COVID-19 Updates

HSBNE Temporarily Closed

Hi all,

As per current government announcements on COVID-19 lockdowns - 'these activities will not be allowed to continue: Community and recreation centres’

HSBNE sadly has to announce a temporary closure of the site. This goes into effect on midnight 25/03/2020. Anyone attempting the circumvent security measures will be referred to the authorities.

Members are encouraged to share their quarantine projects via online channels on the portal.

HSBNE will void April invoices, and all memberships are paused pending re-opening. Please contact the Exec team if you have any questions or concerns.

Stay safe, and Happy Making at home!

-Emily

Secretary for HSBNE

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I followed up with Tim Nicholl’s (MP for Clayfield) office about reopening, what I got back today was that there is no plans to allow community/hobby groups to reopen, but the updated plan will be released on the 10th of June, so I can re-inquire then.

As we closed under Federal order, I would of course prefer that permission to reopen came from the same place, but my impression is that states have been given leeway to conduct their own stages of reopening, hence why I approached the MP for HSBNE.

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This email was sent to all members on 2020/05/31

Hi everyone,

There’s a lot of news to go over, let’s get to it:

Opening

As you may be aware, The Exec Team has been advised a few hours ago that community groups and clubs are able to legally open as of the 1st of June, however, looking at the checklists and necessary preparation required for reopening, we ask that we be allowed the time to put those preparations in place. We will confirm on Friday the 5th of June when general members will be able to use the HSBNE onsite facilities.

We are not resuming Open Nights/days, classes or our Guest Policy. This means no guests allowed onsite, new members will be by appointment with the Exec Team for tours or inductions.

The measures we plan to put in place are:

  • A member’s kiosk that will serve as a record in case of contact tracing

  • Professional cleaning service to perform a deep clean of the site, and twice-weekly cleans thereafter

  • Rearranging/removing furniture to allow for distancing

  • Providing sanitation stations throughout the site

  • Providing disposable drinking cups

  • Boneyard will continue to be closed, any suitable item donations still need to go through the donations page

  • Site clear-up and disposal of items, pending green/red ticketing follow-up

We have prepared our policy for when we re-open:

  • Members must maintain a minimum 1.5m distance and minimise physical contact

  • Members must use provided sanitizing equipment before and after tool use

  • Maximum 20 members onsite at any time

  • Room occupancy limits

  • Members must not come to HSBNE if:

  • They present with any illness or symptoms

  • Have been in contact with anyone who has tested positive to COVID-19

  • Have been overseas or interstate within the last 14 days

  • Members must regularly wash their hands on entering site, after eating, coughing or sneezing, after using the toilet, after changing tasks, after smoking or changing bins

  • Members must have showered and have clean clothes when coming onsite

  • No food preparation onsite (We will place kitchen items into storage for now)

  • In the event of Emergency, maintain social distancing as much as practically possible

  • Exec will update the COVID-19 policy as needed to match that of business and public guidelines

Lastly, wearing a mask is not required, but it is encouraged.

Membership fees

HSBNE membership fees will resume on the 1st of July. Invoices will go out on the 15th of June. Any members that have credit outstanding will have that applied to July’s fees.

Meetings

Our Cause and General Meetings will continue to be held online via Discord. We are planning to call the Annual General Meeting on the 14 of July in person, restrictions permitting.

Other news

We have still been working on grant applications, we have applied for a second round of the Gambling Community Benefit Fund, for funds to purchase a hydraulic press for the Forge, and an improved table saw for Woodshop. We have also applied to the Lord Mayor’s Community Fund for funds to purchase a pantorouter joinery system for Woodshop, CRZ dual filament 3D printers for Digifab, digital microscopes for Electronics, and a Brother PE800 embroidery Machine for Craftpunk.

Metalshop have had a dropsaw donated, and it is now onsite.

The Exec Team has also been informed that EDQ are revising their plans for the site, but we haven’t had any details or an update on their expected timeline. We are continuing to liaise with CBRE on the site reopening, this issue, and others as they occur.

What you can do next

  1. Check your details are up to date on the Portal, as we will be using those details in the event of contact tracing.

  2. Fill out the HSBNE 2020 Member’s Survey, as this will be guiding the Exec as we move forward

  3. If you are able to help with poster design, or with site preparations, Exec will be doing this on Tuesday the 2nd of June. Please reply to this email or message us on Discord to let us know what you’d be willing to help with.

Thank you all for your patience, please, if there’s any questions we haven’t thought of, please reply to this email and I’ll get back to you asap.

Happy Making!

Emily
Secretary for HSBNE

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This email was sent to all members on 2020/06/05

Hi everyone,

We’re delighted to finally deliver the news everyone has been waiting for!

The HSBNE site will be available to members from midday, Saturday the 6th of June.

As said before, we have put a few measures in place to keep everyone safe. Chief among these is the Member’s Kiosk, there’s a few things to note with this:

So that the kiosk headcount is accurate, you must:

  • Sign in as your first action when you arrive at the space

  • Sign out when you leave

Other useful bits of info:

  • The kiosk is in the Green room, next to the Quad door.

  • This is now the central point of sign-in and sign-out, tools will not operate until you are signed in.

  • The kiosk is designed to keep the necessary headcount of members on site

  • Members will be able to remotely check how many people are on site

  • The member portal will be upgraded to a new version to support the kiosk, some design features will be upgraded along with the functionality

  • If you’d like to know more about the kiosk or upgrades to the member portal, best to ask on this Forum post

There are some things we are are not directly able to police, same as all public spaces, but ask that all members be considerate of:

  • Sticking to room limits

  • Keeping the 1.5m distance

  • Using the hand-washing, disinfectant supplies and sanitizer provided

If you’d like to read our new COVID-19 policy in full, here’s the link to do so.

In other news,

If you have a few minutes spare, we’ve had a few responses to the Member’s Survey, and would love to hear from you too!

We’ve also been approved for the Lord Mayor’s Community Fund Grant- This wasn’t a huge grant, but is still means we’ll be expanding our tooling with a pantorouter joinery system for Woodshop, CR-X dual filament 3D printers for Digifab, digital microscopes for Electronics, and a Brother PE800 embroidery machine for Craftpunk.

Thank you everyone for your patience and we are looking forward to seeing amazing making at HSBNE soon!

Emily

Secretary for HSBNE

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Hi HSBNE,

Just a quick update on the membership kiosk and site sign in policy. As of last night, your card will now be rejected from every door and interlock unless you are signed into site. The Quad, Front and Toilet doors are exempted from this so that you can open them to access the kiosk. This means you will not be able to access members storage, metalshop, woodshop, or any interlocked tools/areas (such as electronics bench) until you have signed in.

To sign in, you will need to tap your card at the card reader attached to the member kiosk then tap the “site sign in” button on the screen. Instructions are also attached to the screen.

If your card does not work at a door or interlock, please make sure you check the #swipe-logs channel on discord as the reason will be logged there. If your swipe is not showing up then it means your card or the card reader is faulty, or your card has not been linked to your profile correctly and you’ll need to email the exec.

Thanks!

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