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New roots: How the Eden Project became more commercial, without losing its soul

BUSINESS CONNECT / EDEN PROJECTBUSINESS CONNECT / EDEN PROJECT

ABOUT

Business Connect was launched by HouseMark in 2013 and aims to help housing providers to gain insights into the operations of successful businesses in other sectors. The ambition is to challenge social landlords to use these visits to public and private sector organisations to unearth new ideas and better ways of working, which can then inspire their own business planning process.

The Eden Project is an educational charity and one of the UK’s top tourist attractions with two distinctive “Biomes”, located in an old clay mine in Cornwall. This publication reports on the key lessons from a visit by HouseMark members to the Eden Project on 6 and 7 October 2014.

Paradise regained

Contents

In October 2013, David Harland and his fellow directors set out a 100-day turnaround plan to ensure financial security for the Eden Project. Now, with new director Gordon Seabright on board, the organisation is planning its long-term future, while maintaining its original vision

When I was at English Heritage,” says Eden Project director Gordon Seabright, standing in the

heart of the Cornish tourism behemoth’s Mediterranean Biome, “I used to bring my management team here, as there was something magical I couldn’t put my finger on that I wanted them to experience, in the hope that we could pick it up. I very much hope you’ll experience this too.”

Seabright is welcoming 11 HouseMark members to the Eden Project as part of the Business Connect programme, where they hope to learn how an organisation best known for having the “biggest rainforest in captivity”, in the other of its huge Center Parcs-esque Biomes, is at its heart an educational charity with a mission to, according to Seabright, “connect people with each other and the natural world around them.”

In November 2010, Mother Nature took this connection to extremes when heavy rain hit Cornwall and flooded the site – a former china clay mining pit. Much of the 15-hectare crater – although crucially not the two Biomes – was left under water, forcing the attraction to shut for a week.

However, in the words of David Harland, executive director, the problems were only beginning. “On 26 January 2013, Sir Tim Smit [the Eden Project executive vice chairman and co-founder and still a core member of the leadership team of four] told everyone that up to 70 jobs could be cut as part of an attempt to cut costs by £2m a year. That was my first day.”

Harland says the problems were caused by something akin to “an act of God”, in that so many factors hit the business at the same time. Far fewer visitors came to Cornwall in 2012 due to a combination of the Olympics – “which was a fantastic event, but took 15 per cent of visitor numbers away from the regions of the UK” – poor summer and autumn weather and the lasting effects of the recession.

This fall in revenue meant the management team had to begin reducing

costs and simplifying the business structure, and to provide a stronger focus on Eden’s educational and outreach work. For Seabright, this latter aspect is significant. “The point of the Eden Project is that it is an educational charity,” he says. “We are trying to give people the tools to feel empowered to change their little bit of the world.” He adds that the organisation already undertakes a “huge amount” of educational and outreach work from primary through to tertiary education and apprenticeships. The hope is to continue to work in partnership with external education bodies and “transform the site into a campus” as well as a stellar visitor attraction.

Before Harland and his fellow executive director Peter Stewart could think about the future of the business, however, they had to safeguard it first. They set out a

100-day plan, during which they asked people to trust them, before giving the opportunity to judge them at the end of this time at a two-day annual staff gathering. They removed £4 million in costs from the organisation, they asked for and secured the patience of their suppliers and Harland began an arduous seven months of signing every invoice and purchase order. It worked and, 100 days later, they were able to announce that the business was on course for a small operating surplus.

“The key point of the turnaround was not the cost management,” says Harland. “We had to get everyone to buy into the change in culture.” This was no mean feat, as Eden Project staff had been raised in the good times on the entrepreneurial approach embodied by charismatic co-founder Sir Tim Smit. Harland and Stewart embarked on a series of face-to-face staff meetings to ensure everyone understood what was being done and why. Crucially the two joint executive directors (interim) – or JEDI, as they quickly became known – had the backing of Sir Tim and the freshened-up board and trustees.

Yet, as Seabright and Harland both admit, the culture of the Eden Project staff is what makes it special and gives it its “soul” (see page 6). Has this dedication to the charitable mission survived the drive to become more commercially savvy?

