Office manager. From buying the paper for the printer to, hopefully, helping out with some admin stuff. For sure we need a solid calendar to be managed at this level, because the space would be used by all Edgeryders projects and by other people. So this is a good place to plug the calendar. The calendar does double duty as it gives us a high-level view of the "pulse" of both the company and the space: what people are working on, who is working on what etc.
Coworking host. Welcoming people, giving newcomers tours, making sure it buzzes along.
Airbnb host. Welcoming people, giving out, collecting back keys, checking on rooms.
Alex, can we sign you up? We’ll be actively looking out for a space very soon. The more people we know are committed to moving in, the more uncertainty is reduced. Also, we want to make sure we have enough rooms. The minimum number is permanently resident households + at least 1, ideally 2 or (given an attractive location, central etc.) 3.
Sorry for the quiet, i’m playing catch up in the UK.
Yes, you can sign me up. I’ve done a few jobs that involved running spaces similar to this (although without the living section) so i’d put my name forward to do that role if possible. I do agree with the point below about it being a 0.5 job, rather than a full time position though.
@Iriedawta , sure about that? Things are more complicated for you, because you’d need a heavy-duty visa to move to Belgium. Plus, life is more expensive here than in Yerevan…
Umm, true about the visa issue, otherwise the work I’m doing can be done from anywhere and if it’s a part time gig I will manage…If the Reef is child friendly of course
I think this goes great as a test case. There is nothing much I can disprove of, I mean if indeed the calculations are right. Yes, some other places oputside large urban areas could be cheaper, but come with greater efforts to generate income and here I agree with Alex above - may be less connected and more expensive for people to just show up/ rent.
More importantly, there is little risk I can think of. For Edgeryders (the organisation) 2000 eur a month covering the space and a hire is reasonable if we consider this a test, even if the space takes a few months to start generating some income through rentals. How about extra living costs (Internet, electricity, phone, etc) and maintenance which are not included in the rent? Would they amount to a few hundred euros?
From looking on fo.am website announcepment, this offer will expire soon… I dont know where you are with the action these days, let me know if I can help. I would for sure be interested in joining on a regular basis - i.e. temporary resident.
Also, I’m taking the liberty to ping @asimong in light of his co-housing experience and @Hannes . Guys, birds eye feedback should do at this point…
The respective baseline fees for the different kinds of membership could cover different proportions of the costs (because people use different amounts of resources based on how they use the space)…?
Utility costs are not large in Belgium. Here we pay about 90 EUR a month for electricity + gas (5 permanent residents + occaasional guests, 200 square meters). Phone + Internet is about 30/40 EUR per month. Water is negligible.
Cleaning is also fairly cheap per hour, because of Belgium’s great titre service system. In our current space, we do most chores ourselves, and only have a professional cleaner once a week to do a deep scrub. Of course, for a space open to the public, the number of monthly hours we’d have to purchase would go up significantly.
This is going to be a significant cost in an open space. So we need to find out from Fo.am how much that amounts to per month and then calculate a scenario with 100% increase to be on the safe side.
Thanks for the ping, @Noemi Note that my co-housing experience is quite different from this. But I like the idea. One cautionary note would be that personally I would think it safer to have the space managed part time (0.5?) in return for a free rental. That way, there would be no employer obligations to worry about. Maybe to allow for flexibility, give the manager a cut on booking revenue, rather than a salary.
To me, the less money changing hands, the better.
Where I live we don’t have any cheap accommodation, and that’s a drawback for events. Yes, rooms for residents, but for very short-term visitors, how about a bunk room with say 6 beds?
I like the idea of 6 bunk beds. The easier it makes it for groups and organisations to organise events, the better. 6 beds would probably be enough for the organisers to cut their own cost of travel. Also, for an increasing number of organisations, the only costs covered for participation in events is accomodations… so all other costs, including those of organising the events, could be folded into the accommodation rentals. Am trying to figure this out in the form of possible membership and pricing models here.
… with measure, to respect the space of permanent residents
In fact, FOAM already has the bunk beds (not sure if they are four or six though).
The precise arrangement depends on the precise layout of the space. In general, The Reef needs to prioritize the well-being of permanent residents, who are its engine and soul. So, overcrowding of the space needs to be meted out with care, in order for them (us, since I plan to be a permanent resident myself) to feel comfortable in their home. It’s still possible though: we all have had friends and family camped out on couches and inflatable mattresses.
I also think bunk beds are a good idea, but those work for short, AirBnb style rentals more than medium term.
Ideally you’d have a range of options but that also means more overhead. Next thing you know we’ll be running a very crowded hotel, which is not the idea. It will be interesting to see how we fine tune this, because it’s hard to say now what would work best for most people joining. If there’s enough room for modularity and repurposing of spaces than that’s a major win imho.
…, @asimong , some money changing hands is a stronger guarantee that the space manager will stay aligned with us. At least in the short run. Remember, there is no book to do this by yet.
The cultural risk for The Reef is mission drift. If people interpret it as a squat, hic manebimus optime, we are going to waste time and energy in stupid low-level conflict. The space needs to be clearly seen as a mean to an end. The end is doing effective, relevant, fun stuff in a financially sustainable way (“the work”).
For the record: The FOAM space discussed here was rented out by the landlord to others, before we had a chance to decide we want it. The discussion above on how such a space could be managed is still relevant of course.
هذا ماكنت افكر به في القرية المفتوحة في الاردن ولاكن انا قمة باضافة المقهى والبار والمطعم. وغرف النوم للضيوف ومساحات لاقامات الحفلات والندوات وورش العمل …الاثاث سوف يكون مصنوع ليكون نقله سهل حيث ان المطعم ممكن ان يتحول الى مسرح او الى قاعات الاجتماع او مكان للاعمال فقط عليك بتحريك قطع الاثاث وترتيبها بشكل فني مدروس
This is what I was thinking about in the open village in Jordan, but I am the top with the addition of the cafe, the bar and the restaurant. Guest bedrooms, meeting spaces, seminars and workshops. The furniture will be made to be easy to transport as the restaurant can be converted into a theater or meeting rooms or a place of business only you move the pieces of furniture and arranged in a thoughtful technical
@amer the café / restaurant makes a ton of sense. Ideally we will find a space that allows for it, but then we would need a partner who has the expertise to run it! If we do not find both (space and partner) we will settle for a café - less solution.
This is possible here. It is possible to make it a shared kitchen. There is one day a week for a group dinner with the post-dinner dialogue and discussions
My friend needed some papers printed with the slogan “Edgryders” to write on them to address the concerned authorities in my license to discuss possible send me these papers
هذا ممكن هنا ممكن جعله مطبخ مشترك هو يكون هناك يوم واحد في الاسبوع لعمل عشاء جماعي يتخلله الحوار مابعد العشاء والنقاشات
