The Church of Scientology Edinburgh are set to take centre stage at the forthcoming International Association of Scientologists (IAS) event with the opening of a “new life improvement centre”, but documents reveal they are simply expanding their existing premises to include an additional floor.
The Hubbard Academy of Personal Independence (HAPI), Scientology’s Scottish arm, has historically occupied just the upper floors of a property located at 20 South Bridge, Edinburgh however leaked propaganda materials reveal they have recently acquired the ground floor shop and plan to open it as a new recruitment centre.
According to Scotland’s Land Register the storefront, which is situated directly underneath their existing premises but has the separate address of 18 South Bridge, was purchased for the sum of £710,000 in March of last year. Scientology now plans to be expanding into the new space and are engaging in a desperate attempt to recruit additional staff ahead of the annual IAS gala later this month.
The event is expected to take place at Scientology’s UK headquarters near East Grinstead in just a matter of weeks with reclusive leader Captain David Miscavige at the helm. Thousands of Scientologists flock from across Europe to receive the latest updates on their organisation’s bid to ‘Clear the planet’ and usually takes place across three days over a weekend in October. For parishioners, news like the opening of a “new life improvement centre” serves as proof of Scientology’s ‘unprecedented expansion’, despite an apparent struggle to recruit staff members to work in the new shop.
HAPI’s executives have recently returned from an intensive training course at the Church’s Flag Land Base in Clearwater, Florida referred to internally as the ‘Golden Age of Administration’. The course involves studying thousands of pages of L. Ron Hubbard’s policy letters which lay out how to run a Scientology organisation known as the OEC/FEBC (Org Executive Course/Flag Executive Briefing Course). On returning to Edinburgh, the staff members are understood to be working under extreme pressure to demonstrate how their new understanding of Church policy has resulted in skyrocketing statistics and unparalleled growth.
In a memo sent to local Scientologists, a staff member explains “Something very exciting is being worked on for before [the] IAS event for the Scottish FEBC org in Edinburgh.”
“I need your help! Is there anyone you can think of who might be a prospect to come to Edinburgh now or [in the] future for HAPI staff?”, the note desperately continues. “We are getting our staff now (before IAS), for our new shop premises to open. What expansion!”
A promotional flier leaked to Scientology Business depicts the Org’s 19 staff members standing in front of Edinburgh Castle with text reading “the next phase in clearing Scotland is about to begin. New life improvement centre. Join us, it all starts with staff”.
Drawings of the new shop front were also sent to us, which illustrate Scientology’s plans to place new book displays, free personality test signs and Hubbard quotes in the windows. Photographs uploaded to Google by HAPI also show the storefront has been painted and a new frosted coating has been added to the windows.
Meanwhile, a large property purchased by the Church in Murrayfield five years ago has sat empty, awaiting refurbishment work despite a spokesperson telling reporters they would move to the building in 2021. It is unclear why Scientology shifted their focus to expanding their existing premises instead, however it is likely due to their struggle to raise enough donations to pay for the move.
The Murrayfield property is expected to become Edinburgh’s new home as part of David Miscavige’s ‘Ideal Org’ real estate program, which has seen the Church snap up large, often historical buildings in cities across the world and refurbish them in an effort to disguise falling recruitment numbers as ‘expansion’.
Ideal Orgs often cost millions of pounds to purchase and renovate, but sit largely empty and unused after the hype and fanfare of their grand opening dies down. A recent visit to Scientology’s Org in Auckland, New Zealand revealed that only five people had signed in to the visitor book by mid-afternoon on a Saturday, with a staff member describing how they “need more people.” An insider at London Org has also confirmed there are usually no more than a handful of parishioners studying in their course room at any given time, despite opening as ‘Ideal’ almost 20 years ago.
Despite the struggles to recruit new staff members, the opening of HAPI’s new ground floor shop front will undoubtedly be hailed as a resounding success of the Golden Age of Admin program and lauded by Miscavige at the forthcoming IAS event as a sign of Scientology’s “global expansion.”
A leaderboard we received from an insider lists just 32 parishioners on HAPI’s dissemination leaderboard, which celebrates recruitment acts like selling books, handing out flyers and delivering personality tests.
We’ll be interested to see how Scientology talks about the “new life improvement centre” in its press release, which we expect to be published shortly after the event takes place later this month.
