World's tallest indoor waterfall to make a splash in Qingdao

Eden Qingdao will bring plant life back to an area of land damaged by mineral deposits. Provided to China Daily

A British architectural company has released a new computer-generated aerial view of Eden Qingdao, a proposed eco attraction that will be built in East China's Shandong province that will contain the world's largest indoor waterfall.

Located at the confluence of two rivers near the city of Qingdao, the site will center around a hydro-powered artificial biological environment known as a biome, and a 50-meter waterfall, something that will be similar in height to Niagara Falls on the United States-Canada border.

Eden Qingdao will be the first international outpost of the Eden Project, a center of climate-controlled biomes that draws a million visitors a year to the county of Cornwall in Southwest England.

Grimshaw Architects is designing the 150-million-pound ($210.8 million) facility, which will be funded by Shanghai-based developers China Jinmao Holdings.

David Harland, Eden Project International's chief executive, travelled to China last week as part of Prime Minister Theresa May's trade mission. He and representatives from China Jinmao Holdings signed an agreement to begin construction this year and open the attraction to the public in 2020.

"This is a huge development in the history of the Eden Project and the biggest step we have yet taken toward opening an Eden Project in China," Harland said. "We are very excited about the possibilities for this attraction and the city of Qingdao."

The Eden Project began in 2000 when British businessman and environmentalist Tim Smit constructed a series of giant climate-controlled biomes on the site of an exhausted clay mine.

They now contain plant life from all over the world.

Last year, Smit announced plans for five new eco attractions aimed at regenerating ecologically damaged land – one in Australia, one in New Zealand, and three in China.

Grimshaw Architects, which designed two of the Cornwall biomes in 2001, will design all of the new sites.

"The Qingdao Eden Project continues our approach of creating beautiful structures inspired by the efficiency of nature, made unique by the specific requirements of the location and theme," said Jolyon Brewis, a partner at the company.

The Qingdao site is currently barren due to a buildup of mineral deposits.

The second Chinese project will restore a degraded site outside the city of Yan'an, in Northwest China's Shaanxi province. And the third will be based at Sheng Lu Vineyard in Beijing, where Eden will run education programs about the environment and about sustainable agriculture.