For Seabright, whose role includes the creation of a strategic framework against which the Eden Project can assess future business opportunities (see page 5), protecting that “uplifting” sprit in the organisation is crucial, as its creativity is needed now more than ever. It looks as though the ground work put in during the turnaround plan to retain people’s trust has borne fruit, as Seabright says he and his colleagues on the leadership team have received a number of ideas from elsewhere in the business. He adds: “The amazing backdrop of the Biomes make the site a great theatre set and makes us a ‘bucket list’ attraction for many people. Our challenge is to continually refresh the content, through events and exhibits that encourage visitors to keep coming back time after time.”

A question of loyaltyThe importance of building long-lasting relationships with both sponsors and visitors

Other EdensThe Eden Project brand is being attached to a wide range of initiatives

Nature and nurtureHow the “pragmatic visionary” approach inspires staff and visitors alike

The view from the BiomesBusiness Connect attendees share their views

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Key facts

858,879 visitors in 2013. Its peak was 1.9 million in 2001 when it first opened

More than 16 million visitors to date, generating £1.5 billion for the region’s economy

Construction 40 per cent funded by the Lottery’s Millennium Commission

375 staff 83,000 tonnes of soil

created from mining waste 1 million plants and trees on

the 50-hectare site, with more than 4,000 species

More than 80 per cent of hospitality suppliers based in the South-west

Far left: Gordon Seabright, the business’ recently appointed director Left: David Harland, executive director

The key point of the turnaround was not the cost

management. We had to get everyone to buy into the change in culture

We are trying to give people

the tools to feel empowered to change their little bit of the world

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Supported by

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A question of loyalty Other EdensIn 2002, Dan James came to work at the Eden Project ‘for 10 days’, and never left. Now his job is to inspire similar commitment from sponsors and visitors

The Eden Project is constantly finding new ways to use its assets, from the water beneath the site to the brand itself – which may soon have a new home in China

Could you imagine the Rainforest Biome, sponsored by dot, dot, dot,” says Dan James, the Eden Project’s

development director, with a twinkle in his eye. The man who has worked here on fundraising “since I came to do 10 days’ consultancy in September 2002” knows better than most how such a proposition could jar with staff and visitors alike. Yet James is only partially joking. He has lived through the large-scale restructuring and job losses of the past two years and has no desire to repeat it.

James candidly admits that Eden’s fundraising success has been mixed. “Eden has historically been very good at raising capital grants to build the project from public sector funders. We have also been successful in generating project funding from the lottery and government at a level of over £1 million per annum consistently for the last few years. However, we have never had the same sort of success with unlocking funding for the current educational content delivery on site day in day out.”

So how will James and his colleagues ensure history does not repeat itself? As with all of the senior team we meet, there is now a well-developed plan. “It’s not only about fundraising, it’s about growing the audience,” James says. “To do the things we need to do, it is essential to take our charitable work to a wider audience. To that end, we are looking for corporate partners who have the same ideals as we do and will help extend that reach.”

James stresses that central to his work is the need to “ensure we’ve got our proposition right”. “We are getting much more clarity about our audiences and we have a clear plan aimed at growing our supporter base,” he says. “We

Geothermal is exactly what Eden is about,” says Gordon Seabright, director of the Eden Project. “If you drill a hole 5km

down under Eden, then drill another one 25 feet away, pour water down the first hole and pump it up again from the second one, it comes up superheated!”

This startling discovery has unleashed a number of plans to capitalise on this abundant resource – as we have already established (page 2), one thing the Eden Project does not lack is water. There are numerous possible uses for the heat and power, in addition to cutting the energy bill for the two Biomes. But most important, as far as Seabright is concerned, is the opportunity to help Cornwall become an energy supplier at a scale that could allow it to become self-sufficient in electricity.

This is just one of a plethora of ideas the Eden Project team is assessing at present (see box). “We have the largest rainforest in captivity, we have these iconic Biomes, we have these fantastic facilities – but there are millions of potential visitors we have yet to attract,” says David Harland, executive director at the Eden Project. “We have been very focused on how we get people to come time and time again, which is why we run these programmes.”

