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Summary

Executive summary
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The Scottish Association for Marine Science - Scotland’s premier independent marine science organisation – is in the process of fundraising for and developing a 400m2 (260 m2 indoor) marine science exhibition and outreach centre – to be known as the Scottish Ocean Explorer Centre - at its Scottish Marine Institute near Oban.  The fundraising is led on SAMS behalf by the University of the Highlands and Islands Development Trust.

The SOEC will consist of a permanent interactive and high-tech exhibition linked to ongoing marine science research projects, a marine technology garden, a small cinema area to screen short underwater documentaries as well as a multi-purpose space for workshops and events. The exhibition material will focus on the sea around the west
coast of Scotland and then follow the ocean currents that are responsible for the area’s mild climate all the way up north into the Arctic.

This facility – unique in Scotland – will…

  1. translate scientific knowledge about the physics, geology, chemistry, biology and resources of the sea into inspirational, accessible and interactive displays 
  2.  empower and encourage the public to engage in dialogue about how society should use and manage the marine environment
  3. promote scientifically credible initiatives aimed at a healthy, diverse and sustainable marine environment
  4. inspire the next generation about science
  5. provide a visitor attraction in support of further developing local tourism


We hope to develop the SOEC with funding from diverse – both public and charitable – sources. The total cost of the project will be £871,994.51. Around 94% of the project cost has been secured, and the infrastructure building work has already been completed. 

Once fully operational the financial sustainability will be secured through entrance fees, sales and grant income from research and science engagement projects.

 

 

Rationale

Project rationale

Over 70% of the surface of our blue planet is covered by ocean. 97% of our biosphere is in the marine environment, and life is believed to have arisen in the sea. While the importance of the marine environment to life on Earth thus cannot be overstated, the general public is largely unaware of its many life-sustaining roles and the range of marine resources used in our economy. The oceans hardly feature in our schools, newspapers and parliaments and most people associate the sea predominantly with holidays. In times when the marine environment is increasingly degraded through human activities, this misconception must be challenged. The Scottish Ocean Explorer Centre aims to play a part in building a more realistic awareness of and enthusiasm for the marine environment.

The environment, climate, economy and heritage of the west coast of Scotland are greatly influenced by the sea, and a significant part of tourism is associated with boating, diving, seafood, fishing and marine wildlife spotting. Locals and visitors are thus particularly entitled to and in need of accessible information about what lies below the surfaces of lochs and seas as well as in the deep ocean off Scotland’s western edge. Raising awareness about the local marine environment is a key step in engaging users to protect their marine environment and to stop cause unintentional harm. It is also a prerequisite for users to engage in marine spatial planning.

Schools in the area have little access to exciting science and environment displays and expertise, and few pupils from the region go on to studying science at university. SAMS is already a strong supporter of the STEM agenda that promotes careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics – having been shortlisted for the award of STEM employer of the year 2010 – and the development of the SOEC will greatly enhance the image of and access to science in schools in the dispersed and structurally underdeveloped region of Argyll and the islands.

A lack of indoor visitor attractions around Oban has been identified as a key reason for stagnant visitor numbers and a short stay period in the area.  The SOEC may thus also make a positive contribution to tourism and thus the economic development of the region. Tourism visitors will contribute to making the SOEC economically sustainable so it can deliver its educational mission throughout the year.

Objectives

Aim and objectives

General project aim

... to establish and run a popular exhibition and outreach centre that educates visitors about the marine environment and marine research, enthuses them to protect the health and diversity of seas and oceans, and empowers them to debate issues of ocean governance and science.

 

Specific project objectives

  1. to develop and operate an economically sustainable, regularly updated permanent exhibition and outreach centre that allows visitors, schools and special interest groups to explore how the marine environment works – with overview information on the global ocean but focusing on regional seas and following the water masses north to the Arctic
  2. to demonstrate the importance of a healthy and diverse marine environment to life on Earth
  3. to showcase the relevance of marine research to everyday life
  4. to empower visitors to contribute to discussions about how to regulate and manage our uses of the marine environment
  5. to enthuse the next generation to consider careers in science in general and marine science in particular
  6. to run a popular and regular programme of events on topics relating to the marine environment, both at the SOEC and throughout the region to  develop an interest in science and the environment in rural audiences
  7. to produce and deliver school workshops in support of the Curriculum for Excellence on marine topics including marine renewable energy, climate change, and marine biodiversity

 

Benefits

Benefits from the project

Many individuals and organisations stand to benefit from the Scottish Ocean Explorer Centre, with the main beneficiaries being:

  • the general public (both local and visitors): empowered by knowledge
  • the marine environment: better protected through greater awareness and more informed management
  • schools (regional and throughout Scotland): inspired by relevant, exciting science
  • the science/marine science community: more valued through increased accountability
  • the local tourism industry: supported by a new visitor attraction and regular programme of events
  • SAMS and the new University of the Highlands and Islands: increased brand recognition affects status and recruitment

 

Details

Detailed description

The Scottish Ocean Explorer Centre will be located on the Dunstaffnage peninsular three miles outside of Oban. It will be the only publicly accessible component of the Scottish Marine Institute, which attracts many visitors due to its range of research, education and business activities. Many of these visitors will be visiting the SOEC to get a clearer introduction to what marine science is all about. The neighbours of the Scottish Marine Institute will provide further interested visitors: on the one side lies Dunstaffnage Castle, which attracts 20,000+ annual visitors with an interest in the heritage of the area. The European Marine Science Park, home to businesses and organisations with a marine remit, is currently being developed on our other side and will, when coming online, bring additional visitors to the Dunstaffnage peninsular.

