I'm working with a couple of other folks in the early stage of setting
up a coworking space in Portsmouth, NH USA. There's three of us to
start out as primary owners, and we're likely to be on-site most, but
not all, weekdays 8 Am - 6 PM. We've heard from others that they'd be
interested in evening and weekend access, earlier mornings or late
evenings. We've got some concerns about security issues, especially
outside of normal business hours.
While we certainly trust our primary mainstream residents, there's
always going to be new people or people less familiar to us. We do
expect the primary members to be renting deskspace and likely having
computers, monitors or other valuable equipment locked down at their
desks.
The facilities do allow us 24-hour access to the site, currently by
key lock. We're considering combination locks or keycards, or perhaps
tiered access, where new or part-time members can only access the
facilities through a second entrance only available during regular
business hours.
How have others dealt with people who want to use the place at odd hours?
I'd be interested to hear how others deal with related security
issues, whether policies, locking devices or security monitoring.
So, have other spaces limited hours to those when a principal is
onsite, or use security cameras or keycard logs to monitor who's in
the space? Anyone had a problem with theft or vandalism, or are we
worried about something that's rarer than the evening news would make
you think?
Who has weekend / evening hours and how do you ensure the security of
your tenants and their possessions? (Besides the "at your own risk"
disclaimers and encouraging renter's insurance?)
···
On Sun, Mar 22, 2009 at 3:36 PM, Ted Roche <[email protected]> wrote:
The facilities do allow us 24-hour access to the site, currently by
key lock. We're considering combination locks or keycards, or perhaps
tiered access, where new or part-time members can only access the
facilities through a second entrance only available during regular
business hours.
How have others dealt with people who want to use the place at odd hours?
I'd be interested to hear how others deal with related security
issues, whether policies, locking devices or security monitoring.
We generally keep it to when a “trusted” person is here (a trusted person is one with a key) - but we have allowed groups to meet here on the weekend if it was someone we knew and could leave a key with temporarily.
24 hour access may be a bit difficult to manage - and in our situation we have several computers and other equipment peices here full time.
David Kominsky [email protected]
503-206-3500
CubeSpace
622 SE Grand Avenue
Portland, OR 97214
···
On Tue, Mar 24, 2009 at 8:53 AM, Chris Conrey [email protected] wrote:
We generally keep it to when a “trusted” person is here (a trusted person is one with a key) - but we have allowed groups to meet here on the weekend if it was someone we knew and could leave a key with temporarily.
24 hour access may be a bit difficult to manage - and in our situation we have several computers and other equipment peices here full time.
This is a great question and calls in many questions about the way you
want to set up your model and the feel of your space. We have a strict
membership model, where members are interviewed, researched and
vetted. This allows us to maintain a certain amount of trust with and
between members. All members have 24/7 access to our facility and we
have had very few problems in the past 9 years. I would also suggest
an alarm system and renters insurance. Good luck.
I'm working with a couple of other folks in the early stage of setting
up a coworking space in Portsmouth, NH USA. There's three of us to
start out as primary owners, and we're likely to be on-site most, but
not all, weekdays 8 Am - 6 PM. We've heard from others that they'd be
interested in evening and weekend access, earlier mornings or late
evenings. We've got some concerns about security issues, especially
outside of normal business hours.
While we certainly trust our primary mainstream residents, there's
always going to be new people or people less familiar to us. We do
expect the primary members to be renting deskspace and likely having
computers, monitors or other valuable equipment locked down at their
desks.
The facilities do allow us 24-hour access to the site, currently by
key lock. We're considering combination locks or keycards, or perhaps
tiered access, where new or part-time members can only access the
facilities through a second entrance only available during regular
business hours.
How have others dealt with people who want to use the place at odd hours?
I'd be interested to hear how others deal with related security
issues, whether policies, locking devices or security monitoring.
i've struggled with thoughts on after hours access as well. wayne, my
business partner, is a night owl and so he is likely to be in our
space later than i will be whereas i have an opposite schedule and
prefer mornings. we've discussed access and decided on 24/7 access for
a number of reasons. one is that there was another coworking facility
in town (which has since closed) and it was open 24/7 as well and
there are some people from that space that are still interested in
coworking that have asked for unlimited access (not that we're trying
to mimic what they had, but there's no harm in duplicating some of
their best features). another reason is that we have had some interest
from people who still work a regular day job and want a more cohesive
space to go at night or on weekends and we want to be able to
accommodate varying needs.
we've talked about the honour system combined with a number of ways to
beef up security - security cameras, swipe cards, monitoring wifi
logins, insurance, etc - and today we'll be making some decisions
about how to process membership applications. i'd be interested in
hearing more about different spaces do their membership screening.
···
--
rachel young
rac...@camaraderie.ca
are you on twitter? follow @camaraderie for updates.
All members AltSpace have a key and a security card. The key is for the door and the card for the building. They pay a bond of $150 for this which is returned should they return the keys.
They can come and goes as they please, we do not have any staff to ‘man reception’. I normally ‘open up’ but if no one is in the office then the door is locked when the last person leaves.
