Bike Workshop

Camphill School Aberdeen

    • Aberdeen

    Project Aims:

    Increase capacity for cargo-bike maintenance

    Support the local active travel strategy

    Set up a bespoke service station 

    Delivery maintenance, repair, and rental services

    Camphill School Aberdeen (CSA) is a shared living community and school for children with additional support needs in the UK.

    It consists of over 120 independent charities globally, six of which are based in north-east Scotland, with each having a shared mission to transform the lives of children and adults with learning disabilities and complex additional support needs, empowering children and young people with learning disabilities and complex additional support needs to reach their full potential.

    More than 100 children and young people rely on CSA’ sector-leading care to provide a safe and nurturing environment where they can thrive. Many of these pupils have struggled in mainstream education but excel in confidence and independence at Camphill. CSA’s bike maintenance workshop sets out to increase the skills of children and young people on bike mechanics, cycling road safety, circular ethos and inclusive work.

    By delivering the workshop Camphill School Aberdeen expects to:

    • Increase capacity for e-cargo bikes maintenance in the local area
    • Set up a bespoke service station, with inclusive access, for e-cargo, e-bikes and adaptive bikes.
    • Support the awareness increase of the local active travel strategy by
      providing a repair and maintenance service in the west of Aberdeen City,
      through CSA’s Social Enterprise (Murtle Market).
    • Deliver maintenance, repair and rental services through Murtle Market.
    • Offer a park and ride station for people living in the Cults to Culter area
      and needing to commute to town. They could now use one of our bikes.

    Through Murtle Market (CSA’s social enterprise), the public is encouraged to access its services by foot or bike. There is limited car parking spaces and
    this project hopes it will help a cultural change by offering services and amenities that can show the public how it can be accessed without cars and support the increase of riders along the Deeside Way and North Deeside Road, by offering a coffee stop and a servicing station, thereby making cycling accessible using CSA’s fleet of cargo and adaptive bikes.

    Project Updates

    Quarter 4

    An extension of CSA’s Bike repair workshop to better the access of students to skills-development opportunities that can result in community engagement by:

    • Increasing the capacity in offer to service e-bikes
    • Delivering a bespoke provision to service e-cargo and e-adaptive bikes
    • Increasing capacity for repair and reuse of bikes
    • Increasing the facilitation of maintenance services for other community services around CSA promoting active travel.

    In the last quarter all ground and repair works have been carried out to set the facility ready. Equally, all relevant tools and equipment have been purchased and are now installed on site.

    From next quarter on CSA will continue delivering our usual workshop, outlined per pointers above, to increase the opportunities for CSA students to fulfil their potential.

    Active Schools and Young People
    Students at CSA are actively involved in our internal award scheme (STARS). This rewards all levels of attainment by students and there are a number of awards specific to bike maintenance.
    - Puncture repair
    - Brakes inspection
    - Carrying out an M check
    - Wheel inspection
    - Levels 1 and 2 of bikeability

    Active Workplaces
    CSA is a proud accredited Cycling Friendly Employer.
    - Offering a bike to work scheme to employees
    - Offering changing and showering facilities to those commuting to work by bike
    - Sheltered bike parking spaces for staff
    - Bike rentals for staff (using new electric, repaired and reclaimed bikes)
    - Paying a mileage rate to staff commuting by bike for business purposes
    - Offering bikeability sessions to staff who aren’t road confident riders

    Accessibility and Inclusion
    CSA is a confident enabler of inclusive active travel by:
    - Offering disability-specific bikes (adaptive side-by-side and electric)
    - Offering adapted bikeability sessions that are specific to students in the spectrum
    - Promoting active travelling for students across estates to access their sessions.
    - Making cycling the logistical spinal cord of running our land based workshops, which are actively engaged with by CSA students

    Capacity and Capability
    The bike repair workshop at CSA now sits in the west of Aberdeen City as a bespoke facility to service a broad range of bikes, including e-cargo and e-adaptive bicycles, giving the local area a capability that wasn’t there before. This is to serve all community projects that may need support on this front.
    This increased capacity will also be present through Murtle Market (CSA’s Social Enterprise) offering maintenance and repair to riders using the old Deeside Way and North Deeside Road.