# Hackspace Foundation Meetup #1 **URL:** \ **Category:** Events\ **Created:** [27 July 2026 18:45 UTC](https://forum.hackspace.org.uk/t/hackspace-foundation-meetup-1/1104 "2026-07-27T18:45:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![unknowndomain](https://forum.hackspace.org.uk/user_avatar/forum.hackspace.org.uk/unknowndomain/32/511_2.png) [@unknowndomain](https://forum.hackspace.org.uk/u/unknowndomain)\ **Post date:** [27 July 2026 18:45 UTC](https://forum.hackspace.org.uk/t/hackspace-foundation-meetup-1/1104/1 "2026-07-27T18:45:08Z")
Thursday 6th August 2026 @ 20:00-21:30 The theme for the event will be looking at buildings, buying, and owning property, but also doing the usual go round of where people are at. You can RSVP here: [HSF Meetup #1 — Fantastical RSVP](https://fantastical.app/i/PSOuznDPZkzLFrZ) ---
**Author:** ![unknowndomain](https://forum.hackspace.org.uk/user_avatar/forum.hackspace.org.uk/unknowndomain/32/511_2.png) [@unknowndomain](https://forum.hackspace.org.uk/u/unknowndomain)\ **Post date:** [6 August 2026 20:46 UTC](https://forum.hackspace.org.uk/t/hackspace-foundation-meetup-1/1104/2 "2026-08-06T20:46:34Z")
Notes from meeting: # Attendees: - Tommie - SLMS (750 members) - James + Jess - Swindon (100 members) - Samuel - Brighton (146 members, buying new tools, renting from private landlord, 63 years old) - Sadrina - East Essex Hackspace (190 members) - Khurram + Andy - Tee Side Hackspace (84 members) - Andrew - Surrey and Hampshire (23 members) # Experiences of looking for spaces ## SLMS - CLG - £190k in the bank - £1900 pm surplus - ~£59k pa rent - have rates relief - Likely to be kicked out for the 10 year review period of the arch - Considering buying, can’t afford. - Likely to wipe out costs when we move. ## Teesside - CLG - 1600sqft, 2019, deal half price rent - £1800 a month (trending towards deficit) CLG - Looking at moving to a charity - Charity commission is under funded/resourced. - Middlesborough Community??? - helping small groups get off the ground - Offered 9000sqft unit by council for a fixed amount but it’s covered by them - Issue was business rates, £8k PA. - Don’t qualify for mandatory relieve, 80% - If we’re looking to grow we need this. - We have: - Hang out space - Wood working a bit smaller than 1 person at a time - Metal work garage - Looked into charity space more - Needed to organise things more in the backend. - Slowly working on the application over the past year, sat with directors then members. - Charity commission has predefined charitable purposes, fitting within those makes it easier. - Charity status saves 5% on energy bills, Save £900 on Google and AWS services which become free. - Gift aid - 20% VAT back. - Scrutiny on charity - what is reasonable for a charity to do. - Find it difficult for a Hackspace not to fit in the charity - recreation, education in some cases. - Good connections with local authority helps. - Art community → annoy the hell out of the local authority. Social media noise about what you are doing. (Art community good to follow and tie into). - Gift aid - £5 fee, and top up donation. (currently min £6, then recommend £17) - Gocardless implementation issues. - GoCardless allows you to split it up in transactions on the org side, but single payment ## Brighton - No decision so far - Downpayment needed - Missed out on a near by building - Looking at leases (repairing leases) - What is the premium for these leases - Restrictions on leases (naked flames) - Men in sheds contact but it all dissapeared. - Quite often you can get a rent free period. - Reinstatement costs. - Experimenting with moodle ## East Essex Hackspace - Lease with the council - CIO - Peppercorn rent - Lease expires in 1.5 years - Expressed interest in new facility. - Stuck in limbo with the council about this, conditions, etc… - If that falls through then we were looking at buying somewhere, comes with problems with residential area, lack of parking, noise concerns. - Industrial state, barriers at 8pm - pass code not shared with 200 members. - Extend existing space to the side. - Waiting to figure out. - Gone