'We want to create a mini Eden Project in city'

It is a small oasis in the heart of Derby, offering people a green space to gather and enjoy nature.

The Electric Daisy first opened in Bold Lane in June 2023, but the team at Down To Earth Regen, which set up the space, have long dreamed of expanding to create a "mini Eden Project".

The group, led by founder Jamie Quince-Starkey, recently visited the original Eden Project in Cornwall, where they attempted to garner support for their plans at a national conference billed as "Inspiring a Better Britain".

They told the 2,000 delegates they need funding to progress their plans for Electric Daisy.

The group wants to create a nature-focused indoor social and learning space in a vacant building next door to the site.

It currently occupies a temporary site on a former supermarket car park in the city's Cathedral Quarter.

It opens every Friday, Saturday and Sunday to host community and music events and plans have been submitted to Derby City Council for it to become a permanent venue.

Visitors to Electric Daisy can enjoy pizza, beer and music while their children learn to plant seeds or get grubby in the mud kitchen.

Mr Quince-Starkey says the venue is the result of "clever collaboration" with the city council and he is hopeful it will back the expansion plans.

He told delegates in Cornwall the idea that underpins Down to Earth is to connect people with nature - and Electric Daisy is just the first step.

"What we need is a cultural shift to change the way we see urban regeneration in city centres," he said.

"We have to make nature the focal point of every decision that we make going forward. We need to make this part of everyday life."

Those ideas have won the support of Sir Tim Smith, Eden Project co-founder, who sits on Down To Earth's advisory board.

Mr Quince-Starkey wrote an email to Sir Tim asking for advice while he was still working nights as a shop floor fitter for Rolls-Royce.

Sir Tim invited him to a meeting with members of his team who were impressed by Mr Quince-Starkey's passion for urban green spaces.

"It was like meeting a truck," Sir Tim said.

"I thought this was somebody I could work with and together we could reach a much wider audience."

The entrepreneur offered to mentor Mr Quince-Starkey and persuaded Rolls-Royce to offer him a secondment.

The firm still supports him and the Down to Earth community interest company.

The Eden Project team also helped Mr Quince-Starkey develop a business plan and connected him to networks of interested partners.

"Partnerships at a local level in Derby are fantastic and there's loads of collaborators there that are helping us get to where we've got to now," added Ross Nicholson, Down to Earth's business director.

"But we need organisational funding to help us to scale. If we can do that we can have more impact on the community and attract more partners."

He said meeting "future-makers" at the Anthropy conference allowed the team to make more useful connections in three days than they would usually make in months.

Volunteer Diane Clarke added: "I feel like this is something Derby's needed for a long time.

"It crosses bridges between all different communities and ages.

"We have lots of pubs and bars but I think Electric Daisy is unique because you can come here to learn and to enjoy yourself as well."

That is music to the ears of its founder.

"We don't need more environmentalists in the traditional sense," said Mr Quince-Starkey.

"We need more normal people, more everyday people to believe that they can be the change that they want to see in the world."

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