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https://reasonstobecheerful.world/inside-the-uks-first-open-access-pay-as-you-go-factory/>
"Entrepreneurs Alisha Fredriksson and Roujia Wen spent months in 2022 scouring
London for the right space to develop a prototype. Their big idea — to capture
carbon emissions from cargo ships by trapping the gas amongst calcium oxide
pebbles, through a system fitted on board — required a big, well-equipped
space.
The options their search yielded were less than appealing. Large warehouses
that had the high ceilings Fredriksson and Wen needed to build their venture,
Seabound, were typically empty, with tenants needing to fully equip it
themselves with the right machinery, plus the electricity to power it. They
tended to be in industrial zones with only the likes of auto shops or dark
kitchens for neighbors, and they usually required signing a five-year lease.
“As a six-month-old startup at the time, it was a scary proposition,”
Fredriksson recalls.
Then Seabound found BLOQS, a 32,000-square-foot converted warehouse in the
north London suburb of Enfield, fully kitted out with £1.3 million (around $1.7
million) worth of light industrial equipment for all kinds of manufacturing,
including wood processing and metal fabrication, laser cutting and engraving,
3D printing, sewing machines, spray painting and more. If that didn’t already
make the case for moving in, the flexible membership structure then quickly
sealed the deal for Fredriksson and Wen.
The initial sign-up is free, with members simply paying a daily rate for the
machinery they need to use, as well as for flexible office and storage space if
they need it. Raw materials are available to purchase too, price-matched with
local suppliers. And if members need to learn to use a particular piece of
equipment, they can pay for training. An added bonus is the on-site restaurant,
where an award-winning chef serves a seasonable and affordable Mediterranean
menu. Yet the biggest draw for the Seabound team was the community of 1,000
other like-minded members."
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
