the Foundation gives away its income and donations have continued to grow. Since it was established, it has donated over £1.5 billion, of which over half has been given away in the past ten years. In the most recent financial year the Foundation gave away over £100 million to nearly 1,800 charities across the UK.

Kusuma Trust

The Kusuma Trust UK is a family led philanthropic trust established in 2010 by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari. The Trust gives grants to organisations based on shared values and mutual interests in the UK, Gibraltar and India. Its current areas of interest are creating access to opportunities, improving health and well-being, and investing in our communities and environment.

The Wolfson Foundation

The Wolfson Foundation is an independent charity with a focus on research and education. Its aim is to support civil society by investing in excellent projects in science, health, heritage, humanities and the arts.

Since it was established in 1955, some £1 billion (£2 billion in real terms) has been awarded to more than 14,000 projects throughout the UK, all on the basis of expert review.

X: @wolfsonfdn

Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851

The Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 was established in 1850 to organise the Great Exhibition. The Exhibition made a significant surplus which the Commission, under the guidance of Prince Albert, used to purchase an estate in South Kensington. This estate has developed to become a centre of scientific, cultural and educational excellence which now houses the Natural History, Science and V&A museums; Imperial College London; the Royal Colleges of Art and Music; and the Royal Albert Hall, all of which the Commission continues to support in their work in education, research, science and the arts. Today, it is focussed predominantly on awarding postgraduate Fellowships and Scholarships, for advanced study and research in science, engineering, the built environment and design. It also awards grants to support projects consistent with its overall aims, many of which are focused on raising the awareness of the young to the opportunities presented by science and engineering.

Clore Duffield Foundation

The Clore Duffield Foundation, established by Sir Charles Clore in 1964, will celebrate its 60th anniversary in 2024.

Now chaired by Sir Charles Clore’s daughter, Dame Vivien Duffield, the Foundation supports UK charities working in the arts, education, social welfare and health.

Workman LLP

Workman LLP is the UK’s largest independently owned commercial Property Management and Building Consultancy firm, employing more than 850 staff across 11 UK offices, with a growing presence in Europe. Professional Property Management and Building Consultancy teams work with a client base which includes leading institutional funds, overseas investors, and property companies. What sets Workman apart from the competition is its specialist focus, national coverage, and independent status. For further information, visit workman.co.uk or to find out more about Workman’s drive to build biodiversity across its managed portfolio, visit www.workman-building-biodiversity.co.uk.

Accenture

Accenture is a leading global professional services company that helps the world’s leading businesses, governments and other organizations build their digital core, optimize their operations, accelerate revenue growth and enhance citizen services—creating tangible value at speed and scale. We are a talent- and innovation-led company with approximately 791,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Technology is at the core of change today, and we are one of the world’s leaders in helping drive that change, with strong ecosystem relationships. We combine our strength in technology and leadership in cloud, data and AI with unmatched industry experience, functional expertise and global delivery capability. Our broad range of services, solutions and assets across Strategy & Consulting, Technology, Operations, Industry X and Song, together with our culture of shared success and commitment to creating 360° value, enable us to help our clients reinvent and build trusted, lasting relationships. We measure our success by the 360° value we create for our clients, each other, our shareholders, partners and communities. Visit us at accenture.com