1.  HISTORY OF OUR DYNAMIC EARTH

  1.1  Our Dynamic Earth is a Discovery Centre and Visitor Attraction at the heart of the urban regeneration of the Holyrood area of Edinburgh. The focus of Our Dynamic Earth is Earth Science. This theme was inspired by the fact that James Hutton lived in close proximity and that his laboratory was the Salisbury Crags and the distinctive volcanic geology of the Royal Mile. The Mission of Our Dynamic Earth is to be a centre of excellence in the communication of Earth and environmental science and in doing so to improve the public understanding and awareness of the properties and characteristics of our planet. This is achieved through operation of the visitor attraction and education centre.

  1.2  The exhibition is housed in a landmark building designed by Sir Michael Hopkins. The building is situated directly beneath the Salisbury Crags which acted as inspiration to Hutton in his reformulation of geological theory in the 17th century. The initial basis of the discovery centres carried with them inherent problems and contradictions. Notwithstanding these, Dynamic Earth has worked to establish a centre which serves the cause of promoting science at the same time as creating a vibrant and commercially successful visitor attraction for Scotland's tourism sector.

  1.3  The approach adopted in Our Dynamic Earth was unique and innovative. The initial interpretative plan defined a "story" with successive chapters leading from the Earth as it is today, through the processes, both physical and biological that have shaped the Earth and going on to explore the diversity of environments formed by these processes. In this way it differs from the approach of traditional science centres.

  1.4  Our Dynamic Earth opened in 1999 and since then has received over 3 million visitors. It is accredited by Visit Scotland as a five star world class attraction. It occupies a unique place in the community of science communication establishments being focused on Earth and Environmental science. In 2006 Our Dynamic Earth received 202,500 visitors of which 46,500 were visits by school parties.

2.  SOURCES OF FUNDING FOR OUR DYNAMIC EARTH

Capital Funding

  2.1  The capital for the project was provided by the gift of land from Scottish & Newcastle Brewers and British Gas along with major support from the Millennium Commission. Significant financial support also came from the City of Edinburgh Council and Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh and Lothian.

  2.2  The Our Dynamic Earth exhibition requires reinvestment to update and refresh the galleries and to encourage new and repeat visitors. While modest finance has been received from the private sector for reinvestment, it is clear that the competition for private sector sponsorship is intense and is unlikely to provide the necessary reinvestment finance to maintain the quality standards necessary to encourage new and repeat visitors. This programme of reinvestment is essential given the limited catchment area within which Our Dynamic Earth operates. Financial support for this reinvestment has been received from the Re-Discover Fund, the Scottish Executive and to a limited extent from the private sector.

  2.3  Two new galleries have recently been opened: "FutureDome" which is an interactive and participatory experience exploring the issues of global warming and climate change and which allows participants to understand the consequences of human actions; and "Earthscape Scotland" which is an outdoor exhibition exploring the make-up of the Earth's structure and Scotland's geological development. Recent funding from the Scottish Executive has enabled the refreshment of the Polar gallery which focuses specifically on the Polar Regions as laboratories of climate change.

Revenue Funding

  2.4  As with many science centres, at the planning stage, it was forecast that operations would be funded through visitors to the attraction and commercial sponsorship. In fact, in common with other centres, initial visitor forecasts proved over optimistic. Dynamic Earth has had to develop a commercial strategy which balances the financial expectations for the Centre with its role to fulfil certain community objectives. This has generated a challenging and constructive tension which has fostered innovative approaches to both aspects as well providing a stimulus for effective management.

  2.5  The response by the Management of Dynamic Earth has been to develop three further revenue streams which are complementary to the visitor business. These comprise corporate hospitality, meetings/events (including a successful venture into the weddings reception market) and an education service which provides specially designed group visits for school children aligned with the educational curriculum.

  2.6  With respect to Our Dynamic Earth's education service, the role of Our Dynamic Earth in supporting teachers and engaging pupils in the delivery of strands of the educational curriculum is recognised as growing in importance. Funding from the Scottish Executive has allowed Our Dynamic Earth to extend its educational service and in doing so has strengthened and increased the learning opportunities it provides which are complementary to the school curriculum not only in Scotland but UK-wide.

  2.7  The development of the three additional revenue streams set out in paragraph 2.5 has two commercial benefits. First, these revenue streams provide a significant source of cross-funding to the educational and visitor activities. Indeed, all commercial income is allocated to support Our Dynamic Earth's charitable activities and to help maintain the fabric and infrastructure. Second, they provide an essential buffer to the seasonality of the visitor business.

3.  FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

  3.1  The Gulbenkian Foundation Report, Centres for Curiosity and Imagination states that "just over half of the museums responding to the 1996 Association of Youth Museums survey are more than 50% financially self-sustaining and 11% are more than 90% self-sustaining from earned income". Against that background, audited accounts show that the financial performance of Our Dynamic Earth is impressive. In 2006, an increase in revenues was achieved over 2005 as a result of significant growth in commercial revenues and by increasing visitor numbers to both the attraction and the education service. Our Dynamic Earth has demonstrated its ability to operate highly efficiently.

  3.2  We believe that Our Dynamic Earth has achieved this level of performance principally as a result of the efforts of a very focused, enthusiastic and effective management team. There has been continuous improvement to the quality of the visitor experience in particular to the communication of the developments in earth science. The same philosophies of customer care are applied equally in the visitor experience as in the corporate hospitality, meetings/events and education activities. There is also a good working relationship between the Board (who have skills in both business and science) and the Executive. This ensures a close scrutiny of current and planned business activities and a tight control of finances. We would contend that the development of the management culture and ethos of Our Dynamic Earth has been central to the achievement of both effective science communication and commercial sustainability.

4.  CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

  4.1  Our Dynamic Earth has demonstrated that a combination of good management and a soundly based visitor attraction can be successful in achieving not only successful communication of science but also commercial sustainability.

  4.2  Funding from the Scottish Executive has provided important support for the development of new galleries and the refreshment of others in keeping with developments in scientific thinking and to improve the quality of the educational and entertainment experience.   We believe that Our Dynamic Earth has demonstrated its ability to support the Scottish Executive in achieving its wider aims to create a more scientifically literate and aware community. We believe we have also demonstrated that the skills and ethos of Our Dynamic Earth make it a valuable resource to attaining the Scottish Government's objectives and we recommend continued and growing collaboration on that established basis.

  4.3  Our Dynamic Earth has demonstrated that it can provide a distinctive and conducive environment appealing to all age groups to improve their understanding of science. We believe that Our Dynamic Earth can continue to deliver cost effective science education on behalf of the Government in an entertaining and effective way. We would welcome further collaboration to expand these activities.

  4.4  The success that Our Dynamic Earth currently enjoys is in part due to the revenue and refreshment funding from the Scottish Executive. Bringing this together with innovative management has been a successful formula. In the context of Science Centres UK-wide, it demonstrates that growth and sustainability can be achieved, delivering public engagement and in attracting young people to science subjects and science careers. This can be realised if appropriate funding is made available to science centres throughout the UK.

June 2007