Construction on an exciting new facility which will house 250 years worth of plantlife has begun at The Australian Botanic Garden, Mount Annan.
A host of politicians visited the gardens this week to mark the start of works on the $60 million National Herbarium of NSW, which will feature more than 1.4 million botanical specimens once complete.
The specimen collection is moving to Mount Annan from Sydney as part of the build, which was originally announced in the 2018 budget.
NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes said the construction stage would provide a big boost for jobs.
"We're delivering a world-class botanic science facility for western Sydney to build more resilient ecosystems for future generations, while generating approximately 120 full-time jobs during construction," he said.
"The $299 million collection is presently located at the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney, but with more than 8000 new plant specimens being added every year storage capacity will be exhausted by 2022.
"This important and significant collection needs a new home and we're proud to make this investment in western Sydney."
