Since opening in May, the Hackney Fixing Factory has started hosting events.
They run Community Repair every Saturday 11am-2pm. They have also started to run training events and will soon run Future Fixers events (for volunteers only).
Images from recent training event on soldering
Images from a recent community repair event, which was well attended.
Another Parliamentary Repair Cafe took place in June 2025, this time in the House of Lords. It is part of a push for better repair legislation in the UK.
The event was a follow up from the Parliamentary Repair event in 2024 (an earlier post). The aim was to engage UK politicians with repair and reuse, and to build support for the Repair and Reuse Declaration. This will hopefully lead to new legislation to eventually improve our right to repair.
The event was held in partnership with Back Market, and support from SUEZ, Green Alliance and the CRN. A highlight of the day a speech by Circular Economies Minister Mary Creagh, who has set up the Circular Economy Taskforce promising a roadmap for circular electricals (and electronics) by early 2026. It is hoped this will deliver the new legislation.
The event was sponsored by Baroness Parminter and Jeremy Vine. Jeremy told the story of his ‘unrepairable’ Segway, which is less than 3 years old!! Difficult to open, replacement parts unavailable, manufacturer unwilling to help. A story that is all too familiar.
The event offered MPs and their staff an opportunity to get a sense of a community repair event (e.g. a repair cafe) with three volunteers (from the Community Repair Network) performing repairs on the day. Other representatives from Restart and Repair Cafes from across the UK attended to engage with their local MPs.
Over 35 MPs and their staff were in attendance, there was good support for the Declaration and this is hopefully another step towards increased support for the UK Repair and Reuse Declaration and new legislation.
The Restart Project and partners are developing the next wave of Fixing Factories to increase the repair capability on our high streets. This post is a short story of the development of the latest one, in Hackney.
Fixing Factories provide a community resource to help people to get their things fixed and also learn new skills (via workshops). They are based in the community and more easily accessible. They provide a more consistent capability for repair and reuse. Run in partnership with Possible and funding from the National Lottery Climate Action Community Fund they are also resourced by mix of paid staff and volunteers.
The first Fixing Factories were created in Brent and Camden and were covered in earlier posts. Brent was a pilot, located in a local household waste recycling centre; that has now closed. The Camden factory continues and hosts a range of repair and educational events on Thursdays and Saturdays.
This post follows the development of two new facilities: one in Hackney and another in Haringey.
Hackney Fixing Factory
In Hackney, volunteers and staff refurbished an old nail bar in Dispensary Lane.
Local bespoke furniture makers OEK , located next door, provided the new ‘fixing factory’ wall signage.
The new manager, Arthur and Shelini, who is managing the Restart’s Fixing Factory programme, began installing the furniture and making final preparations for the opening.
On 23 April the Fixing Factory officially opened its doors.
Cutting the ribbon …
The Hackney Fixing Factory is now operational. you can find details here.
In Haringey, pre-launch events are taking place with community repair events hosted by Haringey Fixers.
The Future
We need more Fixing Factories. Ideally, we should have one on the high street in every major town and in every London borough. We have solutions, we just need to act.
The next unbroken.solutions exhibition will take place in London at No. 1 Church Lane, Leytonstone, E11 1HG (Leytonstone tube) from 14 to 27 October.
Repair events will also take place in the exhibition space run by @Forest.Fixers (Restart Project) on 15 to 18 October.
Exhibition dates and times: 14 October to 27 October (Mon-Fri 14:00-18:00 daily)
Entry: FREE
Repair events by: Forest Fixers @forest.fixers on 15 to 18th October 10:00-13:00
Supported by: WeFlock CIC https://www.goodshepherdstudios.com
In support of Repair Day (19th October), the exhibition will highlight the importance of repair and reuse and the need for a better Right to Repair. For more information and events taking place on international Repair Day (19th October) see https://openrepair.org
There will also be copies of the unbroken.solutions photobook to view and copies of the ‘act now‘ zine.
An update on the ‘act now’ campaign to make better use of community facilities for sharing, repair and reuse.
In 2023, I sent ‘unbroken‘ photobooks and ‘act now‘ zines to all major UK councils and local authorities. I have just updated the campaign. More copies of the books and zines have gone to councils that recently changed control. Books have also been sent to the newly elected mayors and to the recently appointed government ministers at DEFRA and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
Whilst we really need a better ‘Right to Repair‘, there is still much more we can do with the resources we have.
There are over 1000 under-utilised council-owned properties that are likely suitable for sharing, repair and re-use. Many are empty. Sian Berry (Greens) described these spaces as ‘Dead Spaces‘. They do not need to be dead. If a fraction of these became ‘meanwhile’ use for local communities, it could help reduce waste, reduce council disposal costs, help with cost of living and help build local communities. It really begs the question – so, why would you not want to do this?
The RSA has recently adopted the idea of making better use of these ‘Dead Spaces‘ as part of its Day One Manifesto. This will form part of the ongoing campaign into 2025. More to follow.
International Repair Day (19 October) is fast approaching. As part of that, I am putting together an exhibition to be shown at a ‘meanwhile’ shop outside Leytonstone Station. E11. It is supported by We Flock CIC. More on this in the next few week.
