Get Online Week: East Essex Hackspace

The next organisation for #GetOnlineWeek we’re spotlighting is the brilliant work of East Essex Hackspace!

East Essex Hackspace is a charity in Hawkwell, Essex, offering a community-run workshop with metal, wood, 3D printing, and electronics facilities. It also provides a social space for meetings and workshops, with the building leased from Rochford District Council until 2027!

Hackspace are dedicated to making technology accessible to everyone. By providing computing resources and software training, they enable individuals to learn at their own pace and develop new skills in areas they’ve never explored before.

What is your organisation called? 

East Essex Hackspace CIO.

What does your organisation do?

We provide workshop facilities for hobbyists and training on tools/equipment & related subjects. The hackspace provides somewhere for like-minded people to come and meet people, attracting people of all ages (though under 18s have to be supervised!).

How does your work benefit the community?

We provide access to tools and machinery you wouldn't necessarily have at home, allowing people to build on their creative skills.

From a mental wellbeing perspective, we also see people getting out of their houses and socialising about their hobbies and learning new skills. We also provide things like a tool library, enabling people to do one off jobs at home, for free, using our free tools.

What do the different members of your team do, and how does their work link together?

The trustees have different skill sets and run sessions from 3D printing, coding, electronics, home brewing, lock sports etc.  We run free evening sessions for the community to come and learn new things.

How does your work combat digital exclusion?

We provide access to computing resources and train people on various bits of software. This allows people to self-learn at a rate which is comfortable to them to develop new skills in areas they've not worked in before.

Some people have come together and used the facilities to launch businesses or develop products for market, learning skills like Computer Aided Design (CAD), additive manufacturing (3D printing) and Computer Numerical Control (CNC) on our systems, as well as how to safely use the tools and machinery.

Do you have any examples of how your digital support has helped a local resident?

We hope to expand our workshop & social facilities to accommodate more people to allow bigger sessions for our popular workshops.

Hackspace in person.

Why are you passionate about your role?

I've always been a maker myself ever since I could brandish a pair of scissors and some Sellotape, inventing toys and making cardboard forts for cats.  As I got older, I continued to add to my skills, but there's only so much you can do in limited spaces.

I've been lucky to have my own workshop in my garage, however it's been building the community which has brought the most joy as we now host several hundred members and have a very active chat space on our discord server. This means people have somewhere they can collaborate on projects or ask questions. Someone always has a better idea or a simpler way of doing something or can provide help to diagnose issues. Then people meet up down the hackspace and have access to all the tools and machinery to do almost anything!

Can you give any examples of your challenges or successes?

The hackspace has been a pivotal success for STEM in Essex, providing a hub that people will travel long distances to come see us or use our facilities, some of which are well over an hour away, but come down regularly to see us. We've run repair cafes and saved hundreds of objects from landfill, we've recycled almost a thousand laptops which have been put into hands of local children and during the pandemic, manufactured 14,000 items of PPE for the health service!

If you would like to join the East Essex Hackspace, join their Facebook group today!