The Butterfly Park at Lewis Battery

A butterfly park inside a restored gun battery — approved, not yet open.

Lewis Battery is an early-twentieth-century coastal battery in the Upper Rock Nature Reserve that later spent the closed-frontier years as a pig farm and has sat largely disused since, closed to most of the public. Greenfingers Ltd, a consortium of local investors working with architects Arc Designs, plans to turn it into Gibraltar's first butterfly park: local species shown through their life cycle, pitched around the Rock's role as an ecological bridge between Europe and Africa, with interactive exhibits, workshops and outdoor learning spaces alongside.

The military site is part of the offer rather than the casualty of it: the plans restore the original structures, including the gun emplacements and underground magazines, with interpretive and digital displays, plus a visitor centre, a small café and shop, and a low-impact, pedestrian-friendly layout. Access today is a narrow single-lane ramp; improvements and new walking connections are being explored.

Where it stands: the Development and Planning Commission granted full planning permission unanimously on 30 May 2026, with conditions — a separate demolition application, an archaeological watching brief and a macaque management plan. The Environmental Safety Group raised littering, macaques and shade but called it a really positive project and far better than earlier proposals for the site. No opening date and no prices have been published, and nothing is on sale (checked 14 September 2026).