Makespace
Contents
What is Makespace?
Current status
For the most recent update, see our blog.
Funding has been secured to help bootstrap Makespace, and a lease has been signed for 16 Mill Lane, Cambridge! This means it is all going ahead, so get involved now to help create this thing!
Makespace is a community workshop in Cambridge, UK, for people to come and meet, learn and building (almost) anything.
It is currently being built up by its founder members, and is a 4k sqft workshop space in the city that will eventually be:
- A space with flexible access control and facilities
- A home for equipment like a 2D laser cutter, 3D printer, CNC Router, Soldering stations, etc
- A meeting and training area including a projector, chairs, etc
- The surroundings to meet, work, build, socialise and do amazing things
And as a community resource, it'll bring together a network of enthusiasts and innovators, the prototyping industry, consultants, businesses and educational communities in a mutually beneficial way. It is aiming to reach people from all across the East of England, using Cambridge as the initial hub.
If this sounds interesting, you should join our Meetup group. You can also contact the founders through this group. The group can be found at
http://www.meetup.com/makespace
We're something between a FabLab/hackspace/TechShop-type place: help us figure out what we want to be!
Who should be involved?
The space will be great for individuals wanting to experiment, startups or companies wanting access to prototyping equipment, companies in the business who can come and do training and provide services beyond Makespace, and groups that want space to meet. Anyone who could benefit from a shared space focused on making things.
At its core will be a membership-based structure; the price of membership will be £40/month inc vat for full membership, with more details to follow.
Getting involved
If you'd like to express interest in Makespace, keep up to date with how things are going, or find out about upcoming real-world meetings, please join our Meetup group.
This is our main community list and you can see archive update posts on meetup, or here.
We also have a mailing list at http://groups.google.com/group/cammakespace. You can email the list at cammakespace@googlegroups.com. Posts from new users may be held for moderation.
We are also present on IRC. Join #makespace on Freenode. You can also access this via your browser at http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=makespace
And it doesn't just have to be electronic; here are some extra resources to help you spread the word in the real world:
Please post them in offices, clubs, related shops, and anywhere you think will catch the eye of an interested person!
Help make sure everyone who should know about Makespace knows about Makespace!
Progress so far
For a detailed look at the progress so far, see our blog here (in the past we used to post on the Updates page).
Funding has been secured to help bootstrap Makespace, and we have secured a lease for our premises in Mill Lane, Cambridge. We are now in a building phase with our founder members creating the space for general openning.
This means it is all going ahead, so get involved now to help create this thing! Founding Members will have the chance to get involved now in return for their financial support with bootstrapping Makespace. Sign up at http://tinyurl.com/mspledge if you are able to support us with £250 for the first 6 month's Founder membership upfront. (Other membership types will be available once we are ready to open, so don't worry if this option doesn't appeal!)
Here are the working specification documents:
Building Makespace Projects
The founder members are now working on how the space should be used and the projects to make it happen:
Personal and Other Projects
We are also working on outreach activities as follows:
Social Meetings
While we wait for the space proper to open, MakeSpace meets regularly to do some hacking in the pub. The canonical means of arranging these is via Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/Makespace
At the moment, these tend to be every other Thursday, at the Anchor pub near the space.
Formal Meetings
There are brief write-ups of relevant meetings provided at Meetings, committee meeting minutes are also listed below:
Sponsorship and Donations!
Makespace is made possible by membership fees and sponsorship, and also support from Ideaspace. We gratefully receive any donations, however small, that can help with developing, running and improving Makespace for everyone.
Also, we accept donations-in-kind. Head over to DonationsWelcome, where we're tracking the things we need and the things people have that we might need.
Thanks!
Links
Some information about other groups around the world that may be of interest can be found on the Links page.
