Fair Isle Bird Obs Closing for Good? (1 Viewer)

[Conwy Birder]

Some shocking news emerging from Shetland today, that the Fair Isle Bird Observatory wardens have been made redundant. Surely the only reason for this can be that the trust is no longer planning on rebuilding the observatory, so the staff are no longer required?

A few more details can be found here

Fair Isle Bird Observatory staff made redundant after 10 years in the job

THE REMOTE community of Fair Isle is said to be in shock after the warden and administrator of the island’s bird observatory were made redundant. David and...

www.shetnews.co.uk

 

[Mono]

My guess would be that the ring-fenced fundraising drive for the rebuild has reduced the unrestricted funds coming in to point that they can't pay the wages. People are giving money for the rebuild fund and thus not giving to the general running of the organisation.

 

[Stephen Dunstan]

Some shocking news emerging from Shetland today, that the Fair Isle Bird Observatory wardens have been made redundant. Surely the only reason for this can be that the trust is no longer planning on rebuilding the observatory, so the staff are no longer required?

A few more details can be found here

Fair Isle Bird Observatory staff made redundant after 10 years in the job

THE REMOTE community of Fair Isle is said to be in shock after the warden and administrator of the island’s bird observatory were made redundant. David and...

www.shetnews.co.uk

Surely there are several possible reasons for this, and you are speculating.

 

[Deb Burhinus]

My guess would be that the ring-fenced fundraising drive for the rebuild has reduced the unrestricted funds coming in to point that they can't pay the wages.

Not to mention loss of revenue from overnight accommodation since the guesthouse was destroyed - where would the money come from to pay wages?

There’s absolutely no indication the building plans are not still going ahead.

 

[Conwy Birder]

Maybe so, but picked this up from an island resident in one of the threads on twitter "They have also rejected the sole tender submitted to build the ‘new Obs’".

Either way still a horrible decision to let David and Susannah go, they are the heart and soul of the observatory and a huge part of the experience, certainly on my two previous visits. A lot more outrage from birders on twitter than on here!

 

[Deb Burhinus]

What’s the point of being ‘outraged’ - people are usually only made redundant if employing them is no longer viable.

 

[Stephen Dunstan]

Maybe so, but picked this up from an island resident in one of the threads on twitter "They have also rejected the sole tender submitted to build the ‘new Obs’".

Either way still a horrible decision to let David and Susannah go, they are the heart and soul of the observatory and a huge part of the experience, certainly on my two previous visits. A lot more outrage from birders on twitter than on here!

It's awful for David and Susannah, on top of losing everything in a fire and I know how devastating that is personally. I don't think however that there is any need for any outrage whilst the full circumstances have still to be explained by the members of FIBOT.

 

[NAB]

Why did they need to raise that huge sum of £650k to rebuild it after the fire, when according to this, they were able to claim on their insurance?

Fair Isle Bird Observatory & Guesthouse

 

[Steve Arlow]

At present only assumptions can be made as to the reasons why the Board have made this decision but it is likely that it will be financial rather than there will be no Obs on the isle in the future. Currently if there is no Obs there is no income, no income you cannot pay wages. The new build is yet to commence and seems likely to not be open until maybe late 2022 or early 2023, depending on if a company for the build has been secured and Covid restriction allow travel to do the actual build etc.

With no income and potentially still 2 years before reopening then where does the wages come from? Again it can be assumed that every avenue has been investigated into obtaining funds to continue paying for David and Susannah to be remain employed by FIBO. With the Parnaby family living at the Schoolhouse on the isle then money needs to be paid to the NTS for that ‘rent’ plus the accommodation for the Assistant Wardens when they are on isle for the season, plus paying their wages. Redundancy should only come as the very last resort, when no other options are available so one would hope that every avenue has been explored and there hasn’t been a leap to this decision.

When the new Obs is finally built then they will need to tender for a new Warden or will there be new way managing the Obs, and if a new way then how do you continue with the bird related work without a Warden steering those field and office activities. I hope the current way of doing things continues, daily census, evening log calls, morning trap rounds, cramming into the van rushing to the other end of the island for a mega. Only time will reveal any of this.

