Open Workshops in London

We were always wondering why there aren't more hackerspace-type organisations in London: social spaces where people come together to make things, share knowledge and skills, etc. When LHS started there was very little activity besides some long-running well-established orgs. Here's a list of some of the ones we've seen since, feel free to expand/amend. Some are old, most are new. Some are meet-ups, some are attempts at creating workshop spaces.

It's sometimes hard to delineate which orgs to include. I'd like to focus on non-profit maker-type communal workspaces, and *not* on orgs in more well-developed domains such as open source, computer security, the arts, commercial co-working spaces, incubators, etc; however sometimes those boundaries aren't very clear. Jonty defines hackerspaces more narrowly as "community owned and governed communal workshops with a focus on recreational use", but this list is not just limited to hackerspaces.

See also: Other Hackspaces.

Early-Stage

• Buildin Bloqs
• East London Inventor's Club (long-running event series, now also looking for a physical space)
• Croydon Round Table of Inventors (Long-running event series, now also starting an "Invention Centre" in South Norwood; likely commercial.)
• UCL MakeSpace (opening in March 2013)
• Brixton Maker/Hackspace meetup, now called Brixton Tinkerspace
• Repair & Reuse parties (Billy mentioned these; can't find them online. Maybe he meant Repair Cafés? Or maybe the Restart Project?)
• The Remakery (Brixton)
• Blackhorse workshop, by Waltham Forest Council ("a new public resource workshop providing space for the creative community, tools and technical support for local making, mending and DIY, and space for artists", now in feasibility stage)

Running

• Assemble & Join (Waterloo, inspired by hackerspaces; they have a CNC router! Not sure if they're commercial or non-profit.)
• Sugar House Studios (design/architects; commercial)
• Deckspace
• RARA (Clapton, non-profit member-run co-working-ish workshop)
• Micycle, in Islington. A bike shop with an open-access workshop. Use their tools and stands to fix your bike. It's obviously good etiquette to buy your spare parts from them, if required.
• The Goodlife Centre in Waterloo ("practical boutique workshops in DIY, Home Maintenance, Decorating, Upholstery, Woodwork & Carpentry, Furniture Upcycling & Restoration and various traditional hand Crafts")
• Mak3d (commercial 3D-printing studio)

Defunct

• East London Hackers
• Sphinx House in Grays Inn Road (squat)

Events, Conferences

• dorkbot london
• MzTEK
• London MakerFaire
• Technology will Save Us (mostly a store-in-store, but they also do organise workshops)
• codasign (creative technology workshops)
• openlab (Making art and music with open source/free software)
• The Society of Model and Experimental Engineers have a monthly meetup in Brixton