Paton Hall
Breadalbane Street · Hamilton, Ontario
A hundred-year-old garage, run as an open room for the people rebuilding North American industry. Accelerate!
A mechanics shop from about 1927 until now, and we are keeping it that way. Concrete floor, garage height, a bay door you can drive through. Benches for hardware and prototyping, boards along the wall opposite, and a pool table at the back that converts to another work surface. Anyone can join.
- In mechanical use since
- 1927
- Floor area
- 2,000 sq ft
- Operating cost
- $4,500 /mo
- Members to cover it
- 51
- On the list
- 3 of 200
- Members
- 1 of 25
the founding twenty-five, then 51 covers the operating cost
Subscribe
Receive progress updates and information on becoming a member.
The first twenty-five members get a founding rate and a say in how the room runs. We open within ninety days.
We will email you about Paton Hall and nothing else. Unsubscribe in one click, any time. No sharing, no selling, no third parties. Questions: paton@babb.tel.
The room
On build nights the floor is given over to physical work — wrenching, robotics, assembly, test. Members bring their own tools; the Hall brings the floor, the power, the benches and the hours. The bay door means a robot, a rig or a pallet comes straight in, which most rooms in this city cannot offer.
The rest of the week: open nights with the pool table running, learning days in engineering, physics and manufacturing practice, demos where members show what they built, and — once it is signed rather than discussed — certified electronics training.
The documents
Written for four different readers. Take the one that fits, or read the overview and decide.
- One pageThe whole thing, in two pages
The moment, the gap in Hamilton, what the Hall is, the model, the numbers, and what we are honest about. Start here.
- One pageFor founders and members
What membership actually buys, the three tiers, and why it is not a desk.
- One pageFor plant managers and HR
Certified electronics training in Hamilton — and the Ontario grant money most employers are not claiming.
- ReferenceThe training programme
From build nights to IPC certification — microcontrollers and industrial systems taught by regional experts, the EPTAC pathway, and what each rung actually gets you.
- One pageFor colleges, the university and the City
A delivery partner for work your mandate already names — including one short-term action the City has not started.
- One pageFor the landlord, the City and insurers
A plain account of the premises, the use, occupancy and code, insurance, and who runs it.
- ModelThe financial model
Cost base, break-even at 51 members, the path to paid staff, twelve-month scenarios, and the assumptions most likely to be wrong.
- FullThe repository and claims register
Everything, in point form, with a status label on every claim — including the ones we have withdrawn.
The lease is one year, on a building that carries a redevelopment proposal, which is why the rent works. The Hall is a model rather than a building — this is the site we want, and other Hamilton properties are being actively scouted. Everything we buy comes apart and travels, so a change of address costs us furniture and not a membership.
Every claim we make carries a status label — safe to use, needs validation, or rejected — and the rejected ones stay visible. Anyone can publish their wins.