The past two years the Observatory work has continued, albeit at a reduced level and especially so in 2020 due to Covid, so how does that work continue in 2021 and 2022 if there is no warden, or even assistant wardens if they cannot be paid either. It will surely result in a break in data for the first time since the Obs was formed back in 1948 which the Board did not want to happen hence why David and Susannah remained on the isle after the fire.

As I understand it the announcement will be placed on the Fair Bird Observatory Website http://www.fairislebirdobs.co.uk/index.html at the end of the week.

As a Fair Isle regular and Obs helper I am personally disappointed by this news as David and Susannah not only made the 'new' Obs a success and for me were as integral to a visit as much as the birds and any future visit to the ‘new build Obs’ will never really be the same. I really hope something comes along that cuts them a break from losing home and possessions to a fire and then a few years later losing the job and second home as a result of initial loss.

 

[Conwy Birder]

The trust have now released a statement on the obs website: http://www.fairislebirdobs.co.uk/.

No obs for at least the next two years is a massive blow to the birding community as a whole.

 

[Hethersett birder]

I would be interested in the logistics of a major build project on somewhere as remote as FI. There can be relatively few cases of this scale of construction - given possibly the insufficient capacity to accommodate the workers involved elsewhere on the island and the alternative of bringing workers in on a daily basis seems fraught with problems given the unreliability of transport to FI given weather conditions. In addition to this, the transport and safe storage of the materials must also be a significant issue, as is the possible lack of enough construction companies of sufficient size based in Shetland to provide the basis for a competitive tendering exercise.

While a system/ modular build may be the only realistic option, the combined impact of these factors and risk assessment will mean the pricing of this build is likely to be very significantly greater than a comparable project on the mainland. In addition, labour shortages and the cost of imported materials also seem to be an issue (potentially linked to the Br**** factor) and will mean that their initial cost estimates are likely to be significantly challenged. I suspect that they will need to get to a position where they will effectively need to partner with a single contractor on a design and build type basis and essentially ask what they will be able to build given the money available. All off which means, I suspect, that they will probably be looking at a far less exciting end product than was originally planned.

 

[Deb Burhinus]

I would be interested in the logistics of a major build project on somewhere as remote as FI. There can be relatively few cases of this scale of construction - given possibly the insufficient capacity to accommodate the workers involved elsewhere on the island and the alternative of bringing workers in on a daily basis seems fraught with problems given the unreliability of transport to FI given weather conditions. In addition to this, the transport and safe storage of the materials must also be a significant issue, as is the possible lack of enough construction companies of sufficient size based in Shetland to provide the basis for a competitive tendering exercise.

There’s been an obs on FI since 1948 with various construction designs, and subsequent rebuilds, I can’t see it being any more problematic than the previous new build once they find a new builder. It will be interesting to follow the progress however.

Fair Isle Bird Observatory & Guesthouse

 

[tperry]

I would be interested in the logistics of a major build project on somewhere as remote as FI. There can be relatively few cases of this scale of construction - given possibly the insufficient capacity to accommodate the workers involved elsewhere on the island and the alternative of bringing workers in on a daily basis seems fraught with problems given the unreliability of transport to FI given weather conditions. In addition to this, the transport and safe storage of the materials must also be a significant issue, as is the possible lack of enough construction companies of sufficient size based in Shetland to provide the basis for a competitive tendering exercise.

While a system/ modular build may be the only realistic option, the combined impact of these factors and risk assessment will mean the pricing of this build is likely to be very significantly greater than a comparable project on the mainland. In addition, labour shortages and the cost of imported materials also seem to be an issue (potentially linked to the Br**** factor) and will mean that their initial cost estimates are likely to be significantly challenged. I suspect that they will need to get to a position where they will effectively need to partner with a single contractor on a design and build type basis and essentially ask what they will be able to build given the money available. All off which means, I suspect, that they will probably be looking at a far less exciting end product than was originally planned.

