moop 20:05
Meeting 1st September 2021
Attending: Andrew Armstrong (chair), Steve Barnett, Mike Haber, Gareth Howell, James Spence, Ali (Maq), Malcolm, Bob Wood
20:08
Events
Green festival failed to remind us by email as promised. It is happening soon. Information on Slack in #events If you're interested in attending, even if you don't want to be organising please let us know. If not enough people we might not attend. It's the 12th of September.
Gareth: Monthly maker challenge Show and Tell was last week. The next theme is Spark which will take us to the last week of September (the 29th). If anyone is interested feel free to join in. It's been nice doing these over the past few months.
No other events that we know of upcoming.
20:11
Actions/Minutes of Last Meeting
Nothing to add
Team Updates
Nothing from woodworking, electronics, 3D printing.
Andrew A: Craft room - discussing what to do about the industrial machines. Back and forth on whether or not we keep all 4. Discussion of getting rid of the hardest to use overlocker and getting a domestic one, but it is still ongoing. The other 3 will be getting maintained regardless. Unfortunately nobody who was discussing it was able to attend. More will be posted on Slack and a decision can be made at next month's meeting.
Craft room has a proper pull down cable in the middle.
Other teams covered, many mostly empty. Betty has been restocking safety supplies. Please let us know if you notice anything that's missing.
20:12
Teams are being reviewed internally by the trustees, but not much to discuss yet.
moop 20:17
Hackspace 3.0
Got a response from a structural engineer and had a site visit a few weeks ago, they are willing to work with us at cost.
The general assessment was that the more structurally complex stairs plan should be feasible. We're hoping we can understand the costs in comparison to the simpler but less space efficient plans, so we can put a decision to the membership. There are some thing we need to understand about the basement below us that may impact both the stairs plans and the door widening, which will also be affected by the gas main/hydrant outside and be subject to a search to find out what cables are directly below that pavement.
20:18
Looking to arrange a skip to get rid of rubbish downstairs. Need to clean a lot of junk out and make room to get around.
20:18
Bob: Are we bothering about getting money for the scrap metal
Andrew A: Doesn't seem to be worth it for the amount we have and the hours of work it would take to strip the wire, for example, but if anyone wants to prove that wrong you're welcome to it.
20:19
Ali: Can we offer some of the wires to craft groups who might strip it and make use of it, if they can take it off our hands as it is.
Andrew A: Happy to do this if it leaves the space, but doesn't know anyone personally.
20:20
Also it's not all down yet so we're still creating rubbish at the moment,
moop 20:25
Studio Improvements For Talks And Workshops
Gareth: Thinking about how we might invite people to use the space once we're back and enhance some of the stuff we've done in the past like talks and workshops. Looking at the idea of buying some of the modular staging 1x1 platforms (40cms high) that can be arranged to create a temporary stage. An important element is that it's modular and can be taken down and put away. Part of the reason for this was we used to invite people in to do talks which was good for public outreach, and with the grants we've got from the council it's on us to be part of the community a bit. It would be good to make these a bit more comfortable and less ramshackle. Would also be good to get a better screen for the back wall with the big H and some blinds for the windows to allow us to control the amount of incoming light. Finally some cheapish DMX controlled LED lights on poles would be good to light the stage area.
Partly this is to do with inviting people in, but also with improving accessibility by making the speaker more prominent or focussed on. Would be good for people who need to lip read or would struggle to focus with other activity going on. This would also make things easier for the presenter. The stage could also be mic'd up to make it easier for people with hearing difficulties to hear the talk and to deal with the inherent background noise of the workshop.
The reason for making this modular is to avoid taking over the space and to keep it flexible. The equipment could also be moved to the classroom if someone is doing a presentation down there.
Has posted on Slack and is interested in finding people to codevelop the plans with him.
Please contact Gareth on Slack if you'd like to get involved.
Other useful elements might be a PC and a lectern to make things easy and to avoid connectivity issues. A lectern could house a simple amplifier going out to a PA (either new or the existing one we have).
20:26
Core concept is to make presentations easier for both the presenter and participants.
20:26
Bob: Depends somewhat on the staircase.
20:27
Bob+Andrew: Suggest the classroom is another area this could be useful.
Bob: Need to improve ventilation in the classroom if we do this.
Gareth: I don't find the classroom as easy a space to manage for this sort of thing. If we reserve the classroom for these kinds of activities it makes sense to develop the classroom into that sort of space.
20:28
Gareth: Another benefit of the modularity is we could split it between two rooms to create an impromptu conference space.,
20:28
Andrew: Just having extra and dedicated equipment for this stuff would be nice.
20:30
Ali: Getting the IT/lectern/connectivity stuff first would be good since we don't know how the stairs will affect this, whereas that stuff will work anywhere.
Gareth: Points out the modularity means we can reconfigure as required.
Andrew+Steve: Stairs plan shouldn't take up much more space than the old benches.
Bob: Though there would be two walkways through the area.
