Fabrica has been running the Men in Sheds project in Brighton & Hove since it opened in 2017. The project supports better mental health and wellbeing for adult men in the city.

We have supported hundreds of men since then by offering creative activities, connection with peers, and wellbeing support - often during periods of bereavement, isolation or poor mental health. The project has been a vital space for building friendships, skills and confidence in a welcoming and inclusive environment. Over the years this project has also given back to the city: making bird boxes for care homes, signage for allotments and carpentry work for residents and organisations.

To deliver this work, Fabrica has been regularly funded as a mental health service provider by NHS Sussex and Brighton & Hove City Council, via the UOK Brighton & Hove network. This vital support has meant we’ve been able to provide weekly free drop-in sessions to our Shedders, in a welcoming space run by experienced facilitators.

Over the past 18 months, we’ve developed our Maker’s Studio for Wellbeing in the town centre, a space that houses Men in Sheds as well as other creative wellbeing projects led by Fabrica. These include Renew & Repurpose, a programme for women experiencing low mental health that uses sustainable making practices to build skills and reduce isolation; Men Who Make, offering hands-on creative sessions aimed at improving mental wellbeing for men; and GBTQ+ Men Who Create, a safe and inclusive space for GBTQ+ men to support mental health through art-making. The Maker’s Studio has also hosted workshops for partner organisations including the Wellbeing Hub, where we delivered a 6 week introductory woodwork course, and LGBTQ+ Switchboard, where we offered a sculpture and pottery course tailored to community interests.

Running a workshop space in the city has been incredibly challenging, due to a shortage of affordable workspace. We’ve worked really hard to find suitable spaces in accessible locations but have not found anywhere that we can occupy long term that is affordable and safe.

In 2025 our Shed faces two major challenges:

1) We must vacate our meanwhile space at 13 Castle Square due to its redevelopment. We do not at present have a suitable alternative woodworking space to move to.

2) Fabrica's funding from UOK Brighton & Hove will end in late September 2025. This regular funding covers our core costs and provides Fabrica with the leverage to raise additional funds to meet the demand we experience for this service.

In light of this, Fabrica has made the difficult decision to pause the woodworking aspects of Men in Sheds for now. However, we are not giving up on the project. We will be refocusing our services as a men's creative drop-in studio, supporting our participants to connect with each other and developing creative skills such as printmaking, drawing, painting, sewing and table-based woodworking, much of which already happens in the Shed.

While this marks the end of Men in Sheds in its current form, we remain committed to supporting our Shed members. Weekly creative studio sessions will continue until September 2025, and beyond, based on what Fabrica can raise through project fundraising.

We understand that this change is really difficult for Shedders who have found a sense of purpose, community, and a creative outlet through the project, some over many years. We are working with members to make sure they continue to feel supported during this difficult transition. And we are actively working with Shedders to explore future possibilities, such as forming an independent Shed if they wish. We’re also signposting our members to ongoing mental health and wellbeing services and other woodworking spaces in the city.

We at Fabrica are incredibly proud of what the Shed has achieved over the last 8 years. And we are deeply grateful to everyone who’s enabled the project to thrive: from the Shedders who have given hours of their time to create spaces, shared projects and support one another, to the many funders who see the value and impact of this service, including The Homity Trust, Chalk Cliff Trust, Chapman Charitable Trust, W.G. Edwards Charitable Foundation, Hall and Woodhouse, Paley Trust, BUPA, Percy Bilton Charity, Veolia, Suicide Prevention Fund, Sussex Community Fund and Brighton Lions Club.

In the meantime, Fabrica is continuing to search for a suitable space for our creative work for wellbeing.