The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
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| Type | Non-departmental public body |
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Key people
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Budget
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£59.7 million |
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Employees
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750 |
| Mission | To be the global resource in plant and fungal knowledge, and the world’s leading botanic garden. |
| Website | www |
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (brand name Kew) is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 750 staff. Its chief executive is the current Director, Richard Deverell. Its board of trustees is chaired by Marcus Agius, a former chairman of Barclays PLC.
The organisation manages botanic gardens at Kew in Richmond upon Thames in southwest London, and at Wakehurst Place, a National Trust property in Sussex which is home to an internationally important Millennium Seed Bank. The Seed Bank is also the site of multiple research projects and international partnerships with at least 80 countries. Seed stored at the bank fulfils two functions: it provides an ex situ conservation resource and also facilitates research around the globe by acting as a repository for seed scientists. Kew jointly with the Forestry Commission, founded Bedgebury Pinetum in Kent, specialising in growing conifers.
The organisation has an average of 1 million paying visitors per year. The 326 acre site has 40 historically important buildings and collections of over 40,000 species of plants. Kew Gardens became a United Nations World Heritage Site on 3 July 2003.
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