Frequently asked questions
Answers are here.
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Where WAs confluence?
Confluence address was at 12 - 14 Drews Avenue, Whanganui. Confluence attempted to lease several spaces within the heritage Backhouse building on the corner of Drews Avenue and Taupo Quay - however over 8 months being on licences to occupy instead, they gave up trying to achieve any professional arrangements with the ineffective project team behind this building. The coworking and events spaces were on the floor 1 (ground) with step-free access during weekdays from 14 Drews Avenue. While the cinema was on the 2nd floor of the building. The main cinema access is provided via 12 Drews Avenue, plus 14 Drews if you require step-free access.
Where is THE BACKHOUSE?
The Backhouse is the most common name locally for the large three story concrete clad building at the Taupo Quay end of Drews Avenue. Built in 1926 for Levin & Co wool merchants, it was sold to W K Backhouse in the 1970s, to become the manufacturing and sales base for their internationally distributed outdoor clothing products. Click here to find out more about the history of the building.
Directions If you are driving from out of town via SH3 or SH4, the easiest way to find the building is to drive to the central city bridge. The town side of the bridge is Taupo Quay, and if crossing the bridge and facing the town you turn right onto Taupo Quay, heading towards to I-Site and Tram Shed. When you reach these you are at the bottom of Drews Avenue and will be able to see the large 3 story sand stone coloured building to your left. For vehicle paid parking there are coin or text operated spaces outside the 12 and 14 Drews Avenue entrances. Alternatively EFTPOS card operated parking meters are available along Taupo Quay. There is also a public carpark which accepts EFTPOS card payments accessible off of Drews Avenue behind the buildings on the opposite side of the street to the Backhouse. Free all-day parking spaces are available along Rutland Street and around the nearby park and riverside area. These are popular with students and local businesses, but generally have plenty of spaces before 9am weekdays. Please contact us for directions if you require an accessible parking space near our step-free access door at number 14 Drews Ave. For public transport a number of town bus routes stop by request on lower Drews Avenue right outside our door, and the InterCity bus terminal is a 1 min walk away on Taupo Quay. Walking from the high street / Victoria Avenue part of town it is easy to reach lower Drews Avenue by heading down Victoria Avenue towards the river. Then either take a left down Ridgway Street and turn right at the crossroads down onto Drews Avenue, or continue down to the bottom of Victoria Avenue at the town bridge, and turn left to walk along Taupo Quay heading towards the i-Site. Drews Avenue and the Backhouse will be on your left just opposite the Tram Shed, Mud Ducks cafe, and i-Site buildings. Cycling to Confluence is easy via the Mountain to Sea Nga Ara Tūhono national cycle trail, taking the exit at i-Site onto Drews Ave. Or via the Te Tuaiwi central spine cycleway and the Ridgeway Street exit. Find out more about Whanganui's cycleways on the council website here. Once you arrive in lower Drews Avenue there is plenty of bicycle parking racks, including some almost outside our 14 Drews Avenue entrance. We also have limited space within our facilities to accomodate bicycles - just ask. If you'd like to know more about the Backhouse's history then we have prepared a summary here. What was Confluence?
Confluence was a privately run social enterprise in Whanganui, New Zealand, owned and operated by Double Farley Ltd.
As NZ has no official business structure for a social enterprise, Confluence used the broad definition of everything that happens at Confluence fitting within three core operating values of Community; Collaboration; Critical Thinking. Find out more about those values here. Confluence provided a range of services that were all physically based in Whanganui, such as a public cinema, a public coworking space, and also a space for some public events. What is coworking?
Coworking or co-working is a relatively new solution that takes advantage of the digital age of working.
