Making and Mending in Muirhouse Drylaw
New Shed Location
The North Edinburgh Arts Community Shed is now operating at Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre. We are going to be here for the rest of 2023. Sometime next year we will move back to our spiritual home, Muirhouse, when we become fully integrated into North Edinburgh Arts when our new building is complete.
The above photo shows the new Shed. We moved here in February 2023 and spent approximately 2 months converting this old minibus garage into our new workshop. Nearly all the material used in the build has been recycled. The benches are made from fire doors which we removed from our old premises. We did buy a small amount of wood but this was purchased from Move On who specialise in secondhand wood.
The above photo shows what we started with. In this photo you can see that we have just started to lay the floor, which were old doors kindly donated to us by Murrayfield Golf Club.
For those of you familiar with the old workshop you will notice immediately a significant reduction in size, but this is compensated by being surrounded by the lovely garden of Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre.
Despite the downsizing we are able to offer a similar range of activities as in our previous site. The only activity we have had to drop is the wood turning but we can return to offering this experience when we move back to Muirhouse next year.
Adjacent to this workshop is our tool shop where we have installed a chop saw, a band saw and sanding equipment.
Shed Mission Statement:
The Shed is a welcoming, safe space where people living in North Edinburgh can come to make or mend stuff using recycled wood. We aim to be a fun space where our members can meet new people, learn new skills, and feel supported to realise their creative ambitions. We believe that when we work together we can achieve almost anything. Our limitation is our imagination.
Drop in Sessions
Currently, we are not accepting new member applications as we prepare for the opening of the MacMillan Hub in Spring 2024. We appreciate your patience and understanding.
Please check back with us when our new facilities are ready as we will be excited to welcome new members to our Community Shed.
The above video will give you an insight into what the Community is like and what we are about. This video was made in 2018, when we were funded by the Climate Challenge Fund, which ended in March 2020. We are currently funded by the Big Lottery and Nancie Massey Trust.
What is a Community Shed?
The primary focus of the shed is to reuse wood, furniture, tools etc. to enable our members to build things they need for their homes, gardens and community. Where possible we try to only use recycled wood. Indeed 99% or all the wood used in the Shed has been recycled – very occasionally we need to buy wood and when we do we try to buy second hand wood from the Move On project in Granton. Each year in Scotland we throw away tons of stuff into landfill, including wood and furniture, that should be recycled, reused, mended or made into something completely different and the Community Shed will do its bit to convert this waste into useful and beautiful things.
The Shed is similar to Men’s Shed movement which is gaining popularity across Scotland at the moment. We are, however, open to anyone regardless of their gender identity. Our only current membership requirement is that you are over 16.
Why develop a Community Shed?
North Edinburgh Arts and Link Up listened to local people who said they wanted a local community shed. Together with community members, both organisations were successful in getting funding from the Climate Change Fund to set a community shed in North Edinburgh. The Shed is therefore a great example of community development in action, and it proves that when we work together we can achieve great things.
Who can use it?
The Shed is open to anyone aged 16 or over from the North Edinburgh community.
Where is the Shed?
The Shed is located at Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre, 67b Groathill Road North, Edinburgh, EH4 2SA.
The nearest bus stops are just round the corner and you can get a 24 or a 200 bus to these stops.
A little further away is the Drylaw Police Station Bus stop and the 21, 27, 29, 37 all stop here.
Funding
The Shed is currently funded by the Big Lottery Fund until January 2024. A big thanks to them for recognising the contribution we make to the community of North Edinburgh and agreeing to support us over the coming year.
In August 2021 we were awarded a grant of £3000 by the Robert McApline Trust. A big thanks to them for supporting this project.
In March 2023 we were awarded £2000 by the Nancie Massey Trust and a big thank you to them for their support.
In September 2023 we received £5000 grant funded by CCG (Scotland) Ltd/City of Edinburgh Council Partnership through the OneCity Trust.
Support us by donating wood, tools, or your time.
We hope to see you or hear from you soon.
Contact us
If you want to find out more about the NEA Community Shed, please contact us.
Call: 0131 315 2151 (Monday – Friday, 9am – 1pm)
Email: garden@northedinburgharts.co.uk
North Edinburgh Arts 