Save The HackSpace!

As some of you may be aware, we have found ourselves in a less than favourable situation. We currently have no home. The HackSpace is closed.

The What…

The HackSpace was my home. My youngest child Ivy had just been born and I was finishing a 5 year degree when I first incorporated The HackSpace as a community interest company. I was moving house when I first put the offer in and started with a social presence. In truth I had no bloody idea what I was doing, I just know I REALLY wanted to bring a communal space into Peterborough where people could really bed into, build and make things and learn amazing, often out of reach skills and hopefully see some of the awesomeness I see in the community. I would take my kids, who at that time I was home-schooling, to this empty unit and start building it, putting in stairs, building rooms, putting equipment in and preparing to let everybody in and add their own stamp to it.

What a bloody stamp you left! I never could have imagined the loves, the trials, the projects, the diversity of skills that would walk through the door. It was and still is awe inspiring! There is now over 100 solid members and many more who use the space as part of workshops and all other things we do here. Even still, I have no idea how to write things like this, I’m sat here picking chips out my teeth trying to find the words to explain something that was so much more than I could describe. You lot made it into something, you bonded and built and I was forced to leave my ego on the side and just watch people grow and share and just do human things that humans do. This place has grown, and I feel we have all grown with it, life has changed so much for all of us I’m sure, but The HackSpace was there, ready to absorb whatever we threw at it.

I’m saying this because I need people to understand how important you are in building this community and the amazing things you brought to each other, and me. The laughs, the eye rolls, the whinges at those messier members, the volume of Sams laugh and the calamity of Pete breaking everything. The art that would randomly pop up on furniture and walls, Amanda strolling in every Thursday adding colour with her art, the conversations we all had that would go off on the strangest of tangents. I think what was built by all of us is worth having in this city, where else can you go to fix that hole in your jumper, or laser cut a batman cape for your child or learn to do weld and play with 3d printers and all manner of other toys whilst chinwagging with some really cool (and quirky) people?

The Why…

The HackSpace got access to our first premises in August 2019. We all know what came shortly after that (Rhymes with ToeVid). The impact here was Harsh, being forced closed when we weren’t even half way through our first year, we struggled to generate operating income and with the advice being work from home, it was kryptonite to a space that relies on people NOT staying home. Funding that is usually available for community companies like The HackSpace became far harder to obtain due to the extra pressure placed on every community and how that affected distribution of support. With no ability to generate income, and little funding from elsewhere, we built up rental arrears during the lockdowns. We consistently communicated our financial position with the landlord, we made payments as and when we did get funds and the government put protections in place for commercial tenants, during this time the landlord and managing agents reassured us of understanding and protection. After the series of lockdowns, we paid our monthly rent and attempted a payment resolution with the landlord, avoidance of rent was never and still isn’t on the table.

Despite paying our rent post lockdowns, the landlord decided, in the absence of any communication or reasonable offer of resolution, to take swift and questionable action by changing our locks in the early hours of the morning. We have since pleaded, and made every effort to resolve the situation but, communication has ceased and it is now a legal process.

What next for The HackSpace?

In truth, there is no clear path going forward, we just know our landlord doesn’t want us there and we need to adapt. The HackSpace isn’t folding but to ensure this, we need to get ourselves out of this jam with your help! We need to raise funds that will enable us to proactively make the correct choices going forward and pay for those choices. We are actively seeking new premises. We still have all our equipment, it is just a matter of logistics getting it out of the building and into a new premises. Our main priority is ensuring that equipment stays accessible for every one of our members to use, but in reality, this isn’t going to be an overnight fix, we realistically are looking at a couple of months before we get into a new unit.

To end, we would like to extend our biggest of thanks for your help and support, it has been phenomenal and humbling to see how much people in the city care about this quirky little corner of creativity. Thank you and we look forward to seeing you all again as soon as possible.

The HackSpace.