Information for Tenants - A-Z | Community Base (2023)

Base Community Team and contacts

Director:Olivia Canham

• E-mail:director@communitybase.org
• Telephone: 01273 234047, extension 1214
• Office days: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday
• Contact for: office space, finance, rent information, partnerships, emergencies and security

Vice director:Annette Moss

• E-mail:vice-diretor@communitybase.org
• Service days: Monday, Thursday and Friday
• Contact for: building maintenance, fire safety, security, insurance

Construction manager:Matt Mills

• E-mail:mattdjmills@hotmail.com
• Opening hours: 3 days a week, variable days
• Contact for: building maintenance, recycling, office renovations and maintenance, office equipment, movement and disposal of materials and equipment
• Other maintenance crew: Ezra Mills

Communication manager:Aisling Murray

• E-mail:comms@communitybase.org
• Opening hours: part-time, variable days
• Contact for: events, training, marketing, social networks, promotion

Administrator:Katharine Trevelyan

• E-mail:posterguide@communitybase.org
• Phone: 01273 234852
• Opening hours: Monday and Thursday
• Contact for: Posterguide, administrative inquiries

Receptionist:Leo Pickett-Palmer

• E-mail:recepção@communitybase.org
• Telephone: 01273 234000, extension 1200
• Office Hours: Monday through Friday (usually WFH on Wednesdays)
• Contact for: Primary point of contact for some administrative matters including postage, room reservations, building access and website postings. If you don't know who to contact, reception will forward your message to the most appropriate person.

Other reception staff:

• Dave – Wednesdays
• Tilly – Wednesday and Thursday at lunchtime
• Elaine – locum cover
• Kylie – capa do locum

Please contact reception via email:recepção@communitybase.orgor telephone: 01273 234000, extension 1200

Emergency out of hours:

AP Security – 0845 0702 407

Alternative emergency contacts:

Director – 07947 837432

Construction Manager - 07989 049645

Elevator emergency contact:

Ascent – ​​01273 297989

A-Z information

Accessing the building

Entrance through reception:

Reception is open on Mondays from 10:00 to 16:30, from Tuesday to Friday from 08:30 to 16:30.

Reception is closed on public holidays and is also closed for around 2 weeks on Christmas and New Year holidays.

The building is accessible to tenants with access fobs through the south wing entrance from 6 am to 10 pm, 7 days a week, every day of the year.

If the entrance is locked within these hours, please contact reception or our security team on 0845 0702 407.

If entering from SW, or entering NW from SW, never let someone without a locksmith you don't know enter behind you. If they pressure you, tell them you are not authorized to let them in and remind them that they can go to reception or call a colleague.

Entrance through the South Wing with a key ring:

Most tenant employees and some volunteers will have a key fob – ask your manager if you think you need one.Visitors and users of the service should never be borrowed or provided.

Community Base has fob readers at SW entrance, LGF, 2F, 4F and parking lot.

If you need to access the NW from the SW, you must use your remote to enter the SW entrance and then use LGF, 2F or 4F remote readers to enter the NW.

Each fob is programmed for a particular person; the fob can then be programmed remotely: we can change or remove access at any time.

To use:

• Users hold their fob against readers and this will unlock/open the door for them.
• Keychains are small so we ask users to keep them on a keychain or lanyard at all times.
• If you lose or break your keychain: email reception.
• When leaving the Community Base, return your key ring to reception.
• Lost, broken or unreturned fobs incur a £5 charge; we can invoice or user can pay in cash.

Fobs for new team members are charged at £5 each, FOBs returned from departing team members act as credit - so for most organizations this usually pays off.

Please refer to the car park section for information on car park access.

The front desk manages the fob system.

Visitors:

• During reception opening hours, visitors are welcome to the reception
• We have 3 waiting chairs, and we have capacity for an additional 3-4 people standing at the reception. If the reception is full, we ask people to wait outside.
• If your visitors don't understand English or have other barriers to getting to their appointments, it can be helpful to let the front desk know in advance or send the visitor a text message that they can show the receptionist.
• Tell your visitors specifically where to find you. If they find you in the South Wing:
  • Give them clear instructions on how to let them know they've arrived. This is especially important outside reception opening hours.
  • They can use the intercom to call the conference room, an office extension number (some offices display this in the window), 1222 for SW2 or 1333 for SW3.
  • A few event planners/1-1 support workers wait at the door.

