Along with this ‘out with the old and in with the new’ session we have listened to our customers and updated our pricing structure to better meet the desk rental needs of home workers, freelancers and small businesses.

You can now rent desks by the day starting at just £15 for single whole day with discounts for block bookings. We are now hiring out our meeting room too. If you just need the meeting room and not a desk – it’s yours! Permanent desk rental is unchanged and still at the great value £200 per month including all bills.

See the new price list here.

Not only have the prices been spruced up, so has the way you can book your desk. Try out our new booking form and reserve your desk for when you want. If online forms isn’t your thing you can still just pick up the phone talk to a real person.

Well in a true ‘show n tell’ style resident FunkBunker Gary Loosley of SIGA Vision bought in his latest project, the Lightning Detector Mk5! This amazing looking contraption can pick up lightning strikes happening up to 300 miles away and display the strength of the strike and direction it is in. So avoid getting frazzled and don’t go out without checking it first!

Gary designed and built the device from the ground up and has an LCD display planned for Mk6 which will show the approximate distance to the strike in miles and further information on the lighting strength. Google Map showing the strikes coming soon?

It meant that they were able to share in the buzz, the atmosphere and the collective business and creative experience of all the other individuals in that space. The space became known as the Silicon Roundabout and has become an attractive proposition for investors from Silicon Valley looking for a UK base.

We’re not saying that we are the next Silicon Roundabout but every resident at FunkBunk benefits from being part of a collective that is stronger than it’s individuals alone. I hear ideas being discussed everyday that have the potential to be the next Tweetdeck. Just by working in the same space there is inspiration all around and the resource to make the ideas come to life.

For those sick of shuffling from coffee shop to coffee shop, struggling to get a wi-fi connection, working in isolation and struggling to kickstart their ideas, places like FunkBunk are definitely the way forward.

The article from the Guardian is well worth a read. Check it out here.

But why take our word for it? The clever guys at Coworking Toronto have come up with this great cartoon that explains it pretty much perfectly. Go for it Paul and Sandra!

Blimey its spring already and I have yet again neglected our blog. I did somehow manage to find five minutes to write one for the WorkHubs website so if you fancy reading that click here. Also had 2 minutes early this morning to photograph the amazing blossom that is on the trees next to our entrance. Click here for a large version of the pic.

Business has also been blossoming in the Bunk so far in 2011. FunkBunk residents Hallway Studios and Purity Productions have both expanded employing more staff, taking more desks and bringing with them a great vibrant feel to the studios here. FunkBunk also welcomes two new full time additions to the open plan co-working space:

Graphic Designer, Stu Bradley has chosen FunkBunk as his base of operations for his design business BobbyFlash. Stu has been flat out since arriving and is already working on new and exciting projects with fellow FunkBunkers Purity.

DGS Construction are a sustainable homes, renovation and building project firm who work throughout the UK on pioneering and exciting construction projects. Matt Stewart has chosen the environment here at FunkBunk to base the office side of their business from, and we are very happy to have him on board!

FunkBunk founders Provide Design and early residents SIGA Vision continue to go from strength to strength with signs looking great for the rest of 2011.

With all this work, there barely seems to be time to blog, but with the lighter days and warmer weather may come renewed writing ability!

Cheers

Sam sam@funkbunk.com

It did present some printing challenges though as high quality print on to frosted vinyl is a fairly specialist activity. Our suppliers pulled through in fine style though and colourful privacy can now be had when taking part in meetings at the ‘Bunk.

We are currently working on some virtual office packages for those wishing to use FunkBunk as a business base on paper. Some of these packages will include use of the meeting room, as it is the perfect place to bring your clients. As soon as we have all the details together we will post them up here.

Well the Christmas tree is up….

Just kidding, although this awesome tree we received as an early Christmas card kicks of the seasonal decorations at FunkBunk, not be outdone by Purity Productions in the room next door we have a something special planned for our tree.

In other news, 02 and Vodafone users at FunkBunk are soon to be getting a major boost in the their mobile signal strength. All things going to plan, our new internal transmitter should mean no flaky signal for 02 users when inside the building.

Also, a couple of local business men have made their new years resolutions early and said they will be joining us full time at FunkBunk in January. We will post more info on these two businesses in the new year but we are looking forward to having them here and excited to see how they use the ‘Bunk to propel their businesses forward.

Keep an eye out for ‘pajama boy’ in your local parish magazines, newsletters and newspapers.

Download a PDF of the Local Advert for Wing, Stewkley, Cublington, Wingrave, Newton Longville, Mentmore and Aston Abbots

Laurence Cranwell was in effect the Father of FunkBunk. It is his buildings that FunkBunk resides in and it was down to his generosity, craftsmanship and pure hard work that FunkBunk was turned from a set of old storage barns and workshops into the gleaming palace of a workhub that it is today.

Laurence, Laurie, Louis or whatever you knew him as, was a skilled carpenter by trade and ran his bespoke kitchen business Cranwell Kitchens from the workshops next door to FunkBunk. He leaves Glebe Close Farm where FunkBunk is based to his family who vow to continue the successful running of the site.

Glebe Close Farm, near Wing Village on the Bedfordshire / Buckinghamshire border (inbetween Aylesbury and Milton Keynes) has belonged to the Cranwell Family since the close of the Second World War. Glebe Close Farm was an active Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) site during the war with hundreds of people living and working within its buildings and supporting the local airfield. The Cranwells ran the ex-military site as a dairy farm then Laurence started his kitchen business here in 1977 and rescued the site and its buildings from falling into the ground, rebuilding and renovating over the next 33 years.

Laurence passed away suddenly after being diagnosed with a rare blood/plasma disease called AL Amyloidosis. It was a shock to all that knew him and he will be sorely missed by all.

He was never sure about the name ‘FunkBunk’… But like all of us, was a true ‘Bunker’ at heart.

A Just Giving page has been set up in memory of this great man: www.justgiving.com/laurencecranwell