Signed the papers at the end of last week for a lease on a new workshop unit. I have posted some photos below (if it works this time!).
As you will see this is not actually new, nor in fact is it really a shop yet. It is in fact an old milking parlour on a local farm which is owned by the Ministry of Defence which means that my ultimate landlord is John Bull (kinda like Uncle Sam but a bit fatter and older!)
Some of you may recall my "life gloat" posts on the pond, made when I decided about two years ago to take the plunge and make a living at woodworking. At that time my shop was a 400 sq ft wooden shed. Since then I have taken a second unit the same so I am working out of 800 sq ft at the moment. The new shop is about 1100 sq ft so that should give me some breathing space and should be enough for my one man shop for the next few years.
The new shop need some sork doing. Basically the structure is sound(ish) but the floors need attention to deal with the remnants of the former agricultural use. My shop can get real messy but I don't think I need the slurry gulley between the cattle stalls any more!
I will also be running new electrics and plumbing compressed air to all the work stations. I will be installing central ducting at some point but this may have to wait for cashflow. I have already started on machine layouts which is a great chance to re-optimise my production flows.
Work will take place over the next few weeks as I need to keep my order book flowing as well as developing the new shop and clearing out of my old one.
I will post some more pics as work progresses.
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