Engaging UK MPs in the Right to Repair
On 7 May 2024, the Restart Project, Back Market, Community Repair Network, the Green Alliance and Design Council held an event to engage UK MPs in repair and reuse, to support the Right to Repair and to sign the Repair and Reuse Declaration.
Hosted by Helen Hayes MP, in the Jubilee Room at the Houses of Parliament, the event highlighted the impact of our electrical waste, our options for more repair and reuse and provided an opportunity to support or sign the Repair Declaration. There was also a repair cafe demonstrating repair and repairing items brought in.
Repair Cafe groups from all over the UK attended. The event was well attended and more MPs offered support and signed the Declaration. The Repair and Reuse Declaration asks the UK Government to:
– Make repair more affordable, through tax reductions (80% support) and repair vouchers (79% support).
– Expand the UK’s right to repair regulations to cover all consumer products, strengthen design standards and remove barriers to repair for everyone (85% support).
– Introduce a repair index to help the public choose more repairable and durable products (80% support).
– Introduce requirements and targets for reuse and repair to be prioritised over recycling and providing investment to make this a reality. This should be a key part of amended extended producer responsibility rules (83% support).
– Support a new generation of repairers through repair training, accreditation and apprenticeships(85% support).
With a growing list of signatories and cross-party support an improved right to repair will hopefully become law in the next parliament and bring the UK back in one with Europe and US states.
Thank you to all the MPs who signed …. a step in the right direction.
In the UK, councils and local authorities provide our best opportunity to make a meaningful improvements in repair and reuse capability; at least until we have a proper ‘right to repair’.
unbroken.solutions is starting a campaign to encourage greater support, by using a combination of exhibitions and a photobook and ‘zines’ to engage local councils and the public.
Some councils have already helped provide some funding, or access to facilities, or signposted community repair as an option. Examples such as Share and Repair in Bath, Re:Make Newport and the Fixing Factory in Camden show that community repair can be on the high street. This makes it more visible and available to many more people. But we can do much more.
The first part of the campaign is to distribute a photo book to 260 major councils and waste authorities in the UK. The photo book documents the impact and many solutions from across the world.
The ask is simple: to do more to support repair and reuse. The act now page on this site provides additional links to resources to support this.
In combination with the unbroken.solutions photobook an act now ‘zine’ has been produced to distribute via the community repair network, to the public, asking them to request more local solutions and capability.
Both the book and the zine have been produced in the UK to reduce environmental impact, using printers with strong eco-credentials and an ISO14001 environmental management system, designed to minimise manufacturing waste and using Carbon Neutral and FSC chain of custody sources of paper and card.
The campaign will distribute both the books and the zines over the next few months and encourage councils and the public to provide examples of action.
The Restart Project in partnership with climate charity Possible, Ready Tech Go, West London Waste Authority, and Mer IT, and with National Lottery Community Funding is creating new ‘Fixing Factories’ in London. For more information see the dedicated Fixing Factory website.
Camden Fixing Factory was officially opened after Camden Mayor, Nasim Ali, cut the ribbon. There were also a number of other local politicians plus representatives from a number of local stakeholders and community groups. In addiction to the opening of the Queen’s Crescent Fixing Factory, the local community was also invited to take part in some hands-on fixing.
The aim is for these to become a ‘blueprint’ for Fixing Factories around the country, emulating the success of Kierrätyskeskus in Finland.
At the launch event there were demonstrations from Mer-IT of how to open your laptop, change hard drives, memory cards and batteries.
Whilst the main goal is to make electronics last longer, to prevent unnecessary e-waste and the huge amount of carbon emissions involved in the production and transport of new devices, such facilities also provide wider community benefits – they help increase high street activity, create local community events, training and potential job opportunities, improve local environmental performance and help with the cost of living crisis.
you can hear more about the Camden and Brent Fixing Factories are the Restarters Podcast.
International FixFest was held in Brussels from 30 September to 2 October 2022. Delegates from around the world met in on-line and in person at Les Ateliers des Tanneurs to strengthen the community repair movement, share best practice and articulate demands for more repairable products.
It was organised by The Restart Project, in close collaboration with Belgian partners Repair Together and Repair & Share. I photographed the events throughout the weekend, including the protest outside Apple.
To find out more about FixFest 2022, see their Press Release
Further Photographs, images and captions are here
The Festival of Ethical Photography was born in 2010 from an idea of the nonprofit organization Gruppo Fotografico Progetto Immagine, based in Lodi, Italy, with the intention of focusing on ethical content of great relevance, bringing the general public closer to social issues.
With the Restart Project we entered unbroken.solutions : Repair is Essential in the NGO Open Call and have been shortlisted for NONPROFIT WORLD 2022. The shortlist of twelve projects features many amazing projects by photographers working for some great non-profits doing essential work.
This Festival is an opportunity to showcase those projects alongside wider ethical photography and, this year, World Press Photo. The annual World Press Photo is the world’s most prestigious international contest for photojournalism.
From our perspective this is a great opportunity to showcase the importance of repair in a more sustainable world. We have the tools, we have many solutions, we just need to act.
The one-month long Festival takes place in Lodi, Italy from 24 September to 23 October.
