Plans revealed to ‘make’ Blackburn’s Making Rooms even bigger and better with impressive £1.5m extension

The Making Rooms is a community-focused digital fabrication lab and makerspace, empowering individuals to turn their ideas into reality. It's base sits at the very heart of a bustling and ever-growing cultural hub in Blackburn town centre – neighbouring Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery, The Bureau Centre for the Arts and standing opposite The Exchange, which is also benefiting from the same, new investment secured by Blackburn with Darwen Council.

The Making Rooms is also home to top creatives, including the team behind the award-winning National Festival of Making and Culturapedia - both Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisations.

The plans for a new extension, detailed in a new planning application, would see the renovated basement alone double the amount that can be made at The Making Rooms, with a wide and varied remit - everything from agriculture robotics to cyber security, podcasting, ceramics, metal work, plastic recycling, textiles and device repair.

The proposed design opens-up more than 10 new workspaces while embracing the existing character - with the basement having once been used as bank vaults.

A new, additional storey is also proposed for the roof space offering a study room, breakout space and outdoor terrace with views right over Blackburn’s beautiful and historic buildings and on to the rolling moors over Darwen.

With a focus on sustainability in the very fabric of the new space and in how it runs, this would be transformed into a dedicated Eco Lab with the chance to study the likes of biomaterials and experiment with robot farming equipment.

The new proposals also look to make the whole building fully accessible – something the team is passionate about.

Since opening in 2016, The Making Rooms has helped its visitors - in their tens of thousands - gain and develop technical and creative skills, in everything from ceramics to 3D printing, mould-making and electronics.

Given its success, makers from across Europe have already visited in their droves and they continue to come to Blackburn to learn from the team and each other - with The Making Rooms in Blackburn helping to inspire and shape makerspaces internationally.

Speaking about the new plans, The Making Rooms Lab Director, Tom Macpherson-Pope, said: 

“The potential that this proposed expansion offers is just incredible – it’ll help transform The Making Rooms into the leading makerspace in the UK. It all started out as just blue-sky thinking, a pipe dream really – us as a team imagining how we could maximise the space at The Making Rooms, offering our visitors even more opportunities.With the funding secured by the Council, those dreams now have the chance of being a reality and this new planning application is the next step in this exciting journey.”

Tom added:

As makerspaces go, The Making Rooms already has a great range of opportunities for people to get started in making or to help develop their skills – everything from classics like laser cutting and 3D printing to mould making and electronics development.
We are one space, but we have many labs – taking inspiration and new ideas from the tens of thousands of creative hubs worldwide. We don’t ever stand still.
We also work incredibly hard to secure funding and partnerships to help make these free to our end users, residents here in Blackburn with Darwen and beyond.Since opening back in 2016, we have given tens of thousands of people making experiences and accelerated a ‘maker movement’ here in the borough – something we are really proud of and are eager to build upon with these new plans.

The Making Rooms was initially launched by Blackburn with Darwen Council before it became a Community Interest Company (CIC).

Councillor Riley said:

Tom says that these proposals will help transform The Making Rooms into the leading makerspace in the UK – I’d argue that it’s already that. We have visitors travelling from right across Europe here to Blackburn to visit The Making Rooms and they take back what they find, and it inspires those spaces and new spaces too. The Making Rooms is a huge success story under the guidance and leadership of Tom, who really is an inspiration to us all.
They deserve this new funding and for the chance to make their expansion plans a reality – to the huge benefit of our community. You only have to walk through the doors of The Making Rooms to see what an impact it’s having – people of all walks of lives all coming together with a shared interest of technology and innovation – The Making Rooms is inspiring positive change. Brilliant!

For more on the Making Rooms, including opening times to help plan your visit, head to: www.makingrooms.org