Many thanks to Cornerstone Construction for taking down the partition wall so that more light can fill out wonderful space!

They also installed a much needed lock on the door, picture gallery below:

Now that we have got the space in 36-40 Edge Street, we need to make some changes so that it is a lovely and vibrant place to co-work.

The space is currently made up of 3 rooms which we call the Light Room, the Large Room and the Dark Room. The Light Room has a big window which let’s in loads of light, the Dark Room is what we will use as a meeting room and the Large Room is where most of the desks will go.

The problem is that the Large Room doesn’t get any natural light unless the door to the Light Room is open, and even then it is not much. So we decided we wanted the partition wall between the Light Room and the Large Room taken down so that loads of natural light will also fill the Large Room.

So tomorrow we have Cornerstone Construction coming in to demolish the partition wall, plaster the wall and ceiling where it was and install a lock on the door to the space.

I’ll post pictures here after they’ve done the work!

At last! FlyThe.Coop has finally got a space for you to come and co-work and collaborate with others in Manchester!

It’s been over a year since Fly The Coop Limited was established as a Cooperative and it’s been difficult finding the right space. But now we have: 36-40 Edge Street in the Northern Quarter of Manchester’s City Centre!

The building has been taken by MadLab who are using the ground and top floor as a HackSpace and we are going to use the first floor to offer co-working space and desks to those who want to meet other exciting people, collaborate on existing or new ideas/projects and work with a variety of people with different skills / knowledge / tools / etc!

We are opening the doors on the 1st of January 2010 and have already got all permanent desks taken! Of course there will be a couple of hotdesks which you can hire on a day by day basis – watch this website for price details and get in contact with us if you want to go on the waiting list for a permanent desk (ben@flythe.coop).

In the next few weeks running up to Christmas we will be renovating the space so it’s a lovely environment to work in. If you want to help us, let us know (ben@flythe.coop) – the more the merrier (and quicker!)

Many, many thanks to MadLab for offering this space and being patient with us while we worked out our budgets and cash flows etc. Also many thanks to Andrew Threlfall, Ian Moss, Paul Robinson, Ben Gibbs and Kevin Rutherford for the time, effort and money they have put in to getting FlyThe.Coop up and running over the last year and to Guy Dickinson for helping with the startup costs.

We are looking at a space on Edge Street in Manchester’s Northern Quarter and need a couple more people to take a permanent desk.

We’re a non-profit co-op and therefore a community effort, and we don’t have streams of funding coming from pots of EU money or anything: we need to work together to make this happen.

If you’d like to have a permanent desk in the Northern Quarter with some lovely and interesting people, or are interested in hotdesking with us, here’s the details:

A permanent desk space will cost £200 per month if you’re a member of FlyThe.Coop (membership is £1 per year!) and £250 if you’re not a member.

We are also offering hotdesking at £17.50 per day for members, £20 per day for non-members.

If you’re interested or have any questions, please get in contact with Ben Gibbs, FlyThe.Coop’s secretary, by Monday 28th Sept on 07811197374.

FlyThe.Coop have been asked to consider managing the 1st floor of a Northern Quarter unit by the lovely people behind the Manchester Hackspace!

But we need to know a few things before we take the plunge! So if you’re interested in a Co-Working space in the Northern Quarter, please fill out our survey:

CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE AND TAKE OUR SURVEY!

This is the building, it used to be a skateboard shop:

View Larger Map

And here are some pics from inside:

This is the large space which could house a few desks.

This is the back room, a potential meeting room, once it’s been painted nicer!

This is the front room with the window, perhaps 3 desks could fit here.

This is the corridoor and stairs outside the large space.

CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE AND TAKE OUR SURVEY!

Thanks Muchly!

FlyThe.coop is a co-operative which aims to provide co-working spaces in Manchester. We formed out of the conversations and desires for a co-working space from members of GeekUp, NorthWestRubyUserGroup and other geeks in Manchester.

We’ve decided to start small so we’re going to be taking a space at Manchester Science Park large enough to comfortably fit 8 desks. Here is a picture of the space we want which is currently available (it looks quite dark but thats because it was so bright outside – camera exposure etc.!):

Four of these desks are already accounted for leaving two for permanent use and 2 for hot-desking. We are looking at ~£200pm for a permanent desk and we haven’t decided on hot-desking rates yet.

We’d like to fill the 2 permanent desks asap, preferably by the end of April. The space we want may go to another company anytime so we’d like to be able to commit to it as soon as we can, and we can’t do that unless we’ve got commitments on 6 of the desks. If you’re keen on becoming a member of FlyThe.Coop and having a permanent desk in our space, please get back to us at info@flythecoop.co.uk, first come first served!

It’s an exciting time to become part of FlyThe.Coop, we’d love to have you on board! If you’ve got any more questions just ask, we’d be glad to clear things up for you.

Here are some of the results from the survey we put out recently to gather feedback on what kind of space potential Fly The Coop users and members would like:

What features are important to you?

Which area would you most like Fly The Coop to be?

What part of Co-Working most appeals to you?

How would you like to use Fly The Coop?

How much do you think would be reasonable for Fly The Coop to charge?

What areas of business are you in?

Where do you currently work?

Over the last couple of month we have been collecting feedback on a survey we created to discover what kind of space people would like to co-work in.

Thanks to everyone who responded to our survey, we’ve got some great feedback.

At our last Fly The Coop members meeting we looked through the survey results and agreed on 4 criterea for a space:

• 1,200 – 1,500 ft sq.
• Manchester City Centre location (as close to Piccaddilly as possible)
• Private spaces are important to consider
• No serviced offices

Do you know anywhere which fits the bill? If so, please email us: info@flythecoop.co.uk

We are having a co-working day on Wednesday 26th November 2008.  Please sign up below if you would like to attent.

http://flythecoop.eventwax.com/co-working-day

The MEN have covered the co-working in the newspaper and online here.

Here’s a snippet:

Telecommuting is new way to get the job done

TECHNOLOGY entrepreneurs across Manchester are teaming up through an idea to change the way the industry works.

Manchester Digital Development Agency (MDDA) has been trying out the latest business trend of `telecommuting’ – bringing together like- minded people to work alongside each other and share knowledge.

After testing the idea for 18 months, a group of young businessmen are now taking steps to create a permanent co-working space at Manchester Science Park, and they want to roll the scheme out city wide.

Click here to read the rest of the article!