He admits that he and his colleagues love to innovate when deciding what events to put on in the visitor areas, and that they have learned some valuable lessons. “We have become specialists in making subjects that are interesting to our scientists accessible to the wider public,” he says. “We also try to do more unexpected events to bring in new audiences – such as the [US electronic dance music artist] Skrillex gig last summer as part of our Eden Sessions.”

In addition to geothermal and the Eden Sessions – which have run since 2002 – the Eden Project runs the phenomenally

have just under 1 million people coming in each year. It’s important we provide opportunities for those people to engage further once they have left the site.”

The newly installed customer relationship management system should ensure that James can create far more meaningful relationships with the 16 million-plus people who have visited the site in its 13 years. The aim is to implement a new membership programme where the current 3,000 “friends” of the Eden Project expand significantly by 2018. This basic level of customer association is intended to ensure people “have a deeper level of engagement and understanding of the educational mission of the charity”, and can therefore become active ambassadors for Eden’s work.

The aim for James is to ensure that fundraising contributes a greater level of income to the charity and helps the Eden Project get to a point where 50 per cent of revenue comes from the visitor attraction, while the other half comes from other activities including fundraising – currently the split is 80/20. The other areas where James is concentrating his fundraising efforts are: trusts and foundations; public funding; partnerships and the aforementioned corporate sponsors.

“We know that when people visit here they leave inspired and fired-up,” James says. “Our challenge is to ensure we capture this and get the content and cause right to demonstrate to people they are making a positive difference by continuing to support this charity.”

popular Big Lunch and Big Lunch Extras initiatives. The Big Lunch began in 2009 and encouraged 750,000 people to host a lunch on the first Sunday in June with friends, family and neighbours, and this year it had nearly 5 million participants. The Big Lunch Extras is a spin-off that sees 900 people attend an event that aims to help them to help their community.

There is also a 750-metre, 60mph zipwire, and accommodation ventures: the Snooze Box hostel, made from old shipping containers, and imminent plans for more accommodation, such as a 120-bed, German-style eco-lodge. In keeping with its educational charity status, the Eden Project also hopes to establish a campus on-site that will work in partnership with Cornwall College and others to offer a range of horticulture-based courses.

By far the most talked-about initiative at present, however, is the plan for international expansion. Harland is clear that the Eden Project is about the possibility of “transformation and regeneration” to sites that have previously been occupied or developed for other uses. “Why go international?,” he asks. “Purely because of our charitable mission and the desire to reach out further.”

The most likely first destination is China. “There had been 43 approaches for different Edens around the world until a couple of years ago,” says Harland. “The next Eden won’t look like this one though – it has to respond to its local environment.” He adds that “we are discussing some interesting opportunities in China”, citing three possible locations that Chinese businesses have raised with him, including one 20 miles from Beijing. Although the next Eden Project venture won’t be a replica of the original, one aspect that will definitely feature is the “spirit of the Eden team”. As Harland says: “This is the thing that makes Eden Eden.”

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Key learning points

The Eden Project has just launched the fastest-selling mini-bond ever, raising £1.5 million to fund the refurbishment of two derelict properties into educational facilities for its Food and Horticulture Apprenticeship programme with Cornwall College.

Corporate partners who support the work of the Eden Project now include Sky, WWF, Halifax and Asda.

James is currently fundraising to support the second phase of the rainforest canopy walkway: “We will have wobbly and exciting rope bridges and an immersive experience taking visitors behind the waterfall.”

“It’s not only about fundraising …To do the things we need

to do, it is essential to take our charitable work to a wider audience Ph

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Key learning points The Eden Project has five key strategic areas of operation:

Visitor numbers – The need to attract visitors to the iconic site and stage great events, so that people keep coming back

Digital –According to Seabright, the website is soon to be rebranded to convey the enormous range of activities undertaken

Education and learning – The Eden Project runs a wide variety of initiatives in this area and these will be given a clearer focus

Asset use – There are 35 hectares outside the clay pit that are relatively lightly used. This is changing with a variety of new ventures

Mixed economy – Working with partners and friends to achieve more and to raise the profile of the Eden brand in the UK and overseas

Clockwise from top:Elbow live at the Eden Sessions, July 2014; Ellie Goulding, also in July 2014; the site’s geothermal power plant; the Snooze Box hostel

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Nature and nurtureThe Eden Project takes an unorthodox approach to staff development, instilling a passion for the site and its mission that soon spreads to visitors

e are standing in the pouring rain, in the woods halfway up the old clay pit in which the Eden Project is built and

talking about pixie stories. This may sound slightly incongruous for Business Connect, but it neatly illustrates the approach the Eden Project takes to its customers and, crucially, its 375 staff.