• Visitors with appointments
  • Reception will ask the visitor which organization he is visiting, the appointment time, his name and the name of the person he is meeting
  • We will then call the office or meeting room to confirm with you.
  • We will send visitors when you confirm or ask them to wait for you
  • If you have any requirements for specific visitors or want us to be aware of anything in advance, please let reception know
  • If you cannot be reached on the main office extension and you are expecting a visitor, please let reception know how to contact you or when to expect you to receive your visitor

• Participants in events
  • When you are hosting events or training sessions in a reserved Community Base meeting room, the front desk will be able to see where you have booked and will send attendees to the room at the time of booking
  • If you have any requirements ~(such as attendees must wait in the South Wing, or the front desk must call the room to check if they are ready first), or if you have more than 6 attendees arriving at the same time, please speak with the front desk
  • If you are hosting an event in your own office, let the front desk know whether to call or send people directly to the event
  • If you have a regular event, talk to reception about how many attendees you expect and how and when to send them.

• Unmarked service users and potential service users
  • Talk to reception about how you prefer to handle these situations.
  • Reception will normally call your office to ask if anyone is available and if not will take the visitor's details or provide your organization's public contact details

Accessibility

The reception entrance has two automatic doors. Pushbuttons are located on the left side of the front desk's outer and inner doors. This will open both doors during reception opening hours.

The SW entrance also has an automatic door. This can be opened using your remote, someone from inside opening the door with a buzz, or from inside pressing the push button.

Elevators:

• NW Elevators:
  • girlfriend
  • 1F
  • 2f
  • 3F
  • 4F
• SW Elevators:
  • LGF
  • girlfriend
  • 1F
  • 2f
  • 3F
  • 4F
  • 5F
• Elevators are wheelchair accessible, but not all mobility scooters will be able to maneuver inside
  • The SW elevator has a door opening width of 76cm; Iinternal size is139cm deep by99cm wide (NB door opening width smaller than inner width so needs to be taken into account)
• We have our elevators repaired periodically
• Elevators at each end of the building are serviced one at a time, so only one set of elevators must be out of service at any one time.
  • When the South Wing elevators are out of order, SW 1F, 3F and the conference room are only accessible by stairs
  • When the North Wing elevators are out of order, NW 1F and 3F are only accessible by stairs.
• We try to schedule services in advance and send notifications around the building a few days in advance so employees with access needs or groups with service users with access needs can plan ahead.
• It is extremely rare for there to be a problem where the elevator stops working while passengers are inside, in almost all cases if there is a fault the elevator will not open its doors when called, will not close the doors once open or will not exit the ground is
• In case of problems or concerns about an elevator:
  • Emergency call button is inactive so you will need to use your cell phone
  • During reception hours: call reception 01273 234000
  • Outside office hours: call 01273 297989
• Please note that if the elevator is called and a floor button is not pressed, the elevator will close the doors and turn off the lights - this may make people feel trapped, but the elevator will work

If you have employees with disabilities, service users or event attendees, please review the fire safety evacuation information, ask the building manager or deputy principal in advance if you would like more information.

We do not recommend using the car park for people with reduced mobility, as the spaces are not large, and the route from the car park to the SW lift is not very accessible. Always check with the front desk or building manager before booking a visitor with a disability in the parking lot. See the car park section for more information about the car park. If you have accessibility needs and are considering using the parking lot, ask the building manager or deputy principal to show you around.

Accessible restrooms can be found:

• GF reception
• N.W. 2F
• SO LGF
• SW 5F

bathrooms

Our restrooms can be found:

NO GF

• Accessible bathroom – with changing room

NOT F1

• “Men” – cubicles and urinals

NO F2

• accessible bathroom
• “Women” – cubicles

NO F3

• All genders – cubicles and urinals
• All genders - cubicles only

SO LGF

• accessible bathroom
• “Women” – cubicles
• Bath

SW F1

• “Men” – cubicles and urinals
• “Women” – cubicles

SW F4

• “Men” – cubicles and urinals

SW F5

• Accessible bathroom – with changing room
• “Women” – cubicles

Let the front desk know if you notice a problem in a bathroom (clogged toilet, no soap, etc.)

