BLACKBURN BANDWAGON - STRATEGY FOR CHUTNEY FOR CHANGE
BLACKBURN BANDWAGON - STRATEGY FOR EXCHANGE COFFEE
BLACKBURN BANDWAGON - STRATEGY FOR BLACKBURN MUSEUM OR LIBRARY
As a social enterprise, Chutney for Change uses the profits from chutney sales to fund workshops
and educational projects. These include developing a knowledge of food waste, sustainability,
food safety and basic cookery.
Exchange coffee are a coffee roasters and tea merchants based in the North West of England. The
company has numerous retail outlets throughout Lancashire and Yorkshire, including Blackburn
town centre.
Contained within an arts and craft style listed building, Blackburn Museum houses displays and
collections including Britain’s 2nd largest collection of Japanese woodcut prints, watercolours,
ceramics and collections of coins and books.
Chutney for Change is a nomadic enterprise as, due to the projects grassroots nature, it does not
yet turn over enough profit to sustain a tenancy for a long period of time.
Whilst the chain has a strong presence in the South of the town, the company could benefit from
satellite coffee stalls in the form of The Blackburn Bandwagon. This would allow Exchange Coffee
more flexibility and the opportunity to respond to Blackburn’s event schedule, whilst expanding
their customer base.
The Museum is not ideally positioned as, although it is located close to the town centre, the
entrance is not visible from the main road and the side road it is on receives low footfall. The
location of the town’s library also suffers a similar problem and does not address the main Town
Hall Square. The Blackburn Bandwagon could be used by the Museum or library as an advertising
tool, external exhibition space or projector stand for cinematic displays.
The Blackburn Bandwagon could aid Chutney for Change by allowing stalls to ‘pop up’ quickly and
affordable in a range of alternative spaces across the town.
Blackburn bandwagon: small scale proposal
Objective: The Blackburn Bandwagon is a tool created to enhance and expand upon
Blackburn’s existing town centre assets, stimulate and support new creative enterprises
and aid the development of a vibrant annual town centre cultural events programme.
By using forthcoming digital technology within the town centre in its fabrication, the
Blackburn Bandwagon also serves to teach the local community new skills, demonstrate
the possibilities of items made in the ‘fab-lab’ and potentially inspire a range of digitally
fabricated creations.
Outline: Proposals are to create The Blackburn Bandwagon, a small transportable cart,
using digital technologies available in the proposed ‘fab-lab’. The Blackburn Bandwagon
is flexible in its nature and therefore, once constructed, can be easily adapted to support
various activities including pop-up retail, exhibitions and events.
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Location: Due to its transportable nature, The Blackburn Bandwagon could be located
anywhere it is required within the town centre. The mobile unit could temporarily populate
some of Blackburn’s vacant commercial units within the town centre. Alternatively, if a
power supply is required there are two existing power outlets on King William Street.
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CHUTNEY FOR CHANGE SCENARIO:
1. Rent vacant shop in town centre and set up The Blackburn Bandwagon
2. Pack away and move after 3 month period
3. Set up The Blackburn Bandwagon in the Town Hall Square
4. Pack away and move when suitable premises becomes available
5. Rent vacant shop in town centre and set up The Blackburn Bandwagon
EXCHANGE COFFEE SCENARIO:
1. Set up The Blackburn Bandwagon in the Town Hall Square on Mondays
to take advantage of passing trade entering the town hall
2. Set up The Blackburn Bandwagon outside the Museum on Wednesdays
3. Create a pop-up coffee stall in a vacant shop to the North of the town centre
on Saturdays to serve as a place for shoppers to stop and sit down.
Gas Camping stoves embedded
within the structure provide a
platform to cook on.
Exchange coffee and other
stalls from the market can
have ‘pop-up’ stands in the
street during summer..
Timber structure to hold jars
and kitchen equipment.
Sink - Water available
from a water tank and
hose pipe held above
Water store
+
Coffee cups
BLACKBURN MUSEUM, LIBRARY & ART GALLERY SCENARIO:
1. The Blackburn Bandwagon could be used as a projector stand and display films on the blank
wall opposite the Museum entrance.