I agree.
I wonder who prepared the budget for the present scheme?
Design, build and also manage would be appropriate I suspect.
A tender to establish the cost of preliminaries, mark-up etc to enable the ground rules to be laid down in advance would seem sensible.

 

[Conwy Birder]

Briefly back to the subject of the wardens, a lot of people on twitter and facebook have been sharing similar opinions to my own about the situation, the two quotes I have amalgamated together below seem to sum up the feelings best...

"I think many of us who donated to the rebuild fundraising total, currently standing at over £650,000, would rather some of our money instead went towards supporting the wardens during the transition, which for many birders is as important a use of the funds as the building of the new obs... ...I for one would gladly contribute to a crowdfunded appeal to meet the Parnaby’s salaries across the time required for the redesign and re-tendering process and thus maintain the continuity of the historic ornithological data gathering, not to mention their and their children’s lifestyle"

 

[Andy Adcock]

I think that a £7.4 million spend on a rebuild, is highly ambitious, is such an expense justifiable and where would this money come from?

 

[Mono]

If you state that you are raising money for purpose A you cannot spend it on purpose B. If was is known in the charity sector as "restricted funds".

My understanding is that the vast majority of the rebuilding costs will be met by the insurance, the fundraising is for the shortfall. Although those costs will need to be reviewed as none of the tenders were as projected.

 

[Conwy Birder]

If you state that you are raising money for purpose A you cannot spend it on purpose B. If was is known in the charity sector as "restricted funds".

I mean for example that I donated £50 to the rebuild fundraise, but had I known at the time that this would be the situation they find themselves in, I would have rather donated £25 to the rebuild fundraiser and £25 to the hypothetical warden support fund, and I am sure many others would be in the same boat.

 

[Andy Adcock]

If you state that you are raising money for purpose A you cannot spend it on purpose B. If was is known in the charity sector as "restricted funds".

My understanding is that the vast majority of the rebuilding costs will be met by the insurance, the fundraising is for the shortfall. Although those costs will need to be reviewed as none of the tenders were as projected.

This seems to me, not to be a simple rebuild, rather a fairly substantial, expansion, surely the insurance won't stump up, anywhere near the figure quoted for the new building?

 

[Mono]

Below is the text from the FIBOT fundraising appeal letter.

The estimated total cost of the rebuild is approximately £7.4m, of which £4.5m will come from our insurers, and we hope to obtain financial support from public-sector bodies such as the Scottish
Government, Highlands & Islands Enterprise and Shetland Islands Council. FIBO will also contribute £0.3m from its own reserves. The gap between the insurance pay-out and the cost of the new observatory is because the new building will be bigger, be a totally-green building with its own solar power, have much-enhanced research facilities and be better-equipped for staff and guests.
FIBO itself needs to raise at least £650,000 from donations, some of which we hope to obtain from private-sector companies and charitable foundations.

The final figure is now moot as none of the companies asked to tender would agree to the price.

 

[Andy Adcock]

Below is the text from the FIBOT fundraising appeal letter.

The estimated total cost of the rebuild is approximately £7.4m, of which £4.5m will come from our insurers, and we hope to obtain financial support from public-sector bodies such as the Scottish
Government, Highlands & Islands Enterprise and Shetland Islands Council. FIBO will also contribute £0.3m from its own reserves. The gap between the insurance pay-out and the cost of the new observatory is because the new building will be bigger, be a totally-green building with its own solar power, have much-enhanced research facilities and be better-equipped for staff and guests.
FIBO itself needs to raise at least £650,000 from donations, some of which we hope to obtain from private-sector companies and charitable foundations.

The final figure is now moot as none of the companies asked to tender would agree to the price.

Thanks Mono, so it is a fairly, substantial upgrade they're after and looking for funding.

Can I ask why they need 'much-enhanced research facilities', I thought it was just an 'obs' with a ringing station, what do they do / intend to do there? Improved digs will mean upping prices for birders, it wasn't cheap before, especially when factoring in travel costs, you could get a weeek in Gambia for the same price the last time I looked.