Parking

The parking entrance is located on the north side of the building on North Road, near the traffic lights.

The shutter opens with a key fob. Access to parking is not standard on tenant key chains. Regular parking lot users can request parking access to be added to their remote controls. Please contact reception.

A small number of groups in the Community Base rent permanent parking spaces.

Parking space 10 can be reserved by tenants on the Skedda room reservation system, seeherefor more information on room reservations. Bookers who do not already have parking access on their key fobs must email reception at least 1 business day in advance to have parking access temporarily added.

Cyclists do not need access to the car park, there is a bicycle room for tenants at LGF in Asa Sul.

We do not recommend using the car park to unload furniture or equipment, as it causes blockages in the small space, and because access to the lifts is not easy from the car park. We recommend that people park at the loading dock outside Brighthelm on the North Road and collect their things from reception or the south wing lifts. They can borrow a cart from reception.

We also do not recommend reserving parking for employees with disabilities or service users because spaces are narrow and access to the main building is via non-accessible doors. If you have accessibility needs and are considering using the parking lot, ask the building manager or deputy principal to show you around.

We do not allow access to the parking lot for outside groups who book rooms on Community Base.

Christmas Craft Fair

Once a year, we hold a public event with stalls run by local artisans.

Stalls range from cakes to artwork, jewelry to festive treats and much more.Each booth pays a fee for its tent and selects a Community Base-based tenant organization to donate a percentage of the profits.Tenant organizations are also welcome to have tents.

Look out for invitations to join the Communications Manager in the fall!

Cleaning

green mopclean the common areas of the Community Base, meeting rooms, stairs and restrooms.They are local, environmentally conscious and are a real salary employer.

Offices are cleaned by tenants, or tenants can make arrangements with a cleaning company. If you would like to discuss office cleaning with Green Mop they can be contacted atinfo@greenmop.co.uk

There is a vacuum cleaner for tenants to borrow from the bathroom cupboard accessible from reception - return immediately after use.The building manager and deputy principal usually replace the vacuum bag, spare bags kept in the reception bathroom cupboard.

We do not provide cleaning products for tenant offices.

Tenants are expected to do their own washing in communal kitchens. Community Base supplies sponges and dishwashing liquid for community kitchens. Tenants should go to reception to ask for more.

coffee room

Located on NW 1F, the breakfast room has sofas and a kitchenette for tenants to use for breaks, lunches, socializing and relaxation.

Please do not use this space for work meetings, zoom calls or work calls.

There is a shredder and a photocopier for common use – see below for details.

Community Base website

We run four information services and an events calendar on our website:

• Community job search
• Voluntary Research
• service search
• location search
• Events calendar

You can register to post on these pages here:https://communitybase.org/wordpress/wp-login.php?action=register

pedal to work

There is a bicycle room for tenants at LGF in Asa Sul:

• You can find him by entering the SW entrance and going straight down the stairs.
• We recommend using a bicycle lock
• There's a bike pump and a toolkit
• There are a limited number of lockers available – ask at reception

If you have a problem with your bike, ask our construction manager for help or a recommendation on where to fix it.

Fire safety

evacuation procedure

Community Base has a simple evacuation procedure in case of fire. When the fire alarm sounds, everyone in the building must:

• Immediately evacuate the building via the nearest fire exit without using an elevator.
• Wait for the fire meeting point, in Brighthelm Gardens (south along Queens Road)
• No one should return to the building until authorized by a representative of the Fire Department or the Community Base
• Fire Watchers: Please bring your organization name sign and lead your team out of the building.

Groups should ensure that all of their staff, volunteers and visitors are aware of this fire evacuation procedure.Groups are responsible for ensuring that all persons with limited mobility who use the Community Base because of group activities can safely leave the building if the fire alarm sounds.

Contact the Deputy Director for information on firefighter training and safe spaces for people with disabilities in the event of a fire.

We will email groups prior to any testing. If the alarm sounds for more than a few seconds, the fire evacuation procedure should be followed as usual.

