A members' club, 14 hours a week
the pilotNODE1 starts as a volunteer-supported members' club, not a round-the-clock facility. A paid host is on site for every open hour. Members get open bench and edit time, kit check-out after induction, one taught session a week, a locker and a Loop account, and the right to propose and run sessions of their own. Volunteer hours are logged and published every month.
24/7 card access is not part of the pilot. It may come later as a separately priced option, only if members ask for it and an insurer agrees in writing.
Options, not a decision
the club is the lead option, not the only oneEvery part of NODE1 has more than one way to go. The club in a leased room is the option the pilot tests first; the others stay open. Below, four ways to run it, costed the same way, and the choices for each element.
We sign nothing until four things are real
before any leaseThe building, the members, the people to run it and the money all have to be in place first. If any one is missing, the club runs as a pop-up in hired rooms instead.
What it really costs, with everyone's time counted
rounded · fully costedEvery hour of work is priced at the Living Wage of €16 an hour, including the founders'. Where the founders work unpaid, we say so and publish those hours as an in-kind contribution. These are planning estimates, to be replaced by real quotes and real sign-ups.
One identity: your Loop account is your membership
tiers · ids · accessNODE1 keeps no second member database. The card or phone tag is linked to the member's Loop account. Loop groups hold the tier and the inductions, and DiscourseConnect hands them to the door.
kit levels
- L0 building access only
- L1 bench and hand tools
- L2 projectors and lighting desk
- L3 audio room and anything over ~€500
lock the machine, not just the door
London Hackspace fits a card reader to each machine that switches it off unless the card shows an induction. NODE1 does the same with smart plugs and lockable cabinets on L2–L3 kit. The same tap gives the usage log.
asset ids
N1-LED-007: node, zone, number. Each item gets a printed label, an NFC sticker and a QR code. The register lives in git, so every change has a history.
The lock never traps anyone. Use a fail-safe lock that opens on power loss, an exit button and a break-glass point, and release it on the fire alarm. A fire-safety professional signs it off before the door goes live.
Cameras count things, never faces
frigate · coral · yolo · gdpr"Everything recorded and online", as worded on the call, breaks data protection law. Keep the transparency but aim it at the system: the cameras record for security, the AI counts kit and people, and only numbers leave the building. Rules from the DPC's CCTV guidance.
| YOLO watches | The Loop shows | Never |
|---|---|---|
| Is the projector, desk or camera on its shelf? | A live kit board. Who has it comes from the card tap, not the camera | Identify a face |
| How many people are on the floor | Live occupancy, which also checks the fire limit | Stream video of members |
| Is a bench or bay in use | Live availability | Record audio |
| Door held open, smoke, out-of-hours movement | Alerts to the two keyholders | Show footage to anyone else |
- A DPIA is written before any camera goes up.
- Recordings kept 30 days, then deleted.
- Signs at every entrance, a written policy, a way to request footage.
- No face recognition: it is biometric, special-category data. The DPC fined a government department €550k over facial matching.
- None in toilets or the quiet room.
- Teaching clips are filmed on purpose, with consent on the day.
Where next
research, not a planWe've researched places across all 32 counties where a club like this could one day open. That is a list of possibilities, not a schedule. Nothing beyond the first club is planned until the first one has run, paid its way, and been run by more than its founders.