Nowadays internet speeds are sufficiently high to securely handle online business applications, online meetings, remote file storage, and more besides. So the traditional need and cost to house a companies workers together in a building no longer really applies for most businesses. Also consider the increasingly common benefit to work flexible hours for your employer, and those employees looking for a lifestyle family home in a regional town, rather than one that is within a commute of a major centre. All these situations are what coworking is designed to address. Coworking, especially in regional towns like Whanganui, provides a clean, central, well equipped, and modern office building that is available for anyone to use, for as long as they need to each day, week, or month. Unlike renting or shared office arrangements, coworking takes away all the financial and property management that these require. Instead each coworker, or their employer, pays to use a desk and space as needed. There are no minimum terms, no tie-ins, no rental agreements, no bonds, no overheads or running costs, no worries about maintaining the space, no concerns about insurance or security, and no stress of cleaning, tidying, or keeping the environment presentable for clients. Your Confluence coworker hosts service the space everyday, keeping it clean, safe, tidy, and well presented. They also help you set up when you arrive, are there for any technical queries that remote working can sometimes present, and above all that they are a simply a friendly hello and goodbye each day. So while Confluence Coworking does not suit everyone, for example those who need a dedicated workshop or who are constantly on the road visiting clients, it is perfectly designed to meet the needs of thousands of local Kiwi's who work from home in the Whanganui region, or those travelling through town that need a professional base for a day or two. Most coworking providers offer desks based on the amount of time you need them for over a given period. In the case of Confluence Coworking we offer desk deals that are measured in hours of access over a given month. These range from just a few hours for a morning or afternoon, through to regular hours and days that fit your lifestyle, or even full-time use with your very own desk and large area that nobody else uses when you're not here. All of Confluence Coworking desk deals are affordable and priced to be sensible for Whanganui and a regional town. Confluence Coworking is a long running and successful Whanganui business, that is 100% owned and operated by the local Whanganui company called Double Farley. Find out more by comparing our desk deals or giving us a call on: 06 2813474 How much did coworking cost at confluence?
All our available desk deal prices are published on here on this website.
I aM INTERESTED IN COWORKING, WHAT'S THE NEXT STEP?
If you're looking for coworking in Whanganui, sorry, Confluence was the first, and the last public coworking space available. Since it closed in April 2022 the only option left that is similar to Coworking is the public library.
WAS Confluence cinema only for members?
No, Confluence Cinema was open to the public, for every screening. It was a public cinema that followed all age and other national entry requirements, including any health mandates for event facilities.
It operated just like every other public cinema in NZ and was bound by the same exhibitor requirements, including sourcing public performance licences, paying music rights, and abiding by NZ classification office film health, and age restrictions. The key difference was being an independent boutique sized theatre, so we could carefully select what we screened to suit a more discerning audience. We specialised in bringing Whanganui a diverse cinematic choice from documentary, art-house, foreign, and film festival screenings. We also welcomed recommendations for films to screen. How did Confluence responding to COVID-19?
All mandatory and recommended NZ government restrictions and advice relating to public event venues were strictly adhered to at Confluence during the COVID-19 international pandemic, and ongoing endemic situation in NZ.
In addition to these measures as we choose to implement some additional precautions and restrictions. Everything we did was to help mitigate the risk for our customers and community while remaining viable in terms of additional workload and cost, so we constantly reviewed our responses and restrictions to be complicit with this. HOw was CONFLUENCE FUNDED?
Confluence generated all income by offering a range of paid services to the public in Whanganui. These services fell broadly under the umbrella of the provision of Adult Education and included a public art-house cinema, community events venue, and a commercial coworking space.
Each of the main income areas contributed to, or took from, a budget that was managed by the owning company, Double Farley Ltd. In 2021 Confluence was offered an opportunity to relocate into a heritage building containing a new concept for community collaboration in Whanganui. This collaboration is being achieved through the collocation of business, business services, and aligned community organisations, into one building known as the Backhouse. The Backhouse initiative is a collaboration between UCOL and Whanganui & Partners, and one that Confluence was delighted to be a founding commercial partner and supporter of though the provision of services, skills, and experience to those within the Backhouse and the organisation as a whole, in addition to a commercial rent. However after months of less than effective project management, chiefly by W&P, an untenable situation arose that meant the owners of Confluence no longer had any confidence the envisioned collaboration would eventuate in any reasonable timeframe. So in April 2022 we made the difficult decision to close Confluence. The reason we closed as opposed to relocating Confluence was simply because the vision shared with us for the Backhouse meant that this was really where a business like Confluence had to be. While in the long term the Backhouse is likely to attain this vision, the pain and distress of working with the current project managers in the short to medium term meant we could not commit more time and energy from Double Farley. Confluence remained an independently funded commercial limited business that operated under a social enterprise model. It was a trading name of Double Farley Ltd that remains registered with Companies Office in NZ. HOW DID Confluence ADVERTISE?