Plan

Visitors will arrive either by public transport from Oban or park their cars at the Scottish Marine Institute or the Dunstaffnage Castle car parks. Entrance into the SOEC is through two sets of sliding doors (to control wind and temperature), taking them to the reception area on the right and three large monitors showing stunning images of the diversity of life in the sea on the left. They will also be greeted by underwater sounds that immediately demonstrate that they enter a fundamentally different environment. 

The SOEC will consist of four distinct areas shown on the floor plan (Fig 1): a display area, a 20 seater cinema, a marine technology garden and a multi-purpose room which will serve as a café in the summer and a workshop room for children in the winter. This space can also be transformed into a room for discussions or presentations in the evening as it is equipped with smart board technology. The centre is also equipped with toilet facilities (2 female, 2 male, 1 disabled with baby changing facilities) and a kitchen.

The design of the SOEC makes use of three materials and colours in particular: Black – usually slate – to represent the darkness of the ocean and to make reference to the local slate islands, glass to represent water, and steel to represent marine science technology introduced into the marine world to research its functioning.

The displays will take visitors symbolically underwater, starting at Dunstaffnage beach and moving along on the seabed. Some displays will be raised from the ground and suspended at various heights from the ceiling to demonstrate that the sea is a three-dimensional environment where water column and seabed environments are very different. This will also increase the space available for displays considerably.

During their walk through the displays visitors will move through a changing sound-scape to experience that the sea is less a visual than an acoustic environment. Nine displays will be created in self-contained units exploring issues of interest. The first displays will focus on the waters surrounding Oban to address the visitors’ interest in the local environment, followed by some generic displays. The journey will then follow the North Atlantic Drift (the current that modulates our climate) northwards towards the Arctic, exploring key environments and issues on the way.

While the displays will change over time, the first set of displays are planned to explore:

  1. the Scottish sea shore (including tides and evidence of changes over time)
  2. sea lochs (including glacial history) focussing on Loch Etive and Falls of Lora
  3. maps & mapping of the local seabed and habitats (including sonar, diving etc)
  4. local ship wrecks and issues associated with marine transport
  5. ocean currents, climate and alien species (incl Gulf of Corryvreckan)
  6. energy from the sea
  7. the cold-water coral reefs in the Sea of the Hebrides
  8. the oceanography and biology of seamounts and the Wyville Thomson Ridge
  9. the Arctic: why it matters and how we explore it

 

The displays will be experiential at different levels and lower level activities will be aimed at children. The display explanation will use short film sequences where real scientists explain how something works and what they do to find out more. This approach adds the human interest side to the displays and is a useful technique to demonstrate to young visitors what careers in marine science entail.

We also plan to develop a number of observatories – webcam windows into the sea that we hope to link to underwater sounds. Eventually we plan to webstream the observatory footage and develop them into citizen science projects. Grant proposals for the development of observatories will be submitted to a number of identified organisations as soon as the funding for the SOEC has been secured to reduce the time lag. The BBC has already expressed an interest in using these observatories e.g. for coverage on Springwatch and Autumnwatch.

The cinema will show short documentaries about various research programmes, marine habitats and organisations. Our ambition is to develop local film productions once the SOEC has been developed and the footage on display will therefore over time come increasingly from SAMS. We are currently applying for various residency and grant programmes with two film makers to work with our scientists to begin work on this portfolio. Films will run on a pre-programmed loop throughout the opening hours of the SOEC. Special programmes may be put on for visiting schools to support their programme of activities at the SOEC.

Through doors from the multi-purpose space or from the outside visitors will be able to stroll through the marine technology park. Here a variety of marine technology will be shown with interpretation. The instruments will be arranged like art work in the garden and interspersed with benches and tables for visitors to take in the views or some sustenance. Exhibits will represent marine power generation technologies, sampling and observation equipment including seabed landers, and signage buoys for marine transport. This space will be available to visit free of charge even when the SOEC is closed and should also be informative for students and delegates on short courses or on conferences.

Inside empty SOECThe multi-purpose space will operate as a classroom / laboratory for visiting school/special interest groups outside the main holiday season. Here we will run a range of workshops on different marine topics for all school age groups lasting between 30 minutes and 3 hours. We will then support teachers to take the children to the local seashore that is just a minute’s walk from the SOEC and to conduct surveys or other small experiments.

We will provide visiting groups with information and equipment for additional outdoor activities such as a treasure trail that lets the children explore the coastal ecology and heritage of the Dunstaffnage peninsula. SAMS will put up interpretation boards in the vicinity to support these additional activities.

