1.  SUMMARY

  1.1  The Eden Project is a registered educational charity whose interest lies in exploring our world through the lens of plants in order theunderstand our dependence on them and to develop best practice for principles of sustainable living that can act as a model or others.

  1.2  Eden is part of the family of science culture but is not a science centre per se. We see similarities between the challenges all science centres face, but we are also different. As well as supporting scientific and educational needs, Eden is committed to supporting its local economy by becoming a catalyst for regeneration and community development.

  1.3  The project receives no regular revenue funding from the public sector and is predominantly supported via visitor income. Eden is engaged in building a business model that uses public money to pump prime initiatives that create a self sustaining economy rather than having a long term dependence on public sector funding.

2.  ABOUT THE EDEN PROJECT

  2.1  The Eden Trust was established to build and operate the Eden Project as one of the Landmark Millennium projects to mark the year 2000 in the UK and is an educational charity. The Trust exists to explain how the natural world works and our dependence on it; telling the story of how plants support our social, economic and environmental well-being. We also explore how people might best organise themselves in the face of this knowledge and thereby reach an understanding of what sustainability can mean in practice. Meanwhile we are creating an organisation that aims to deliver best practice in sustainability and social enterprise.

  2.2  The Eden Project communicates its story at the "Living Theatre of Plants and People" based in a former Cornish clay pit in which nestle two vast greenhouses (Biomes). These Biomes feature plants, crops and landscapes from the humid tropics and warm temperate landscapes and act as a backdrop to the outdoor temperate landscape which mirrors our UK environment. Eden uses exhibitions, art, storytelling, workshops, lectures and events to explore themes and topics with the public and more formal education groups. The aim is to present, to the widest possible public audience, the need for environmental care through celebrating what nature gives to us.

  2.3  Alongside its original ambitions around education and science Eden has another significant mission that sets it apart from other more traditional focused Science Centres. The Project has become a local and regional economic catalyst in an area of the Country that has witnessed massive economic decline with the collapse of its traditional industries of mining, fishing and farming.

3.  INFORMATION EDEN WOULD LIKE THE COMMITTEE TO BE AWARE OF

  3.1  Eden's financial model is different from many, and it includes insights that could be of importance for the establishment of future funding for science centres.

  3.2  To date the Eden project has cost £135 million to build with the support of both public and private finance. Our biggest contributors have been the Millennium Commission offering £59 million, with £26 million coming from European Funds allocated to Cornwall and £21 million from the South West RDA. The remaining funds are a mixture of commercial loans, circa £20 million, charitable donations and Eden's own resources.

  3.3  Since opening in March 2001 the Project has attracted over 8 million visitors. Ranging from a high of 2 million visitors a year in its first year to a steady 1.1-1.2 million per year for the last three years its success has surpassed all expectations. Current visitor numbers puts Eden in the top 6 most visited paid for attractions in the UK alongside Kew Gardens and Chester Zoo.

  3.4  Original projections of visitor numbers when the Millennium Commission approved its funding suggested 650,000 visitors a year increasing to 750,000 after three years.

  3.5  Employment originally expected to top 150 FTEs currently stand at 420FTE increasing to 600 in the summer period. This in an area that continues to suffer serious economic difficulties as a result of the decline of the China Clay Industry and major downsizing of RAF St Mawgen.

  3.6  The regenerative effects of the Eden Project cannot be underestimated, current economic impact assessments, independently verified, identified Eden's visitors as contributing over £700 million into the Cornish economy in six years.

  3.7  On top of all this there is the money Eden spends with local suppliers. Over 2,500 businesses have worked with Eden to date, some small and temporary, some huge and permanent partners. As an economic catalyst and a good neighbour we have developed an effective local souring policy that now sees 87% of our catering supplies sourced in Cornwall and 55% of all supplies. This amounts to around £10 million a year.

  3.8  Our charitable objectives make us a continuous experiment in communication and public education. We are continuing to develop interpretation and education programmes for all ages, abilities and interests that aim to engage, entertain, reach a wide audience and focus on the big issues by creating moments that inspire the imagination and linger in the memory. Our successful schools programme hosts over 27,000 school children every year and an additional 10,000 students in our expanding Further and Higher Education programme and our Continuing Professional Development of Teachers.