2. The Blackburn Bandwagon could advertise the Museum’s collections in the Town Hall Square.
3 & 4. The Museum could attract people from other parts of the town by advertising exhibits in
other parts of town.
Museum or library stall
set-up in the Town Hall to
advertise events in areas
with higher footfall.
Sink - Water available
from a water tank and
hose pipe held above
Display stands give
information on
current and upcoming
exhibitions.
Structure provides portable
kitchens to allow for street vending
or setting-up in empty shops.
Plan of Chutney for Change ‘bandwagon’.
Plan of Exchange Coffee ‘bandwagon’.
Plan of museum or library ‘bandwagon’.
Strategy: Detailed instructions, provided by the Live Project Group, will be used to
fabricate five Blackburn Bandwagons following the introduction of ‘Fab-lab’ in the
building previously known as ‘Bentley’s’ on Exchange Street. Blackburn is Open could
initially benefit from the knowledge, expertise and guidance of the ‘Fab-lab’ staff in
initial fabrication and construction. The Blackburn Bandwagon will be rented out to
enterprises, organisations and community groups wishing to temporarily operate within
the town centre at an affordable rate. When not in use the Blackburn Bandwagons could
be stored in a vacant shop within the town centre and become a way of displaying the
potential of ‘fab-lab’ manufacturing.
As demand increase, as does revenue from rent, more Blackburn Bandwagons can be
manufactured within ‘fab-lab’. As awareness grows around the benefits of the Blackburn
Bandwagon, through marketing and experiences, enterprises can choose to invest in it,
fabricate one themselves or even develop the design to specifically suit their needs.
The Blackburn Bandwagon is constructed primarily from painted softwood and
plywood. The simple joints require basic tools for assembly. Periodically, depending on
the exposure to the weather, the Blackburn Bandwagons might need repainting and a
small amount of maintenance. As numbers grow storage capacity must be considered
and may also need to expand.
Person from the library or museum
manning the stand.
IDEAS FOR OTHER STALLS IN BLACKBURN
THE BLACKBURN BANDWAGON
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THE BLACKBURN BANDWAGON
- From concept to completion, the journey through the ‘fab-lab’
THE BLACKBURN BANDWAGON
- Exploded Axonometric showing structure and construction.
THE BLACKBURN BANDWAGON
3. Howarth Timber and Building Supplies - Bruce St, Blackburn
- Timber joints
4. Jas - Walpole Street Saw Mills, Warpole Street, Blackburn
The main cost for the Blackburn Bandwagon is material cost, as the facilities at the
‘fab-lab’ are free to use. This project would benefit from a sponsor in the form of a
local builders merchants to provide some or all of the materials free of charge.
Potential Sponsors include:
1. B&Q - Nova Scotia retail Park, Bolton Rd, Blackburn
2. Travis Perkins - Phoenix Mill, King Street, Blackburn
5. Kingston Building Supplies - Kingston House, George Street West, Blackburn
In return the companies name could be etched onto the Blackburn Bandwagon,
providing them with an advert that will be displayed at numerous locations all over
the town. This would be particularly appealing to sponsors positioned on the outskirts
of the town centre giving them a presence in town centre that they don’t currently
have. People who are inspired to use the ‘fab-lab’ to create a product after seeing the
Blackburn Bandwagon will most likely use the same supplier for their materials as the
physical object demonstrates their quality.
The ‘bandwagon’ is designed to be simple to produce and construct. It allows for a
low-tech assembly and maximises accessibility.
Joints can all be cut using the CNC and Milling machines in the fab-lab to reduce the
skill set required to construct the structure.
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KEY:
1 - Overhead Tarpaulin
2 - 38mm x 63mm x 240mm Stud-work Timber
3 - Chutney for Change Chutney Jars
4 - CNC’d timber chutney jar rack
5- Branding ‘sticker’ vinyl cut-out
6- 12mm plywood sheet
7- 38mm x 63mm x 240mm timber ‘chassis’
8- Brushed steel plate and hob-top
9- 12mm plywood sheet
10- Wheelbarrow wheel
11- 12mm plywood base
12- 400mm Stainless steel round sink
13- Watering can for draining water into
THE BLACKBURN BANDWAGON
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