Our Story

What led us to where we are.

GETTING STARTED

Many of us were waiting for someone else to build a climbing facility in Stroud and became fed up of waiting. So we naively began scheming a plan with a vision. 

"What would it take to make climbing more accessible, bring down the cost and easily replicable in other communities?"

Our iterative process

Each of these steps took us down a fascinating path of discovery and exploration. Some are so good, we'd like to revisit at some point. 
Initial Design with a lean to
Some thoughts on framing
Modular & stackable
Single unit design
Stack for height.

FIRST ITERATION

We were inspired by shipping containers. Cheap, modular, stackable, transportable. We imagined having a workshop inside for making our own wooden holds. We found ways to cheaply and securely build a modular wall on the outside - dismountable and transportable by storing everything in the container. This could be manufactured in Stroud and shipped to communities worldwide and gradually scale to whatever size and shape they see fit. 

OUTDOOR BOULDERS

We proposed to the council a set of permanent outdoor boulders next to the skate park and the tennis court at Stratford Park. The initial cost of installation was high but it's very low maintenance and free to climb for the whole community. 
Inside Merrets Mill
Technical drawing
Variations
Design by www.adamfidlercreations.co.uk
Design by www.adamfidlercreations.co.uk

MERRETS MILL

We came very close to building the gym in 2024 when we saw the potential in an 800 square foot industrial unit. This spurred us into months of negotiations with insurers to get the key card access model approved through 'super-induction'. With the generous help of industry supporters, the in-depth research process set us up with the knowledge and confidence that we could pull this off if we have enough funding. Alas, the friction in the payment rail made our first round of crowdfunding fall short and we decided to step back.

GOVERNANCE

We considered deeply about what it takes to own an asset as a community. We assessed the limitations of coops, CIC's, charities and CBS. We experimented and iterated from do-ocracy to semi-sociocratic consent based governance. We created a community volunteer pool and task groups, and evolved the core group through different phases. We believe in the principles of commoning as defined by Elinor Ostrom and hope to transition to a multistakeholder governance model in the next phase where users, investors and stewards have a say in how this project grows.  
Above the Sanctuary
Design render
Draft Proposal

BRIMSCOMBE MILL

The Grace Network and the Long Table have been incredibly supportive of our project from the beginning. They provided us space to hold community meetings and we resonated over the importance of community ownership and social impact. We are excited to be nested within their thriving hub and hope to contribute to the wider mission as our project matures.

The current location is a pilot space with a minimum of a year of use before a larger building within their complex is renovated and becomes available for use. 

For the community, by the community

We have 450 people on our mailing list, over 100 in our volunteer group, 15 have contributed to the core group, and together we've pulled this project to this point.
BACK THIS PROJECT

Accessible Climbing for All

We want to make climbing affordable and accessible to more people