Hackspace 2.0

Why is Nottingham Hackspace moving?

The news in late March that the Nottingham Hackspace was to be evicted to make way for development of the Old Police Station didn't come as a total surprise. Nottinghack's Station Street locational had always been a massive bonus.

That the Hackspace was just a NERF dart shot from the station was no idle boast (though I never got around to trying it out). There is a lot of money being spent on the area around Nottingham Station (branded as The Hub). In the next few years the NET Tram phase 2 to Beeston and Clifton will place Station Street at the heart of what I hope will be one of the best public transport systems in any provincial city in Europe.

Originally we'd looked at and discussed with The Art Organisation a move into their Hopkinson Gallery. The basement level was kindly offered to the Nottingham Hackspace. Initially we were interested but after reflection rejected the basement as too dark and damp and no doubt cold in winter. We'd have spent all the money we had just to get the place suitable. The lack of natural light as well as uncertainty about access, sharing and availability of ablutions made the decision to look elsewhere fairly easy.

On Wednesday 13th April Matt Little and I visited BizSpace at Roden House in Sneinton just 0.8 miles from our current Hackspace. On viewing a large former woodwork shop on the 1st floor at BizSpace it immediately became apparent that we'd found a potential new home for Nottinghack. The space is 4000sq ft which is huge. Matt and I decided that there must be some way to bridge the gap between the groups finances and it's ambitions.

It's surely a truism that Geeks are by nature a cautious bunch, though able an analysis a situation fairly and with a measured unemotional approach. I must admit that any other space within our price range would have been under-ambitious and left us stuck in a comfort zone whereby we didn't have the money to expand into a space we need, but we didn't have the space needed to get the money to expand.

I arranged a viewing of a much smaller room at BizSpace for the other members of the Board of Trustees. I couldn't resist the urge to have another look at the 4000sq ft space too. Seeing the reaction of the others to the large space, I knew we were going to have to find a way to raise £2k in 2 weeks....

I'll tell you the rest of the story once we've moved in!