The risk of fire in a building like Community Base is serious and we ask everyone to cooperate to reduce potential fire risks:

• Always take special care with electrical equipment, never overload outlets, and immediately report any wiring or equipment concerns to reception
• Never wedge open fire doors (fire doors held open by magnets normally should not be closed, but will close automatically when the fire alarm is activated)
• Never place cardboard, trash or furniture in hallways or other common areas
• Always be careful with storage heaters, making sure nothing – furniture, clothing, stacks of boxes, and so on – comes within 6 inches of a heater.
• Never use heating other than our storage heaters withoutthe consent of our construction manager
• Never store piles of cardboard or other potentially flammable material in your office unnecessarily – recycle it!

First aid

There is a defibrillator at reception under reception.

First aid boxes can be found at reception and in the conference room.

Trained first responders are listed on the Internal Contact List - please update us on who your first responders are

In case of a medical emergency, call 999 immediately and inform reception when you can.

We are currently receiving quotes for subsidized first aid training for Community Base tenants - we will announce this to tenants via a mailing list.

Fundraising

How Community Base is funded:

Community Base is an independent charity. Community Base uses rent income, service fees, and advertising on its north wall to pay the mortgage on the building we own and cover our running costs. Brighton and Hove City Council shows its support for Community Base by giving us discretionary relief on fees.

Online Funds

• Community Base is subscribed toOnline Funds, an online database that allows you to search over 8,000 funding sources
• This feature is available for use by our tenants or (at our discretion) by small community groups and local volunteers
• To use the platform, please send an email to reception and we will give you the password
• Since the subscription only allows one person to log in at a time, please send a quick email to the director when you are logged in so we can prevent someone else from logging in and interrupting your session.

Heating and cooling your office

Keeping warm:

Community Base is heated for the most part by storage heaters, which are usually turned on in early winter and turned off again in mid-spring.When it starts to get too cold in your office in the winter, email the front desk to turn the heat on and the building manager can show you how to adjust the dials on your radiators and turn off individual radiators

• Make sure the space around radiators is clear of office equipment, papers or clothing.
• If the office is empty for more than two weeks over Christmas, let us know so we can turn off the heat in your office.
• If you have a large office and few people working, it may be more efficient to use portable oil heaters. Make sure they are turned off whenever the office is empty.
• SW2 and SW3 have “smart” heaters.
  • The heaters are manually operated using the small white 'up' button on the thermostat.
  • Press twice and 2 red LEDs will light up, indicating that the heater is working.
  • After 45 minutes, the heater returns to a return temperature, with only the blue LED showing.
  • If your meeting continues and you want to maintain a higher temperature in the room, just press the 'up' button twice again.
  • Heaters detect if a window is opened.

Keeping calm:

• In summer, we recommend using fans instead of air conditioning.
• Fans cool your body by accelerating the evaporation of sweat (perspiration or 'shine' depending on how old/disturbed you are), but they don't cool the air.
• Fans should be turned off when you leave a room to save electricity.

rent rooms

Tenants can rent meeting rooms from Community Base at a subsidized rate.Tenants can book the Conference Room, SW2, SW3, Car Park 10 and Wellbeing Room:

• Bookings are made on the Skedda online booking system. Each tenant organization is allowed one reserve account.
• Rooms cannot be used without reservation.
• Find out about prices, availability and read theroom rental agreementin ourroom booking pageand FAQ page, email reception with any questions.

The room rental agreement outlines the expectations we have of room bookers, but please also remember to keep these courtesy rules in mind:

• You must include setup and cleaning time in your booking
• Unless the group in the room before you interferes with your time, please do not knock, stand outside the door, or ask if you can come in and set up.
• Community Base rooms are regularly used for mental health and other support groups, so it is important that participants feel able to share without being interrupted or overheard.

The Wellness Room:

• This is a small room with two relaxed chairs, a coffee table and a window.
• It is free for tenants to reserve for meditation, quiet time and prayer.
• Not to be used for 1-1 meetings, Zoom meetings, phone calls or other work purposes unless previously agreed with the Director.
• To find the room: Take the door next to the Community Base Team Office #1stcoffee room on the floor, the wellness room is the first door on the right
• Please do not enter or knock on the door unless you have booked.
• Please slide the door to 'Engaged' when you enter and 'Vacant' when you exit
• If you have reserved the space but the sign on the door says "Engagement", knock before entering

computer and internet

Each group on Community Base has a Wi-Fi network they can connect to. The name is the name of the organization. Ask your administrator or email our director for information and password.

If you have problems finding your network, connecting to your network, or your connection is not sufficient to get your job done, please email reception with details. We will ask the building manager and our network engineer to investigate.

In the meantime, you can use the Community Base's wi-fi. Ask for the password at reception.

Visitors and room reservations at Community Base are welcome to use our wi-fi at Community Base. Ask for the password at reception.

Chaves

• Incoming organizations can pick up office keys at reception
• Community Base will keep a spare for each office
• You can cut additional keys for your team
• Come to reception if you need to borrow an extra key from the office for the day
• Borrowed keys must be returned the same day
• If you wish to install a code-operated lock, speak to your building manager; if you change the code of any lock, inform reception
• All keys must be returned to reception when your group rental ends at the Community Base

mailing list

The Community Base mailing list is used to circulate urgent building updates, such as unusual reception closures, decommissioning notices, and other important information to groups in Community Base.

Tenants can use the mailing list to send messages around the building.

We have at least one person from each tenant organization on the list, so each organization is kept updated with important information.

It's helpful to have multiple people from your organization on the list, so that if team members are away from work, important messages still get through to your team.

To email the Community Base mailing list, send an email to this address:communitybase@gn.apc.org

• Attachments and images will not be sent, so please include all information in the text and remove any icons or images from your signature.
• Anyone who is subscribed to the list can post a message to the mailing list.
• The receptionist is responsible for managing the mailing list.

moving

Welcome to Community Base!

Please email the Director and Front Desk the date of the move and let us know if you will be unloading furniture and equipment on the day.

Email receipt with a list of your staff and volunteers, stating the following:

• Who needs access keys
• Who should be in the internal phone book
• Who should be the primary contact(s)
• rescuers
• Who should be on the mailing list

The director must send an e-mail with information about telephones, internet, photocopies and deductibles of accounts and other relevant information.

On moving day:

• For unloading furniture etc we recommend parking at the loading bay outside Brighthelm on the North Road and taking your things via reception or the south wing lifts. You can borrow a cart from reception.
• Please contact the building manager in advance if you need help moving furniture or setting up your office.
• See the 'Office Maintenance and Refurbishment' section for information on furnishing furniture and equipment. If there's something you need that you don't have, ask for it!
• Collect keys and access keys at reception
• We will provide your team with welcome letters that contain basic information about the building and how to contact us. It also contains our fire safety procedure.

To change

You must vacate your office space and surrender your office keys and access keys by the end of your leave date as stated in your notice.

Contact the building manager ahead of time if you need help moving, and let them know if there is office furniture or equipment you want to leave behind.

Please speak to reception about mail after exiting the building. You must inform all correspondents of your new address, but we are happy to forward any postage to your new address as a courtesy for a period of time at our discretion.

If you would like to use Community Base as your postal address going forward, please contact reception.

network

We believe that as a community, we are stronger together. The more we know about each other's work and the better we know each other as people, the more effectively and creatively we can meet the needs of the communities we belong to.

Having an office in Community Base provides a rare opportunity to literally work alongside a wide and diverse range of other organizations (typically 35-40 groups), and we want our tenant organizations to experience all the benefits of this, to feel comfortable ​​and supported by connecting with other groups.

Moving on from the changes and loss of connection from the Covid-19 pandemic, we want to proactively support networking among our member groups by hosting events that are open to all tenants.

Here are some of our networking events:

• Ourmeet your neighborevents are informal networking events with food provided – they are a relaxed way to meet your fellow Basers and talk about the work you do.
• OurHouse Meetingsare focus groups - sometimes these are based around our campaigns with Citizens UK (like Living Wage, mental health and housing) or around broader issues important to our local community (like our racial harassment meeting). We also plan to invite local service providers and community members to give short presentations about their work at these sessions.

We advertise through our mailing list and on posters throughout the building – stay tuned for our next event!

If you have any comments about our events or would like to suggest an event, please email our communications manager Aisling atcomms@communitybase.org

Newsletter

Community Base publishes a newsletter once a month.

Renters and postal address users can find past issues and applyhere:https://mailchi.mp/f5b18d1406f4/apr2023-newsletter-17323619?e=

The newsletter includes news from Community Base, our partners, our members – tenants and postal address users, and some news from other local community groups about events and services that may be relevant to Community Base and service users.

The newsletter is usually sent out in the middle of each month, so if you want something to be included – job openings, events, recent successes, news of programs or services you are starting – please email reception before the second week of the month.

Office furniture and equipment

Tenants are responsible for their own furniture and office equipment, except telephonesand network sockets (unless they have their own networking installed).

The building manager will be happy to help you fix office furniture, please email to inquire!

SCIP has offices in the building and can help you with IT questions – see their contact details in the Internal Contact List.

Office moves and renovations:

• Email construction manager to discuss
• The building manager has experience in supplying office supplies and setting up offices and will be happy to discuss any changes you would like to make to your office. This work will sometimes be charged for, but it will likely be cheaper than another contractor. If your building manager isn't qualified for the job you need, they can recommend affordable alternatives.
• The building manager can also help find and recycle equipment and furniture.
• Community Base is committed to encouraging a circular economy – which in this context means sharing and exchanging resources and recycling rather than wasting materials.It also means keeping businesses local by buying, hiring and redeploying within the local area.
• The ‘Free Table’ in the reception lobby is a good example:
  • If you have small furniture or office supplies or other household items that are in good working order but are no longer needed, leave them on the free table.
  • These items are free for anyone, so help yourself!
  • For larger items, email the building manager
• If you're not sure how to start finding materials or making something - just ask!

online services

Community Base runs four online search services and an online events calendar on our website:

• Community job search
• Voluntary Research
• service search
• location search
• Events calendar

Posting on the site is free. You can register to posthere.

Paper

Shopkeepers can purchase white A4 printer paper from the Community Base paper bank at reception.

we bought therecycled paperfrom asustainable, locally sourced. We buy 20 boxes in bulk to arrive in one delivery and expect groups in the building to come to us for paper when needed, rather than having individual boxes delivered separately, reducing transportation fuel and reducing the use of non-recycled paper or unsustainably sourced used in the building.

We sell the paper to tenants at cost.

Pricing (charged on quarterly invoices):

• 1 picture: £9.59
• 1 box: £47,94

Paper for the 1stThe floor copier is provided by Community Base, ask reception if the copier needs recharging.

Partnerships

UK citizens

Community Base partners withCitizens of Brighton & Hove, a community organizing group comprised of schools, colleges, universities, unions, religious and community organizations. Our collective membership represents over 50,000 people across Brighton & Hove.

B&H Citizens is a local chapter of a national movement calledUK citizens, which is the largest network of civil society institutions across Europe.

We were active in two campaigns:

• The minimum wage campaign, focused on obtainingthe real salaryfor all municipal workers and for local caregivers
• A new housing campaign, focusing on accessibility and responsibility for renters

We began holding regular 'House Meetings', which are informal lunchtime discussions for Community Base tenants on issues that affect us locally. So far, we've had house meetings on housing, the minimum wage, mental health, and racial harassment.

Keep an eye out for invitations to house meetings on the community base mailing list and for posters around the building.

Email the front desk or drop by Olivia's office for a chat if you have any questions or want to get involved!

Sopa Brighton

Community Base partners withSopa Brighton.BrightonSoup hosts events where small local community projects pitch proposals for seed funding.

What is a 'Soup'?

• It's a social and interactive occasion with food and music: the audience listens to four pitches, asks questions and then votes on the project they like best.
• At the end of the night, ballots are tallied and the winner receives the money raised (from the £5 tickets + extra donations) to fund their project - usually £500 to £1,000
• However, BrightonSoup benefits more than just the winning project. Projects that apply to the field receive field training with feedback, and in the evening, runners-up often receive grants, receive advice on where to get funding, and make new connections with local groups.
• We host your events in the conference room 4+ times a year

PAT tests

• We employ PAT testers once every 2 years,we will inform you about the next test date via the mailing list.
• PAT testers visit all offices and usually complete the job within 2-3 days, usually in the middle of the night.
• Please let us know in advance if:

• You've already had your electrical items PAT tested and don't require them to be done on this cycle.
• You have GDPR issues regarding contractors coming into your offices.

• You have meetings during these times, so access is restricted.
• You have servers running that need to be rebooted.
• There is a specific time when you need PAT testers not to disturb your office, and we will ask you to avoid these times.

phones

• Phones can be installed in your office upon request, email the director
• Phone extensions cost £30 per quarter, but local and national calls are free
• Please contact reception if you have any issues or questions about your phones
• Phone numbers and extension numbers for each tenant organization are stored in the reception's internal phone book, which is shared among all tenants
• The directory includes the names and contact details of key contacts and points to fire guards and first responders
• Please contact reception to receive an updated copy or to update your details

Couriers, parcels and postage

Post

• Each tenant organization has a pigeonhole at reception.
• Every day of the week, the receptionist sorts mail into the pigeonholes.
• If a piece of mail is placed in your mailbox that you think is not for you, hand it over to reception immediately.
• Likewise, if you feel that any posts are missing, let us know.
• Some organizations have clients who use them as an address of care, if you initiate any arrangements like this, let reception know.
• If you are involved in a commercial organization outside of your work at Community Base, Community Base cannot act as a postal address.

Postal code

Community Base acts as a postal address for 35 small community organizations. This service is offered for £25 + VAT per year. Mail can be held for collection at the front desk or forwarded.

Users of the postal address service are offered tenant rates on room reservations and the opportunity to submit and subscribe to our monthly newsletter.

packages

Orders and deliveries are received at reception during reception opening hours. Reception will email your organization when a package arrives for you and will usually leave it in the bins for you to collect.

Packages accumulate quickly, especially larger boxes, so we ask that you pick up your deliveries promptly.

If you are expecting a large delivery, please let us know in advance. If it is a very large pallet delivery that must be unpacked outside reception, we will ask a member of your team to come down.

franchise

• The franking machine is located on the first floor landing in the north wing.
• Franchise tags are provided. Please notify reception if tags are running low.
• Most tenant organizations have a franchise account, ask reception if you need to open one.
• Royal Mail collects 1 franked mailstlanding on the ground every day of the week around 3:45 pm
• Franchised mail is only valid on the day it is franked, so if you frank any mail while reception is closed or after 3:45 pm on a weekday, you will need to take the mail to the post office yourself.
• In the event of a post office strike, franked mail is normally not picked up, so reception will make every effort to send a reminder email through the mailing list.
• The maximum weight of each mail bag is11kg.If the bag is getting full, please weigh it and start a new bag if necessary.
• If you plan on a large mail order (anything that fills a bag or more a day):
  • email reception at least one business day in advance so we can inform the triage office,
  • this is important as the Royal Mail employee may need to bring a van, park closer or take longer than usual to collect and this affects route planning.

poster guide

Once a year, Community Base produces, prints and distributes our Posterguide.

The Posterguide lists addresses and contact details for local community services organized by category and includes a map to the services we most commonly direct people to.The guide is not intended to be exhaustive, but rather to act as a practical guide and starting point for accessing key local services.Reception produces and uses more informal and comprehensive service lists in our daily signage work, please ask if you have any questions about signage.

There is a section in the guide listing groups based on Community Base - email our admin Katharine atposterguide@communitybase.orgto update or discuss your Posterguide application!

If you have questions or comments about Posterguide, please email Katharine.

We print physical copies, which can be unfolded and posted like a poster, and we also make a digital copy available on our websitehere.

Posterguide is distributed throughout the city to community centres, community services, health services, local businesses and many other locations.

You can pick up copies at reception – take as many as you need!Consult reception if you need more copies for your service users or to bring to events.

Publicizing your projects and events

We want to support our tenants in the work they do, and part of that is using our public and internal platforms to get the word out.

If you have a project, event or group - new or ongoing, that you would like us to promote, please email our communications manager Aisling atcomms@communitybase.org, she can spread through our social media channels.

printing facilities

no 1stcoffee room on the floor there is a photocopier for tenants to use.

Ask your administrator or our director for your organization's 4-digit password.

Printing costs are added to your quarterly invoices.

to use thephotocopier:

• Put your password
• Select the photocopy options you want

to use theprinter:

• Put your password
• Insert a USB into the left side of the display screen
• The printer will only print PDFs, so you'll need to convert other documents to this format before printing.

Problems solution:

• If the machine runs out of paper, please ask reception.
• If you see a low ink notification, report it to the front desk.
• Most of the time, the copier behaves on its own, but sometimes it is difficult to use.If you have any problems, feel free to knock on the door of the Community Base Team Office – during the week there is almost always someone there to help. You can also ask the building manager for help.
• There is a common problem that can be easily fixed without help, which is when the printer asks you to load paper in the manual tray or refuses to print certain documents. Here's a fix that usually works:
  • When you click 'Print' for the document you will see the options appear
  • Click Paper Size and turn 'Prioritize Original Size' to 'Off'
  • Then select the paper size you want to print on and select "Shrink to fit"
  • Click OK
  • This is because converting different document types to pdf sometimes produces a non-standard paper size so the printer thinks it shouldn't print a4 or a3 - it may be possible when converting your documents to pdf to choose a standard paper size .

Quiz

• Once a year we ask our tenants to fill out a questionnaire about their experience renting space at Community Base, we ask for feedback on our performance and suggestions for improvements. We will circulate the questionnaire by email.

Front desk

The front desk team is your first point of contact for most inquiries, including building maintenance, room reservations, administrative matters and anything you're not sure who to contact.

The receptionist will receive visitors with appointments and call your office. The hostess will also greet event attendees and direct them to the meeting room. Please speak with reception if you have special requirements for sending visitors through the building or any security concerns regarding visitors. Also let reception know how to greet potential service users.

Part of the receptionist's role is to provide signage for visitors who are not users of the Community Base group services.

If you have new services to offer, please let the receptionist know so we can add you to our signage guides.

We will be happy to display posters and printed materials publicizing your services or events at reception, please bring them to reception.

Reception opening hours are:

• Mondays: 10:00 am to 4:30 pm
• Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays: 8:30 am to 4:30 pm

Reception can be contacted at:(01273) 234000 / extension 1200 / reception@communitybase.org

garbage and recycling

• Please separate your trash and recycling.
• DO NOT throw electrical waste (WEEE) of any kind in the trash, contact reception or the building manager for information, aAll electrical waste can be recycled at Community Base for a small fee. Please ask reception or the building manager for assistance.
• Open the cardboard boxes and place them in the large black trash can.
• All other recyclables can go loose (no garbage bags or black bags) in the four bins along the wall.
• All garbage goes loose or bagged in the four green bins between the white columns.
• There's a green glass bin.

Bath

• There is a shower on the ground floor of Asa Sul.
• Tenants can bring their own towel and soap to use this shower.
• Any problems, please notify reception.

Undoing

There is a crusher available for common use at 1stground floor coffee room.

• You can carry it to a plug in the coffee room or carry it to the office and return it when you're done.
• You must use a bag in the disposer and dispose of it properly:
  • Use your own and arrange collection yourself
  • Or buy a blue bag for £3.50 (charged on quarterly invoices) from reception and when it's full put it in the little cupboard next to the car park (we organize recycling collection by Recorra)
• 10 sheets of paper maximum – more can cause shredder jamming
• When shredding, periodically open the gate to check if the bag is getting full, shake the bag to accommodate the shredded paper and free up more space, and if the bag becomes too full, replace it with a new one, as the shredder will lock up if paper processing into compacted paper under the blades.

Smoke

Smoking (including e-cigarettes) is not permitted inside the Community Base building.

• Please do not smoke on the sidewalk near reception or in the south wing opposite Community Base, use the designated smoking areas.
• Designated smoking areas are:
  • no 4ºNorth Wing balcony
  • on the 5thºbalcony of the floor in the South Wing
• Please use the provided bins, for fire safety. Notify the front desk or building manager if they are full.

Social media

The base of the community is in:

• Facebook@communitybase
• Instagram@communitybase
• Twitter@communitybase
• tiktok@communitybase
• Tag the Community Base if you want us to share something!

We want to use our online presence to amplify the voices of our members and the wider community, please email the communications manager if you'd like to talk about how we can help promote your work.

Store

The Community Base has some storage space around the building, contact the Director to discuss.

If you forgot your storage space key, ask at reception.

Talk to the front desk or building manager if you have a problem with your storage space.