from £10 month, gone to £5 set, with optional extra donation recommended £20 and then on the donation part we can do gift aid. - Turn over: £32k → mostly goes into electricity etc… - Solar panels grant - Might try keep the existing building for certain things. - Buying new kit, consumables. - Always growing our tool library. ## Swindon - Crampt - Rent is ~£1900pm - Look at other places sometimes, look good on paper but then tends to come with problem spaces? - Don’t pay for bathrooms right now as it’s provided by the building, so we don’t pay a cleaner or for that space. - Concerned we don’t have community to rebuild in a new space. - Negotiated a 3 year lease with defined max rent increases. - Didn’t change notice period. ## SHH - Stable - Changed 3 years ago - Rented a remote above a music bar in Guildford, small room, went up to £800pcm - Searched for a space, rent the back half of a sea cadet boat shed. - 500sqft + the other half of their space when not used - Mostly open source, barring electronics room - Safety requirements - can’t have people in during the specific meetings they have - Loads of outdoor space. - No running water or toilets, apart from when the directors are onsite to open the main building - £450pcm # What do we want from HSF? - Insurance - knowledge sharing - Has money - not how best it could be utilised propping up the pace - Knowledge and training - What do they have in terms of assets: - Forum - Insurance brokers - John from Wessex - Sharing risk assessments - Do we have a google account for a folder of RA? - Grant applications using AI - £8,500 over the past 2 years. - Write and review a playbook - Find a chair - Lobbying - Put the names for all of them under HSF UK - Hacklab - Makerspace - Writing to MPs, working with local councils. - We need more cases £800k, UK space agency. / Good news storeys # Should we keep doing this? - Ongoing conversations is positive - Builds on the telegram so we know who’s who - Quarterly - too little - Attendance - if it’s low frequency, low attendance. - If we do it frequently we’ll get more people attending. - Agneda ideas: - Improve the directory - Moodle # Next meeting Thursday 10th September 20:00-21:30 Theme: Becoming a charity status ---
**Author:** ![unknowndomain](https://forum.hackspace.org.uk/user_avatar/forum.hackspace.org.uk/unknowndomain/32/511_2.png) [@unknowndomain](https://forum.hackspace.org.uk/u/unknowndomain)\ **Post date:** [6 August 2026 20:49 UTC](https://forum.hackspace.org.uk/t/hackspace-foundation-meetup-1/1104/3 "2026-08-06T20:49:24Z")
Khurram’s notes: [2026\_08\_06\_HSF\_Meeting - Google Docs](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LOGmwrI4Ge-EvhsEqhAO_OMW5Pd9NZi2G5BwlR5xfRw/edit?tab=t.0) ---
**Author:** ![pe5er](https://forum.hackspace.org.uk/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/e36b37/32.png) [@pe5er](https://forum.hackspace.org.uk/u/pe5er)\ **Post date:** [6 August 2026 21:15 UTC](https://forum.hackspace.org.uk/t/hackspace-foundation-meetup-1/1104/4 "2026-08-06T21:15:50Z")
I couldn’t make the meeting, but here’s a quick update from us: # Swansea Hackspace (35 members) Private lease £5k/year. Fairly run down building, all renovations / decorating covered by hackspace funds and grant money. Successful in getting two National Lottery grants in a row (Awards for All Wales). Just finished the most recent one, which we spent on renovating a room to be a wood and metalworking workshop. We are running at a very small monthly deficit, but have enough cash in the bank that our short term future is stable. 5 year lease, renewed once already. Buying property is completely out of the question; we operate on a very low income. What I’d personally like from the HSF: - paid legal advice about health and safety law in the context of hackspaces - anything to make insurance more obtainable long term - any form of marketing and advertising help I’d rather the HSF focused on the bigger picture, rather than getting involved with finding individual spaces. Insurance comes up a lot, and that seems like a good place to start. I’ll try and make the next meeting!