The Dojo is ready
We are pleased to announce that the move to the new facilities for our Martial Arts Club is complete and we are ready to start teaching our various Martial Arts again from the 2nd January.
We’ve been hard at work over the Christmas period getting everything ready for you to start training on Thursday 2nd January at our new facilities
Unit A, Daneshill Central, Armstrong Road, Basingstoke, RG24 8NU.
You can find us on Google Maps by typing in Shin Gi Tai Martial Arts Academy or by using our postcode, RG24 8NU.
Parking,
As you face the building, we have all the parking down the side of the building on the left towards Hertz and all the parking directly outside of our building. In addition there is plenty of on road parking outside as well.
This was the sight at the start of moving out day and the finished result at Jays Close. It’s been a good home for the last 10 years and we’ll miss the Ninja Squirrels, Deer and Pheasant coming upto the windows to watch us.
Keeping Martial Arts in Basingstoke
We’ve been looking for over three years now to move to better premises. We looked over many buildings during this time, all of which for various reasons weren’t suitable for us.
About this time last year, we looked at Daneshill Central. At the time the Letting agent wasn’t prepared to split the two floors, he wanted to let the property as a whole. Come May a different agent approached us and indicated that the Landlord was prepared the let the two floors separately.
We went from a nice clean, but empty warehouse.
To what seemed a bedlam of activity and work to make the premises suitable for us.
Laying out the framework for the toilets inside the training area.
The ceiling frame is installed and ready for the insulation, heating unit and lighting to be fitted.
The two old roller doors have been sealed in. We’ve left one partially open, so that we can let in the sunlight during the summer months.
The plumbing for the new toilets and sinks is complete.
The carpets in the waiting area are being laid
The sink and counter in the waiting/cafe area have been finished.
Three tonnes of new Tatamis (Specialist Martial Arts mats for Judo/Ju Jitsu) have arrived. Even though a hand pallet lifter was used, it still took three of us to push each pallet up the small slope into the warehouse.
We now have three working toilets in the dojo.
The new sinks for the toilets in the hallway are fitted.
We turned up at 8am to lay the mats in our nice new clean building. We noticed an issue. Can you spot?
Two hours later, with a skip and lots of lifting and carrying rubbish to it and the warehouse was cleaned up.
It was hardwork taking everything from Jays Close, including the 168 old mats.
We cleaned a corner fairly sharpish and the fitters commenced laying the mats.
The area to the left is the same width as as Jays Close.
By 6:30pm, the mats are all down. We now have a Dojo / Kwoon. We are so glad that we didn’t lay the mats ourselves, the fitters started at 8:30 and stopped once for a 20 minutes lunch break. It was hardwork with lots of changing mats to fit into the spaces and then finally laying battons to stop them moving.
We tested all the equipment, old and new to make sure it was fit for purpose. The chairs passed.
With the mats down, we were able to put up brackets for hanging bags and start to clean everything.
There might have been the occasional stop for some rest whilst putting the bags out, just to test the equipment had travelled well.
It’s starting to look like a Dojo / Kwoon now, with the big items in place.
The waiting area is now finished with tables and chairs out. The cafe area is set up and ready to go. Lots more chairs and these ones are more comfortable with 50mm of padding on the seats. This was one of pur biggest challenges in Jays Close, a lack of seating. Problem solved. We are now a fully functioning Martial Arts Club in our new premises.
In this photo, the area, behind the red mats, that go from left to right, is the same size as the training area in Jays Close, this is a significant improvement in size. Plus we have additional equipment to use.
- 17 freestanding bags
- 2 grappling dummies
- Lots of children’s pads, focus pads and Thai pads.
- Kick shields
- Mitts, paddles and blockers
- A Speedball
- A Makiwara
- A Plyometric box
- A 3 section wall punch bag
- Multi skills fitness equipment to help with speed , agility and quickness
- 2 x Safety Mat
- 3 x Ladders
- Hurdles
- Cones
THANK YOU.
We would like to recognise and thank the following people for their great help in helping us to move out of Jays Close and into Daneshill Central. Without your valued help and support, we couldn’t have done it.
Thank you to
- Neil, Ben, John, Abel, Adrian, Graham, Rachel, Jake, Lara, Sarah, Oliver. Ryoko, Jakub, John, Paul, Andy, Isaac, Cassie, David, Geoff, William, Edward, John, Liz, Chris, David, Agnese, Jim, Mark, Michael, Pete, Derek, Nicola, Alan, Aaran and his Dad, Kate and Donna.