I’ve been championing the idea of co-working in Newcastle since April 2011 when a tour of the ‘Silicon Roundabout’ area of London reinforced my belief that ‘clustering’ (close georgraphical proximity to other businesses and entrepreneurs) was an important ingredient in the success of a startup (see ‘Start-Ups: Know Your Place’).
This trip, which included visits to TechHub, Hoxton Mix and an exclusive interview with Moshi Monsters/Mind Candy CEO Michael Acton Smith (below) is what made me start hosting weekly events for developers, designers and start-up founders at PNE Group’s PostOffice building on Pink Lane.
My original idea, which I first mentioned at SuperMondays in April 2011, was to have regular co-working days and evening events at the PostOffice but for various reasons (mainly a lack of time and resources) they didn’t begin until 3rd August 2012 (see http://plandigitaluk.com/2012/07/12/postoffice-venue-launches-weekly-co-working-days-in-newcastle/). Instead, I decided to focus on turning the PostOffice into a hub / focal point for grassroots developer and designer user groups, starting with our first event with PHPNE on 21st June 2011. Watching these events grow in size and number to over 50 people some weeks has been one of the most fulfilling things I’ve done in my professional career, although most of the credit needs to go to the leader / organiser Anthony Sterling as I’m merely providing the space for them to call home.
The success of PHPNE has attracted other user groups to the PostOffice, like Design Interest (which celebrated its 1yr anniversary at the venue this month), Ruby North East, Javascript North East, Python North East and one off events by UX North East, the Final Cut Pro user group and the first ever public pitches by the teams on the ignite100 tech accelerator programme. In fact, one of the great things about the ignite100 programme is that not only are they discovering and investing in exciting new start-ups but they’ve also opened up their super-cool office, ‘The Loft’ @ Adamson House on Westgate Road for co-working with desks available to rent at an affordable price (email [email protected] to find out more). To see what other events are coming up at the PostOffice, you should Follow us on Twitter @PostOfficeNE1 and ‘Like’ our Facebook Page www.facebook.com/PostOfficeNE1.
Unless you’ve been to one of the events it’s hard to describe but having a regular place that the local dev / tech community can call home, offering an informal and relaxed environment, in a handy location right next to some good pubs, is part of the reason why local people now regularly talk about what a great ‘community’ there is up here in Newcastle and the North East. There are many other factors which add to this which I outlined in my recent overview of the North East tech start-up scene but it shouldn’t be sniffed at as it’s a very real and magical thing.
We’re now doing monthly co-working events at the PostOffice on the first Friday of the month (at the time of writing our next one is on 2nd November and tickets can be bought for £10 at http://postofficenov.eventbrite.com) which again are reinforcing my belief that modern day business is all about working and collaborating in a more social (real-life) environment.
In addition to the PostOffice, I’m very pleased to see that Newcastle Business Village have recently opened a fantastic, full-time co-working space at Clavering House, behind Central Station where you can work in a great environment for just £15 per day (see video below). As the North East’s biggest advocate of co-working, Jayne Graham (Space On Tap / Colleagues On Tap) deserves a lot of credit for the input and advice she has given the team behind Clavering House, helping them to create the type of place that I plan to start working from occasionally and where I would urge you to give it a try yourself next time you’re in Newcastle.