What happened last night (if i’ve missed anything janey, feel free to
mention it):
I met with Janey at the MCC building, very easy to find once i was at
the correct side of picadilly station! She told me what the MCC is
about, how the group came to exist, and their aims for the future
(provide non-standard maps, build ‘community’ buildings for artsy and
electronicsy people), then she showed me around the building.
The Ground floor contains about 6 small offices, a large space with a
big-ish room built in it (space 1), a MASSIVE space (space 2), and a
loading dock. The area for the hackspace is the room in space 1,
which is about 6m x 10m, has a large 6mx2m storage room which would be
lockable. The other part of Space 1 would be Artists. Space 2
currently contains as carpentry area, and there are plans to build a
screenprinting workshop, a glass blowing area, and furnace.
on the First floor, there is medium sized room , with 3 smaller
offices off to one side, and a kitchen. This area will be the IT
suite, they are getting about 20 computers running ubuntu donated from
the university, and
After chatting to janey a bit about projects, we both seemed
interested in building a reprap, a CNC Mill, and designing some small
’pager’ like devices for use around the space and in some ‘treasure
hunt’ type mapping activities. They are also planning a low frequency
radio station around manchester, and doing some awesome things with
cameras, RFID readers, and access systems around the space.
We discussed pricing, and while its not finalised yet, at this point
we can pretty much do a £20/month/member subscription. The only
problem MCC have atm is getting some cash up front for repairs to the
building, as there are a few issues with the roof, security system and
electronics. I suggested we could try to pay for 3 / 6 months up
front (of course, this isnt mandatory, but it would definately help).
We might have to revisit this in 6 months or so, once we have worked
out how many members we have, and how many new members we have brought
in (as MCC have to cover costs!).
Right now, access is good in evenings (until midnight) and weekends,
as janey lives 5 minutes away. Once the access system is sorted
(hopefully by january), access will be 24 hour.
I personally think the space is fantastic, Janey’s aims for it gel
pretty much 100% with ours, and we should definately pursue it
further!
Photos are at http://www.flickr.com/photos/40865126@N06/4111094937/
Unfortunately I forgot to take my proper camera, and the iphone camera
is completely rubbish in low light!
If you want to check out the area, the postcode is M12 6HN.
I’m hoping to visit again before the next meeting, to take some proper
photos and help out with moving stuff around.