“When we opened, all the visitors wanted to see the Biomes,” says Richard Good, senior catalyst at the Eden Project. “But they only take up a relatively small part of the site, so we wanted to get people up here to see the plants. How did we do this? We had a team of guides and storytellers that formed the pollination team. They would meet people down at the base of the crater and then bring them up here to have a hot chocolate, light a fire, tell stories and just have a really beautiful experience.”

This is typical of the “pragmatic visionary” approach the Eden Project takes. Good explains that the hope is that visitors are inspired by the place and the people they meet and “leave with the passion to go

Helen Jones Director of finance, Trafford Housing Trust

We are just starting to dip our toe into the sustainability

world, so I am looking for some information on how we do it in a sustainable as well as a commercial way.

their strength, but also forcing themselves to face challenges shows the culture has been a strength and weakness. So it is ensuring you strike that balance.

Elaine Walder Director of commercial services, National Housing Federation and board member, HouseMark

The really fascinating stuff was around diversification. It’s

Jacqueline Norwood Director of neighbourhood services, Wheatley Group

My part of the business looks at innovation, the environment

and employability – all of the good stuff. That’s why I’m here. I take from the visit the confidence that my idea could actually work for an urban farm on some of the derelict land just off Duke Street in the east end of Glasgow.

about working out what to do, what partners to work with and how to balance this with the core business. Housing associations have suffered from not telling a good story. They can talk to themselves, but don’t talk to their partners. Clearly Eden has heard that message and is now trying to share messages around, so they work together with partners rather than against each other.

Jonathan Cooper Commercial manager, Bromford

The culture of Eden is similar to what our beliefs are – it is very

much about the person, so if the culture doesn’t fit, it isn’t going to work. I particularly liked the horizon-scanning and the fact they are always looking for opportunities and being brave about it. One of the things that will stick with me was

Julie Riley Director of care and support, the Barnet Group

I’m here to have a look at the social enterprise and commercial

aspects, to see how the Eden Project delivers these aspects in the real world. The culture is the key thing for me in terms of how we take some of that on board for the Barnet Group and some of the restructuring we have recently been through.

“unblocking the constipation” on decisions. No business talk – it’s about being straight with people and being fair and reasonable.

Helen Wills Group director for enterprise and investment, First Ark Group

I’m new to the housing sector and we are transforming

our organisation, so I am really keen to learn what the Eden Project is doing from

Ana Mae Contreras-Ramirez Area co-ordinator, Poplar HARCA

I am very interested in the future diversification

plans. What about doing something for older people with the site in terms of accommodation? With all the space they have and the transport connections, as well as the water potentially from geothermal, this could work really well.

and do the thing that has been a burning desire within their own hearts”. This places an enormous importance on the staff, and the Eden Project implemented a novel structure in its operational frontline teams to ensure they were supported to convey the right messages. It established a system of “elders” where older, more experienced members of staff are highlighted as central figures with a responsibility to transmit “knowledge and wisdom” to younger team members.

When it comes to recruiting frontline staff for the visitor attraction, again the approach is unusual. “We interview people to find out what kind of people they are really and what their spirits are like,” says Good. “Are they shining, are they enthusiastic, are they passionate about life, never mind just the Eden Project? The people who are a shining example of that human spirit are given a job.”

It may be unorthodox, but the approach obviously works, as the Eden Project has been named the UK’s best leisure attraction three years running.

