Communities Fund has provided £400 of match funding
Community Eco Hub
Hastings, East Sussex, United Kingdom
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Aim
We are building a Community Eco Hub in Hastings Town Centre. Climate Action that puts people first. Help us buy our very own building!
Who we are and what we are doing
We are Umbrella Sussex, the people behind Hastings Library of Things, the Make and Mend Project, Free Shop and the Car Park Park; we are bringing a Community Eco Hub to Hastings Town Centre, will you help us?
Taking climate action, helping our community
We are a volunteer run community group and our projects show how easy it can be to take climate action when we work together:
Hastings Library of Things: The average domestic drill is used 13 times in it's lifetime and approximately 74% of households own one. Our community lending service let’s people borrow drills, and over a hundred other useful things, so we can buy less and reduce our town's carbon footprint.
Make and Mend Bexhill and Beyond: People talk about a "throwaway culture” and things not being made to last any-more; our volunteers normalise fixing and mending, stopping end of life toxic landfill from polluting our green spaces.
Car Park Park: We’ve also converted a carparking space into a mini urban park with a free library, literally taking carbon back out of the atmosphere, and showing how, if we trust each other, we can make our community spaces better.
Free Shop: We host regular Free Shop events, fantastic sessions where people share what they no longer need with neighbours and strangers alike, building community and keeping useful things out of landfill.
The Goal: A Permanent Community Eco Hub
We’ve been running since 2021, and never had enough room to do everything we’ve wanted to. Now we are buying a former takeaway and converting it into a one stop eco shop, for the Library of Things, Make and Mend, skills training, as well as an adaptation hub.
We need a bit more money to get us there, but once we are there it will be a permanent resource for the town. Central, accessible, friendly and open to everyone, with room to sit, chat and share ideas, because communities who know and trust each other are resilient and so better placed to take climate action and build a stronger, safer community.
Having our own space will mean the world to us, and it will help us take even more action to protect the planet from the effects of climate change.
As well as expanding our Library of Things loan service, and Make and Mend fixing and skills sharing service the eco hub will help us reduce our carbon debt.
Our Plans
- Retrofit the building to high environmental standards - with a mix of simple and cost effective techniques, that people can replicate in their own homes.
- Offer secure bike storage- making it easier for people to choose active travel.
- Open a scrap shed - offering recycled and "waste" materials for upcycling into arts and craft projects, so we get as close to a circular economy as possible.
Will you help us?
Please help us. You can find more information about us by visiting us, Tuesdays and Fridays at Maslow studios, or visiting our website (where you will also see our full location details).
Let’s make this happen!
Funding method
All or nothing – this project will only receive pledges if it reaches its target of £5,000 by 6th August 2026 at 4:18pm