The SOEC will thus be able to provide a full-day event ‘package’ to visiting schools: explore the displays, watch exciting underwater film footage, learn in a hands-on workshop, investigate marine technologies, and then go down to the shore and become a marine Indiana Jones…

During the summer holidays, which coincide with the peak tourist season, the classroom will be turned into a visitor café. Using this space flexibly will allow SAMS to generate the income from tourists to run the facility sustainably throughout most of the year. The café space will also be useful for some of the events from our public outreach programme when used in combination with the adjacent lecture theatre for hosting public lectures and debates of the learned society. At other times the room may be used for housing short term exhibitions.

Finance

Finance

Market assessment

To assess the market for the SOEC we explored tourist numbers, competing attractions and science outreach facilities for schools in the Oban area.

More than 170,000 visitors pass every year through the Oban Tourist Office – mostly between June and September. Tourists to the area are largely groups of retired visitors, young and active adults from around the world, and families. Many visit because of an interest in the natural environment of the west coast of Scotland, including the sea, while others are attracted by the cultural heritage of the area – which is in turn significantly influenced by the marine environment. The paucity of local attractions and events creates a lack of competition for existing amenities. 

The Scottish Marine Institute is positioned next to an established visitor attraction, the 13th century Dunstaffnage Castle. This Historic Scotland monument records in excess of 20,000 paying visitors a year – and a larger number go unreported as they do not visit the inside of the ruined castle.  As long as the SOEC is clearly advertised and signposted to all those visiting the castle, we expect that most castle visitors will explore both venues.

The Scottish Sea Life Sanctuary in Barcaldine, 13 miles outside of Oban, records annual visitor numbers of around 70,000. The SOEC is likely to attract a similar audience as the Scottish Sea Life Sanctuary. It will thus complement the information provided in this marine zoo by exploring how the seas and oceans work and will exclude life displays.  The Sanctuary reports a visitor profile that is dominated by families with older children and adult visitors.

There is no outreach facility in the vicinity that could inspire local pupils and teachers about science, or about the sea that is of such regional significance. There is also no local facility that could promote careers in science or the marine sector. The Kilmartin House Museum with its focus on local archaeology, and the Glencoe Visitor Centre with its interactive displays on the landscape, climate and history of Glen Coe, are both approximately an hour’s drive away and focus on very different aspects of our heritage and environment.

SAMS has strong links with local schools as it is the only science organisation in the locality. This centre will allow the schools much enhancement in their access to our expertise. No marine science outreach centre exists in Scotland and the SOEC will thus be able to provide its services to schools throughout Scotland.

 

Finance

The overall costs and current funding income for the Scottish Ocean Explorer Centre are summarised in table 1.

Table 1: Income & expenditure for the Scottish Ocean Explorer Centre (incl. VAT)

1 The European Regional Development Fund, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, and the Scottish Funding Council funded a £6M teaching infrastructure project at SAMS of which £503,054.51 went towards the infrastructure development of the SOEC. The project was completed 31 December 2010.

2 The building that will house the SOEC was previously owned by Argyll College and sold to SAMS for £409,500. Only 48% of the total area of the building is within the SOEC and we thus assume a purchase cost of 48% of the total cost to buy the SOEC.

 

SAMS requires the SOEC to be financially self-sustaining. Income will be generated from entrance fees, sales from a small book and gift shop, refreshments available during the summer season, and grant income. This income will cover costs for staffing, maintenance and the regular development of new displays. Any potential SOEC surpluses will be reinvested into SAMS’ charitable activities. Table 2 shows the predicted income and expenditure of the Scottish Ocean Explorer Centre between 2011/12 and 2014/15.

Table 2: SOEC budget: Income and expenditure 2011/12 – 2014/15



From the tourist numbers to the area outlined in the market assessment, we estimate that 12,500 to 30,000 visitors will visit the Scottish Ocean Explorer Centre every year. For business planning purposes we have assumed an average entrance fee of £4 per visitor. The business plan assumes an increase in visitor numbers during the first three years of operation as the SOEC’s reputation grows. We aim to achieve this through marketing, PR and networking (e.g. offering joint tickets with the Scottish Sea Life Sanctuary).

Costs for new displays are planned to come from large research grants won by SAMS as science funders are placing an increasing emphasis on the inclusion of communications and public outreach strategies through impact plans. In the medium term (i.e. beyond 2014/15), the SOEC aims to win grant income for organizing public engagement initiatives such as Oban’s Festival of the Sea.

The SOEC will be used to promote the learned society role of SAMS and development of its membership. We thus expect to see a modest rise in SAMS membership stimulated by the displays with a small increase in income (<£1k). We have not recorded this in our business plan as membership benefits are currently equalling membership costs.

Table 3: Break-down of capital costs for the display infrastructure of the SOEC
 
Membership secretary

Elaine Walton
E: Elaine.Walton@sams.ac.uk
T: +44 (0) 1631 559 215
F: +44 (0) 1631 559 001
Scottish Marine Institute
Oban, Argyll PA37 1QA, UK