The value of the care taken in nurturing

staff who connect with visitors has also been noticed overseas. Executive director David Harland has shown a wealthy Chinese businessman, keen to export the Eden Project and its values to his homeland, around the site several times in the past two years. “He is interested not just in the amazing architecture, but

also in the spirit and ethos the project has created,” says Harland, adding this is due to the success of staff in getting people to interact with the environment around them.

The collegiate and vaguely hippyish, laid-back style came under severe strain in recent years, however, as the business was restructured and jobs were lost, in order to balance the books. “We are coming off a turnaround that was a difficult period for a while,” says Gordon Seabright, director of the Eden Project “and we are working hard to rebuild people’s confidence now. This summer’s excellent visitor numbers have gone a long way to rebuilding staff morale.”

The approach to dealing with this was for senior management, led by Harland, to embark on a series of face-to-face staff meetings to explain what was happening with the restructuring and why. When Seabright joined this summer, he sought to further “break down the barriers” by spending a month working in a variety of roles around the business, from the kitchens to the car parks.

As a result of these efforts, the Eden Project’s spirit and its educational, charitable mission appear undimmed. “We all have dreams inside,” says Good. “One of the great things that I love about this place is that it nurtures this and finds a way for these dreams to come out.”

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The Biomes: key facts

It cost £141 million to build the Rainforest and Mediterranean Biomes

The Rainforest Biome is 240 metres long, 55 metres high and 110 metres wide

Some 831 cushions, 16 pentagons, 190 triangles and 625 hexagons make up the Biome structure. These have a 30-year lifespan, with each section needing to be replaced individually

The Biomes were built in a 160-year-old open-cast china clay mine

230 miles of scaffolding was used in construction – a world record

Rainwater is harvested to create humidity and provide half of the site’s needs

50-metre-high kapok trees and plants are pruned by abseiling and hot air balloon

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“I take from the visit the

confidence that my idea for an urban farm in the east end of Glasgow could actually work

We interview people

to find out what kind of people they are really and what their spirits are like

The culture is their

strength, but also forcing themselves to face challenges shows the culture has been a strength and weakness

a charitable perspective and how this relates to its commercial approach.

John Hinchliffe New homes financial controller, Bromford Housing

I am keen to understand how they are diversifying their

revenue streams. How do they pick projects that make commercial sense, have a social purpose and then make them work? The culture is

Peter Gardiner Director of financial services, Southern Housing Group

Housing as a whole is in a crisis situation now. It is our equivalent to

the economic shock that was suffered by Eden a couple of years ago. Hopefully we will rise to that challenge, and taking on board learning from events like this on how we can get our brand into a more valued position and build on that brand is very important.

LESSONS FROM THE BIOMES WHAT DID ATTENDEES TAKE FROM THE EDEN PROJECT’S APPROACH?

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Key learning points

A key aspect of securing the turnaround in the business was to maintain the prized creative and welcoming atmosphere among Eden Project staff. This had to be done while placing the business activities on a different footing. A series of face-to-face meetings undertaken by the senior management team was important in achieving this.

Another important goal was to stick to the promises made in the 100-day turnaround plan. Costs had to be cut in order to achieve this and a clear message was sent out by having executive director David Harland approve every purchase order.

This rigour has extended to the approach on sustainable procurement. “Every purchase over £500 must first have answered five questions on each of the environment, the economy and the social impact of what is being bought,” says Harland.

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HouseMark is the leading provider of integrated data and analysis, insightful knowledge transfer, high-quality consultancy support and, via Procurement

for Housing, cost-effective procurement services to the social housing sector. More than 950 housing organisations are HouseMark members, and we are

jointly owned by the Chartered Institute of Housing and the National Housing Federation – two social housing sector not-for-profit organisations that

reinvest their surpluses into the sector.

Business Connect delivers its programme through a mix of business study visits, leadership interviews and networking and shared-learning opportunities.

The programme allows delegates access to high-performing, successful and inspiring businesses at a senior level to learn about new business models, ideas

and opportunities. Organisations working with Business Connect include Capita, The NEC Group, Timpson, Greggs and Nissan. For more information,

please contact manveer.hundal@housemark.co.uk or call 024 7646 0500.

Campbell Tickell is a supporter of Business Connect.

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