The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) is celebrating the news that it has received a £46,215 funding boost from SITA Trust to help restore the Garden’s Heritage Alpine House.

This funding award means over means over £65,000 has now been raised towards the restoration costs. And with plans in place to find the shortfall in funding over the summer, RBGE is on track to restore this beloved building in the Edinburgh Botanics during winter 2016-17.

RBGE has built up expertise over 140 years as a centre of excellence in the research, conservation and cultivation of alpine plants, which have special and complex needs, caring for alpines from mountainous regions all over the world.

In the last few years following a successful fundraising campaign a purpose-built tufa wall was constructed, widening the display of alpine plants. But now the Heritage Alpine House, a cedar wood construction built back in 1975, has reached the end of its useful life, and desperately needs to be rebuilt and restored.

Senior RBGE horticulturist and alpines expert, Elspeth MacKintosh, explained: “The alpine plants are one of the Botanics’ richest collections, and the Heritage Alpine House is many people’s favourite spot to visit. As well as beautiful garden plants, alpines play a crucial role as indicators of global warming. Many of the species we look after come from areas of the world threatened by habitat loss and destruction. By helping to fund the restoration of the Heritage Alpine House SITA Trust are making a huge commitment to the care and cultivation of many rare and important alpine species.”

Marianne Ivin of SITA Trust added: “We were delighted to be part of this wonderful project and very much look forward to helping the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh remain a centre of excellence for Alpine species for years to come. "

SITA Trust provides grants through the Scottish Landfill Communities Fund – an important source of funding which came into effect in April 2015.  The scheme is linked to the Scottish Landfill Tax and encourages landfill site operators to provide contributions to approved bodies, who can then pass the funds onto community and environmental projects.

You can donate to the Alpine House campaign by visiting https://donate.rbge.org.uk/alpine-house.