richard scotT

Richard Scott is a creative ecologist and  a co Founder/Director of the National Wildflower Centre, now homed with the Eden Project. With a background in community-based conservation, he leads transformative wildflower and habitat projects across urban and rural UK landscapes. His work is grounded in the belief that remarkable ecological change can emerge from what may seem  unlikely places—driven by ambition, trust, creativity, and a deep connection to place, and making this personal. 

A pioneer of techniques such as the creative use of substrates and soil inversion, and an early wildflower seed farmer, and people based approaches. Richard has helped establish diverse new habitats and inspired fresh approaches to land restoration centred around people and starting points . His practical expertise is captured in Wildflowers Work, an award-winning guide to wildflower landscape creation, now due for an update. 

Richard is also a founding member of Scouse Flowerhouse, a Community Benefit Society continuing Liverpool’s creative conservation legacy established by pioneering Trojan Mouse environmental charity  Landlife, founded  in 1975, which Richard joined in 1992.  Which amongst many other things won the Prize of Honour for its the Wild Garden at the 1984 International Garden Festival, and established The National Wildflower Centre as a Millennium Project in 2000.    Richard is a passionate advocate for “the possible”—combining ecological science, social and environmental justice, to build a Northern Flowerhouse movement rooted in shared enthusiasm, pride, and culture.  Seed is a real currency for change, and sharing, and echoes the cooperative spirit that once spread from the Northwest to the rest of the UK  and the world and is based on good practice leading policy. 

Richard was the Ecologist's  Magazine Campaign Hero in 2012, and  he was chosen for For The Independent Newspaper's  San Miguel  Rich list in 2018.  Highlighting those who pursue alternative forms of wealth. He Chairs the UK Urban Ecology Forum and locally St. James Gardens, by the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, and  is a Trustee of Friends of Everton Park- which won Kew’s England Wildflower Flagship award in 2014 by a National Public vote,  for the Tale of Two Cities Project between Liverpool and Manchester. Recently he was made a Senior Research Fellow at Liverpool Hope University.