20:31
Bob+Andrew: If we have internal stairs then using the spiral stairscase as a fire exit only will eliminate a walkway.
Bob: Points out if we got rid of the boiler behind the spraybooth that could be changed to a walkway straight through.
20:32
Andrew: Will likely be a pledge drive.
Gareth: Yep, though possibly some council funding could be used for this also>
Andrew: Some of the IT/PA equipment would be useful for the classroom anyway.
20:32
Financial Update
Hasn't been one.
moop 20:38
Re-opening Nottinghack
Probably the biggest item.
We're in a position where Matt is currently unavailable for personal reasons and has been for a little while. He got some stuff done during the past month but not as much as we'd hoped. With the stuff that has been done it is viable to reopen. Not too much to trip over or wires dangling. Unfinished but has been tidied up. All lights turn on but may not have switches. Kitchen is done enough that it is usable. Unfortunately one of the light switch panels is incomplete so the website needs to be used currently. Some 3 phase equipment has the wrong plugs (needs to be standardised to modern plugs) but Joshua has gotten some of this done.
Not everything is working currently but it's always been the case with Hackspace that equipment isn't guaranteed to work.
Kitchen is messy but usable.
Planning to box up equipment/remaining in progress electrical work and move it out of the way.
Trustees met but were not all present to fully discuss this. Planning to reopen with mandatory masks soon.
Need some help with a cleanup of the space to get ready for this. Also need to discuss plans, what tools need to be replaced, and figure out the major things.
Hopefully reopen soon after that Hack The Space day and have a good discussion with team members about what needs to be done as a priority.
This is provisional, but essentially since we've no real reason to stay closed with the electrical work paused and near done there shouldn't be any reason not to.
Interested in hearing questions and ideas or anything obvious people think we've missed about fully reopening on the old card access system without booking.
Open evenings have not been discussed and this is likely down to the membership team.
20:39
Discussion about light switches.
20:40
Ali: Small concern about opening up the space. What about the small portion of the membership who still don't believe in Covid?
Andrew: You can make a complaint, and the rules can be updated if necessary. Any complaints and concerns can go through the usual process. People should not be making people feel unstafe in the space.
20:41
Mike: Points out this puts the onus on people to make a complaint about these things.
20:42
Mike: Really hard to have to articulate these sorts of things.
20:44
Andrew A: We need to send out some communications about this. Mask rule is for the benefits of not just members but of their families and friends.
20:47
Gareth: Quick question about electrics, have they been signed off yet?
Andrew A: Matt has provided assurances that they've been left in a fit state. We would not have reopened for bookings if they were not safe.
James: Work can't be signed off until it's complete.
Andrew A: It will need to be signed off by BizSpace's electrician before it's done. It is in a state where everything is enclosed or inactive. Machines are working. Light switches do not connect to any high voltage circuits, they all have a low voltage PCB inside that talks to a central controller.
20:48
Andrew A: Previous wiring was so bad that our improvements are much safer than what we had. Kitchen is not finished, but is an add on anyway. Unfinished bits are just waiting to be installed.
20:49
James S: Has everything been terminated at the consumer units? What if something trips and something turns on something not expected to be connected?
Andrew A: As far as we're aware all mains wiring is either finished or not even started.
20:52
Andrew A: We were unable to find any unwired sockets or loose wires. Matt made a major effort to get everything into a state where it's safe and we're happy with reopening. Remaining work is the workshop lightswitch (low voltage) and three phase (some machines have the wrong plugs), plus the kitchen where the work is unstarted. There may also be some extra rewiring that has not been started.
Mike exits.
Andrew A: The general approach was to start and then finish one area at a time, though the workshop was more of a staged approach but still finished. We had a thorough look around yesterday and it is in a good state and much better than the previous state.
20:55
Bob: I'm in favour of you opening up as soon as possible. Interested in finishing the tidying up of woodworking and sees that Matt has sorted out some of the stuff on the benches.
Bob: Will it be okay if I box up the remaining stuff?
Andrew A: We are going to bring in some boxes, will be popping in hopefully soon to sort that out.
Bob: Will box up what's on the bench at the moment and put it near the stuff in the studio. Also needs to know if Matt has removed all of his personal tools.
Andrew A: We're not 100% sure unfortunately. They might be his, but he's been in to tidy up and take back some stuff. Better to leave it in the studio for now. We will leave it ready for him in the classroom when he comes back.
20:57
Andrew A: Definitely appreciate the help tidying up, also planning on doing a Hack The Space day and getting teams in to discuss various things. Maybe 19th.
20:58
Definitely several hours of work needed to tidy up but the space is usable. May be more of an issue if more people are in.
20:59
Not as much tidying as we expected though, looking not much worse than general usage.
Will remain with booked access for now and open up later in the month.
AOB
Contents of Ali's Quality Street Tin: Nutcrackers and stale hazlenuts.
:peanuts:
3
20:59
Meeting closed.