DoES Liverpool are very happy to announce the DoES LIverpool Boost Membership offering a chance for six months of free access to our amazing workshop and coworking space. This scheme, which we’re launching to celebrate our tenth anniversary, gives more people the opportunity to get the benefits of being in DoES Liverpool and have access to the equipment we provide, and the amazing community that surrounds us.
Over the past ten years DoES Liverpool has helped hundreds of people to start a business, to build a project, or simply get a few hours of work done. We do this by providing a combined coworking office and workshop space that lets anyone in the city (and beyond!) connect to the internet; use laser cutters, 3D printers, and lots more workshop equipment; or simply sit at a comfortable desk with a laptop.
Throughout this time we have always tried to make sure that our space is accessible to everyone. Both physically accessible, by ensuring wheelchair and other physical access requirements are considered, but also economically accessible. We have tried to make sure our prices are as cheap as they can be, and have always offered some free access to the space through our Maker Day and Maker Night events, as well as our “first day free if you bring cake” scheme.
With the DoES Boost Membership we are expanding this provision of free access to the space by offering a full desk membership and a full workshop membership free of charge through a lottery application. The free access will be given for a six month period which we really hope will give participants the opportunity to try out an idea for a company, or a project, that they might not have been able to manage before. We aim to repeat this offer every three months which means that we should eventually be providing four spaces free of charge at any given time to people who can get good use out of them.
This will offer someone – who might otherwise struggle to afford a membership of DoES Liverpool – the chance to be in the space, make use of the equipment and become embedded in our community. The application process will be open to anyone; we hope that those most in need will apply and that those who don’t need free access will not. However we will not be judging any applicants as we do understand that a person’s situation might not be as obvious as it appears on the surface.
What do you get with a DoES Boost membership? All the benefits of a standard membership. A “desk” membership gives an allocated desk for a person to store their belongings and access to meeting rooms, whereas a “workshop” membership only gives access to the space and use of the workshop area with a “clean desk” policy. What they both provide is:
- A storage box in the workshop area to store belongings
- Access to all of the equipment in the space, with free inductions where necessary (with the usual booking and availability constraints)
- Access to our incredibly fast internet connection
- 24 hour access
To clarify, the following is not included with membership at DoES Liverpool:
- Materials (e.g. 3D printer filament, plywood or perspex for the laser cutters)
- Mentoring – people in the community will of course be very interested to hear about your projects and may offer their help but we do not employ support staff or technicians.
- Access for all your friends and extended family – we would be happy to meet your friends and understand that sometimes a project might need a helping hand but this offer is for a single individual and needs to be treated as such.
We may of course change how the scheme works in the future, for example targeting specific groups that are underrepresented in our community. At this point we can make no guarantee about how long we will run this membership scheme but we do hope that it will be long lasting.
We look forward to welcoming our new members. Please spread the word to anyone that might be interested. If you want to apply just fill out the Boost Membership form here.
Note: Applications will close at 11:59pm on 12th December. A draw will take place and the successful applicants will be announced on 20th December.
