The future Botanical Garden of Palma will incorporate El Carnatge and will be able to grow with new green spaces
The City Council approves the ideas competition for a 15 million project that will have its first headquarters in the Cases del Retir and in the Parc de les Vies
PalmThe Palma City Council approved this Wednesday in a governing board meeting the ideas competition for the Palma Botanical Garden. The project, worth 15 million euros, is born with the will to grow by incorporating new natural spaces into the city. The first will be El Carnatge and, later on, gardens or estates from other administrations and even from private ownership can also be added through agreements.
A multidisciplinary jury of about fifteen members will choose the best proposal as part of an open and anonymous procedure. The deadline for submitting projects will be October 9th and Cort expects to announce the winner before the end of the year. In this way, they will develop it and grant the necessary permits during 2027, while works could begin in 2028.
As explained by the mayor of Palma, Jaime Martínez, the project is conceived as a "networked Mediterranean system" and consists of the creation of a scientific infrastructure to conserve natural heritage and the Mediterranean ecosystem, in addition to bringing nature closer to the people of Palma. It will also serve, according to the mayor, to recover degraded spaces and increase biodiversity with a large green ring that will connect the city with the Serra de Tramuntana. The project will be financed with the income from the Sustainable Tourism Tax.
The Botanical Garden will have two main locations: the Casas del Retir and the Parc de les Vies, which will total about 80,000 square meters of surface.
Bellver Forest
The rehabilitation project of the Casas del Retir, near Bellver Castle, is already underway. The municipal property of high heritage value will house the Bellver Forest Interpretation Center, a training and educational area with classrooms, a herbarium for scientific research, laboratories, a shop, a scientific bookstore, a reception area, and other administrative and management facilities. According to Martínez, this action will allow for the environmental recovery of a degraded and vandalized area and enhance the ecological values of the Bellver forest.
The second headquarters will be the Parc de les Vies, a space ceded free of charge by the Consell de Mallorca located between the bridge of the ring road and the Son Fuster roundabout. The plot will be the entrance to the city's botanical system and will host environmental awareness and education activities. Forests representative of the five Mediterranean regions of the world will be recreated there: the Mediterranean basin, California, central Chile, southwestern Australia, and western South Africa. In addition to an outdoor amphitheater, the complex will include a germplasm bank, a herbarium, exhibition halls, offices, a bar, a scientific bookstore, and a water tank for irrigation.
Finally, Cort plans to incorporate other spaces into the Botanical Garden, such as El Carnatge, which already has an environmental recovery project underway. Martínez explained that the intention is for this system to grow with new spaces of environmental interest and has opened the door for gardens or estates from other administrations or private ownership to also join in later phases through agreements.