We offer lockers (like gym lockers) that members can rent for a small fee in case they want something more secure as we recommend that things of value are not left on the desks. That being said gear is left out including monitors, notebooks etc (including my own kit).
We have not had an issue, most people that joined have either been word of mouth or trialled the space and before getting keys have to pay the bond plus a months rate in advance.
The building does have cameras in the common areas which if worst came to worst we could access and I have also told members that if something ‘bad’ happens that I will install movement activated camera on the front door. I do not expect to have to do either of these things.
···
–
Steven Heath
Director, Foxbane Consulting
Founder, AltSpace
Cell: +64 21 706-067 www.foxbane.co.nz
Suite 607
29 Brandon St
Wellington
AltSpace.co.nz - Shared office space in Wellington for home based workers, freelancers, or nimble companies
We have someone who stays from 10 to 7 M to F. Outside that schedule
and during weekends the space is completely closed because the
building complex where we are located is.
All members AltSpace have a key and a security card. The key is for the door
and the card for the building. They pay a bond of $150 for this which is
returned should they return the keys.
They can come and goes as they please, we do not have any staff to 'man
reception'. I normally 'open up' but if no one is in the office then the
door is locked when the last person leaves.
We offer lockers (like gym lockers) that members can rent for a small fee in
case they want something more secure as we recommend that things of value
are not left on the desks. That being said gear is left out including
monitors, notebooks etc (including my own kit).
We have not had an issue, most people that joined have either been word of
mouth or trialled the space and before getting keys have to pay the bond
plus a months rate in advance.
The building does have cameras in the common areas which if worst came to
worst we could access and I have also told members that if something 'bad'
happens that I will install movement activated camera on the front door. I
do not expect to have to do either of these things.
--
Steven Heath
Director, Foxbane Consulting
Founder, AltSpace
Cell: +64 21 706-067www.foxbane.co.nz
Suite 607
29 Brandon St
Wellington
AltSpace.co.nz - Shared office space in Wellington for home based workers,
freelancers, or nimble companies
I’m also soon opening my coworking space and have freelancers request open 24/7so I want to restrict to some members only for security reasons.
I’m looking to security system and found this:
Only selected members will have access with RFID card or keys.
1st keycode on the street entry door (every members have it) it’s 24/7 working, then they have to take the stairs to the coworking space.
rfid key or card for selected members only for 24/7 access to the coworking space.
So how did I manage?
Well it’s a magnetic keylock so I have an electronic timer connected to that magnetic lock like turn on from after open hours and week ends and turn off on opening hours so all members do not have to use RFID access, just push the door to open.
IP camera are also active 247.
What do you think about my idea?
···
On Sunday, March 22, 2009 at 9:36:26 AM UTC-10, Ted Roche wrote:
I’m working with a couple of other folks in the early stage of setting
up a coworking space in Portsmouth, NH USA. There’s three of us to
start out as primary owners, and we’re likely to be on-site most, but
not all, weekdays 8 Am - 6 PM. We’ve heard from others that they’d be
interested in evening and weekend access, earlier mornings or late
evenings. We’ve got some concerns about security issues, especially
outside of normal business hours.
While we certainly trust our primary mainstream residents, there’s
always going to be new people or people less familiar to us. We do
expect the primary members to be renting deskspace and likely having
computers, monitors or other valuable equipment locked down at their
desks.
The facilities do allow us 24-hour access to the site, currently by
key lock. We’re considering combination locks or keycards, or perhaps
tiered access, where new or part-time members can only access the
facilities through a second entrance only available during regular
business hours.
How have others dealt with people who want to use the place at odd hours?
I’d be interested to hear how others deal with related security
issues, whether policies, locking devices or security monitoring.
We’re generally "open for business’ on weekdays from 8am to 5pm, and have someone at the reception during that time. After 5, the main door can only be opened from the outside with an RFID card, which only private office users and staff have. So what happens is that anyone who wants to work evenings has to come in before 5pm, and they can stay as long as they like. We’ve been doing this for about 6 months now with no issues. There’s CCTV in the space as an added security measure, but we’ve never had any reason to review any recordings.
We’re closed weekends, though.
···
On Sunday, March 22, 2009 at 8:36:26 PM UTC+1, Ted Roche wrote:
I’m working with a couple of other folks in the early stage of setting
up a coworking space in Portsmouth, NH USA. There’s three of us to
start out as primary owners, and we’re likely to be on-site most, but
not all, weekdays 8 Am - 6 PM. We’ve heard from others that they’d be
interested in evening and weekend access, earlier mornings or late
evenings. We’ve got some concerns about security issues, especially
outside of normal business hours.
While we certainly trust our primary mainstream residents, there’s
always going to be new people or people less familiar to us. We do
expect the primary members to be renting deskspace and likely having
computers, monitors or other valuable equipment locked down at their
desks.
The facilities do allow us 24-hour access to the site, currently by
key lock. We’re considering combination locks or keycards, or perhaps
tiered access, where new or part-time members can only access the
facilities through a second entrance only available during regular
business hours.
How have others dealt with people who want to use the place at odd hours?
I’d be interested to hear how others deal with related security
issues, whether policies, locking devices or security monitoring.