  3.9  Early business models had been based on securing public funds to support capital costs with commercial income generating enough funds to support the on-going running costs. Initially, Eden couldn't find all the public funding needed to build this project and had to secure bank debit of some £20 million. This created a massive burden for Eden and most of its surpluses have been used to keep up with large interest and loan repayments.

  3.10  Another unexpected problem came about because of Eden's success. The infrastructure was built based on a maximum visitor number of 750,000 whereas the reality is around 1.2 million mark.

  3.11  To cope with that initial success the Project had to invest in temporary facilities and additional staff. This investment in upgrading the infrastructure of the site is money that should have built the projects reserves.

  3.12  Eden has had virtually no revenue funding to date, its only source of revenue being the income generated from visitors. Current level of annual income is c£18 million. It must be understood that Eden is a ground breaking model for a charity/social enterprise. The visitor destination is not just a source of income which is then applied to deliver the charitable objectives. The visitors are not only the sole source of income but also the beneficiaries of the public education activity which is the core of the mission. The destination and the charitable mission are inextricably linked.

  3.13  The visitor destination generates an operating surplus of some £2.5-3.0 million. This surplus has to cover the cost of debt, the long term maintenance of the asset base and what could be described as additional discretionary charitable development activity (ie beyond the base level of public education activity which goes on daily within the destination). This level of operating surplus is clearly not sufficient to cover all three of these demands. In particular there is a direct conflict between debt servicing and investment in maintenance and renewal, and we can only support the former by under-investing in the latter.

  3.14  Without generating new income streams Eden is under great pressure to skew the running of the destination simply to repay the lenders. The exciting and potential wider "charitable" activities will have to be severely restricted and the asset base would not be maintained with a proper investment for the long term.

  3.15  Eden are not asking or expecting the Government to subsidise science centres for an unlimited period of time. Within the Social Enterprise model Eden believe it is possible to strike the right balance between government support and commercial activity.

  3.16  Where Eden would like to see support being targeted is around pump-priming/building capacity in areas that over the longer term will bring in revenues that can sustain the activities of the project. To date this type of activity has been funded via visitor income and competes for resources against other priorities such a reducing debt, improving the public education product or exhibit enhancement. The knock-on impact of these opposing priorities is potential income generating ideas tend to be under resourced or undertaken on an extended timeframe just because in the shorter term they don't support the immediate issues the business face.

  3.17  It is also important for support to be provided for educational programmes and delivering the wider charitable mission. It would be fair to assume that science centres should be charged with generating sufficient surplus from their visitor destination to pay all operating costs and maintaining the asset base for the long term. What tends to happen if funding is "tight" is the level of investment in ""charitable"" activity and education gets cut back.

  3.18  Offering three to five year targeted grant funds at particular educational and/or charitable activities will ensure public and schools educational programme remain unaffected by any variances in cash flow.

  3.19  Eden believes that a mix of Government support targeted at investment opportunities and/or three to five year grants for specific education programmes would help to build a sustainable business model that has the opportunity to grow revenues and enhance the public education programme.

  3.20  Eden's ambition is to create a genuinely sustainable model of a social enterprise which is delivering massive economic and social transformation on the basis of a revenue model which has c75% of income self generated from visitors and the balance funded by a variety of stakeholders who are seeking the outcomes and outputs generated.

4.  PROPOSED RECOMMENDATIONS

  4.1  Reconsider the match funding requirement of capital funds. For major civic investment in particular this creates an almost impossible burden on top of the existing challenges of maintaining revenue, maintenance and capital renewal.

  4.2  Look at developing a model that creates investment opportunities for Science Centres.

  4.3  Offer three to five year funding for targeted educational programmes.

  4.4  Provide occasional pump priming support around building staff capacity.

  4.5  Encourage the Social Enterprise model as a way of creating a mix of income streams without diluting the mission and values of the charity.

June 2007