Few impressed by the Big Idea

Published on Friday 29 August 2003 01:00

IT WAS built on the site of the largest explosives factory in the world, with ambitious plans to create a big bang in the world of science education.

However, just three years after opening, The Big Idea’s visitor numbers have fizzled out and its impending closure this Sunday has sparked new fears about the viability of Scotland’s other fledgling science centres.

Disappointing admission figures have already forced job cuts at Sensation in Dundee, also established in 2000, and the Glasgow Science Centre (2001), which has also lost significant revenue from the long-term closure of its tower for repairs.

In Edinburgh, Our Dynamic Earth is seeking compensation for falling visitor numbers because of disruption caused by the Scottish Parliament building site. The attraction, which opened in 1999, has also been refused a 1.2 million grant to help boost admissions, and has been unable to reap its most lucrative corporate entertaining revenue because soundproofing is required before it can re-apply for a late licence following noise complaints.

John Moorhouse, the chairman of the Big Idea, said it had set out in 2000 to prove a science centre could operate without ongoing public funding - unlike any other in the world.

However, admissions to the hi-tech centre, where visitors use personalised electronic tags to activate dozens of gizmos, halved from 120,000 to 63,000 last year.

A 410,000 lifeline grant last year from the Scottish Executive and Millennium Commission - the centre’s main funder - to pay off the last of the 11 million building costs left it with a "smallish" deficit of some 40,000, according to Mr Moorhouse.

However, visitor numbers continued to plummet because of this summer’s unusually hot weather, with just 6,000 last month compared to an expected 10,000. The projected annual total also dropped to just 50,000.

Mr Moorhouse said in the face of some 300,000 of debts, the centre had not sought an extension to its bank overdraft, which runs out on Sunday. It will go into voluntary liquidation, with the loss of 31 jobs.

The chairman said yesterday: "It is a complete irony that we have suffered from the decent summer weather. There is no sign of an immediate reprieve, but we will keep the assets intact and they could re-open in the future under new management."

The centre, built on the Ardeer peninsula on the edge of Irvine, is where Alfred Nobel established one of his global network of dynamite factories in the 1870s. However, as a display inside the grass-covered centre points out, strict licensing forced such plants to be sited "well away from centres of population".

Mr Moorhouse acknowledged that the Big Idea’s location had been "absolutely critical". However, he said he had now also learned from bitter experience that the centre could not survive without public subsidy, which he estimated at up to 150,000 a year just to maintain current visitor numbers. He said: "I was determined to prove we could operate a science centre without public subsidy, but I failed. There is not a single science centre which operates without it.

"If it is important to Scotland to have such science centres, we will have to find a way of getting regular public subsidy, because we are all living on a knife edge."

Mr Moorhouse said science centres should collaborate more in areas such as marketing, but so far, "everyone has been fighting their own fires, and has lacked resources. This might be a turning point."

The Big Idea’s closure will come as one of the first casualties among Britain’s 80 science centres, with others in the sector agreeing that a long-term solution to the funding issue must be found. They also said attractions would have to focus on core roles to survive.

The centre’s demise will coincide with the Royal Observatory of Edinburgh’s visitor centre closing its doors to casual visitors.

Dan Hillier, the visitor centre manager, said lack of funding to cover dwindling visitor numbers had forced it to concentrate on science education rather than tourism.

From next week, the centre will only be open to school parties, and for evening observing and lectures.

He said: "A lot of science centres are trying to do several things at the same time, as part of tourism and regeneration strategies, but these do not necessarily come with funding attached. There is a widespread over-optimistic and over-simplistic view that these can be self-financing.

"The Big Idea is the first science centre to face up to its difficulties, but we do not know yet how much the others are feeling the pinch." Mr Hillier pointed to the Scottish Seabird Centre in North Berwick, which had won grants to install camera links to attract visitors.

Dr Melanie Quin, the executive director of ECSITE-UK, the science centres’ umbrella body, said despite Millennium Commission’s funding to build several such attractions, it could not pay for running costs.

She said: "Science centres require 30-40 per cent of their annual running costs from public sources. The government is concerned about this, but there is considerable goodwill to fund a workable and affordable solution." However, Dr Quin said she was "hopeful rather than optimistic" that this would be achieved.

Paul Jennings, the chief executive of Sensation in Dundee, said it had had to cut staff by one third last year, and was seeking to raise the 30 per cent of running costs not covered by admissions through boosting corporate events and fundraising. He said: "We have not had a rescue package - we have dealt with own problems."

Brian Weddell, the chief executive of the Glasgow Science Centre, said temporary exhibitions ensured it always had something new for visitors, which had topped one million since 2001. He said: "These successes highlight the numerous benefits that a science centre provides, and the importance of public funding."

Jim Wallace, the deputy First Minister, said Scottish Executive officials had met science centre chief executives yesterday to discuss the future of the Big Idea, but he did not announce any new funding. Mr Wallace said he would also be meeting the education and tourism ministers "to discuss future policy and strategy for science centres - to ensure more big ideas do not crash and burn.