Yeah right. "To save time." They are not getting the free labor like they used to. I think a lot more people think this BS. The money grab, the generation garbage and the tight pants zone talk got a lot of people thinking.
£150,000,000 Jehovahs Witnesses HQ approved
by defender of truth 37 Replies latest social current
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thedepressedsoul
My guess is they will only have 3-4 LARGE Bethel's and shut down all the mini ones. US Branches, Canada and the UK one. There really is no need for all of these Bethel's since everything is going digital.
Media is rapidly changing and they are still behind. They can't even embrace social media because the second they make a YouTube channel, FB or Twitter you can only imagine the down votes and comments it will get.
They have an uphill battle and this may be a consolidation move to close down all the smaller branches. Who knows.
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Sofia Lose
I draw the line at the money. Our donations will NOT be increased!!!
SL
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DesirousOfChange
Isn't this significantly more than the new USA HQ in Warwick?
Doc
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Vidiot
David Miscavige must be green with envy. -
brandnew
All this,.................but armagheddon is like here....right???? right???? -
OnTheWayOut
They might have felt it was necessary to hire people for the steel construction. It greases the wheels to get local government to approve and it may have been really not possible to train members and do it right for less.
Still, their figures are probably extremely inflated to impress. It's what they do.
And I have little doubt that they will say that this new place is so ideal for the job that all other European branches can close. -
konceptual99
There is a mix of outside contractors and volunteer labour working on Temple Farm. The WTS is moving to use outside contractors for a number of reasons such as continuity of work, expertise, health and safety, costs etc.
It's easy to say that using volunteer labour reduces cost but if the project takes longer, has peaks and troughs of labour availability and involves overheads in accommodating these people then there are hidden costs that can be increased.
Health & Safety legislation on building sites is always being tightened and nowadays you typically need documentation to prove you are competent just to get on a site, let alone do things like operate certain machinery or work at height. The logistics of making this happen with your weekend warrior volunteer is very complicated. Much easier to pass the risk and responsibility onto a contractor.
The expertise required in large projects is increasing as well. Large groundworks, steel erection, modern building management and lighting control systems, facade systems, building code adherence etc. all require more skills than the WTS can be sure to have on tap at the right time. There's plenty of Bob the Builders in the congregations but not that many construction and engineering specialists with years of experience in large commercial building projects. That's not to say they are not there, just that having a contract in place means timescales can be more reliably followed and the right resource available.
The final factor is that they don't want huge numbers of elders, servants and pioneers out of the congregations. They want them there leading people and keeping the numbers up. There is no doubt that when a large proportion of the bright lights in a congregation get embroiled in a construction project then everyone else slacks off or get hacked off at the workload they are enduring just cos the COBE is off enjoying cushty days eating bacon sarnies and home made cakes on site.
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konceptual99
On the point of European branches, we shall see. I think it's more likely that it will take over work in parts of Africa, the Indian sub-continent and even Asia. The most important branch outside the US is not the UK, it's Germany. So perhaps there will be some consolidation but don't expect the UK to start taking over Germany's role.
Germany is the link to eastern Europe and Russia.
Chelmsford is near to large sea ports. I don't think that this is a coincidence and I think signals an intent to work wider afield in the EMEA region.
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dozy
Although there is something of a pretence that everything is done by JWs , the WTBTS doesn't have the skills or expertise to do a lot of the work. Much of the new assembly hall in Scotland was done by outside contractors , including the preparation of the site and foundations. As I understand , much of the Chelmsford site is contaminated as it was previously used as a scrap yard and dumping of old cars etc & it will require specialised firms to detoxify the site.
The Society has streamlined much of the volunteer building work labour requirements. I remember going to some of the early quick builds which had hundreds of mainly unskilled people swanning around , including lots of kids. I was on the suspended ceiling team , which I have to say I really enjoyed , but many people had absolutely zero construction skills and shouldn't have been on site.Feeding them was one of the main issues - finding work for all of them was another one. People kept on wanting things to do and It often got to a point where we were organising brick chains passing bricks from one side of the building to another & then back again just to give people something to do and give them some sense that they had accomplished something. Nowadays it is a lot more focused & relies on more specialised small teams coming in to do specific tasks.
That being said , there are significant savings using unpaid labour for as much of the project as possible. A total cost of £150 million will be something of a bargain long term. When the society sells it off in 20 years or so , the value of the accommodation alone would comfortably exceed that ( a 600 room complex - ideal for student accommodation or even converted into a large hotel ).
Financing it shouldn't be an issue. The UK Society had pulled in £38 million of cash from the congregations cash grab by May 2013 - doubtless much more now in addition to £11 million of investments. http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Accounts/Ends61/0001077961_AC_20130831_E_C.pdf
In addition the value of the current Millhill Bethel site when it is sold will be substantial. Even back in 2001 when the Society were thinking of selling it & relocating to Milton Keynes ( a very similar project to the Chelmsford one but it was pulled after 9/11 ) it was valued at £30 million so must be a lot more now.
As another poster indicated , the Societies strategy is to sell off as many small Bethels as possible & focus on the mega complexes such as USA , UK & Germany. This serves several purposes - stops the risk of any possible schism occuring ( such as in Spain or Ireland ) , brings in a small amount of cash and reduces the Societies "footprint" in different lands to cancel any potential liability for court cases in most countries.