Sir Timothy Bartel Smit KBE (born 25 September 1954)[1] is a Dutch-born British businessman who jointly helped create the Lost Gardens of Heligan, and the Eden Project in Cornwall, United Kingdom.
With architect Jonathan Ball, he jointly created the Eden Project, near St Austell, an £80 million initiative to build two transparent biomes in an old china clay pit near the village of Bodelva.
[5][6] In 2006 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Design degree by the University of the West of England "in recognition of his outstanding achievements in promoting the understanding and practice of the responsible management of the vital relationship between plants, people and resources, which have made a major contribution regionally, nationally and internationally to sustainable development, tourism, architecture and landscape architecture".
[citation needed] Smit was appointed Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in January 2011 in recognition of his services to public engagement with science.
[12][13] In January 2021 Smit submitted plans for a development in Lostwithiel consisting of an orchard with 3,000 fruit trees, a pottage garden, a multi-use building with cookery school, microbrewery, distillery, cider press and 20 accommodation units.
[14] In August 2014, Smit was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue.