After almost 2 years of existence as a non-incorporated organisation, Edinburgh Hacklab has incorporated as a limited company by guarantee. This legal structure is used successfully by the majority of other UK hacker spaces.
So what does this really mean. From a day to point of view the hacklab will operate as it did before. There are no shareholders and Articles of Association define that any surpluses have to used to further the aims of the Hacklab. A board of directors elected by hacklab members, will be responsible for ensuring that the hacklab meets it legal responsibilities and other procedural maters.
The main things that have changed are:
- The hacklab can enter in contracts that previously as an unincorporated organisation we couldn’t. This means for example a lease can be signed by Edinburgh Hacklab Ltd name rather than a single individual member as the case was previously.
- Each member is liable for a token amount (£1 in our case) in the event that the hacklab is unable to meet it’s financial responsibilities. This is obviously not a situation that we would envisage ourselves being in. Previously the members would have been jointly financially liable for the full amount.
For the curious our company Registration Number is SC427746 and the initial directors are Aaron, Al, Gareth, Peter and Tom H.