Confluence choose not to use any social media platforms. So you will not find a Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter account that was owned or operated by us.
Any social media pages claiming to be or representing Confluence Whanganui Ltd, or our owning company Double Farley Ltd are likely to either be fraudulent or using our business information without permission. Please disregard them in the first instance and report them to us if you feel you should. The exceptions are when our clients or customers themselves, voluntarily share information about Confluence or our services on their own social media pages. Specifically our position with the common social media platforms in NZ is as follows: Facebook: In 2020 we deliberately stopped using Facebook and deleted our page because we no longer wanted to support or use a service that, we believe, fails to follow basic publishing good practice. Facebook's continued violations since then mean we are no longer reviewing our position, and so will never return to that, or similar, platforms that choose the same operating model and relatively lax public publishing adherence. Twitter: Confluence no longer uses Twitter for communication and has deleted our previously used Twitter ID. While, in our opinion, Twitter has shown more evidence of good basic publishing practice compared to Facebook, it is still subject to failures to control inappropriate or damaging information spread. Other social media platforms: Confluence choose not to use any other social media or similar digital platforms. While we embrace technology within all other aspects of our business, we prefer to limit our digital marketing to publishing platforms that follow good practice. Other digital platforms: Confluence used a range of public accessible digital platforms such as Vimeo, Adobe, national or local government, and some smaller targeted websites, including Flicks, The Databook, IMDB, LinkedIn, Film Whanganui, Coworker.com, and Cinemas of NZ, some or all of which may also include basic advertising listings for some of our services. Google: Confluence used the business services of Google, such as email, maps, reviews, events, news, and YouTube. Apple and other mapping services: Confluence maintained a public Apple Map location ID and a listing on other mapping services. Other websites: We did advertise on some product targeted platforms for specific services we offer, such as cinema listings services, event listings, and coworking space listings. Confluence was very grateful to many of these service providers who have offered services to us for free or at a reduced cost. Newspapers and local media: Confluence also occasionally made use of printed advertising - both paid and free - in local newspapers. Flyers and information sheets: Regular printed colour flyers for the cinema were distributed from Confluence and some other local venues, plus we displayed street and window signage of what was on. Local support: Confluence was well supported locally, and Kevin & Melita will remain extremely grateful for that, especially for the feedback since announcing our closing. We were thrilled with the continued positive word of mouth reviews, flyer hosting, window posters, and sharing of great customer experiences. Melita & Kevin truly cherished being part of the community with Confluence. Can I join Confluence?
No, it's closed.
wass confluence a religious organisation?
No, Confluence Whanganui Ltd was not a religious organisation.
The business or trading name Confluence is used by a wide range of organisations worldwide, perhaps most known as an accountancy software provider. There is also a South Island church using the name and a similar website to ours. Confluence Whanganui was not affiliated with any other organisations apart from it's current owner, Double Farley Ltd. DiD confluence have a kitchen?
Yes, Confluence setup and maintained a modern, spacious, fully equipped kitchen for coworkers and other building users to use when they are here. Much of this was donated to local organisations when we closed in April 2022.
WAs there bicycle parking available?
Yes, there were public bicycle racks just outside the 14 Drews Ave entrance for Confluence.
Did CONFLUENCE HAVE MEETING ROOMS?
Yes but under red they are only for use by coworkers themselves, ideally for zoom calls or similar, and we ask that you purpose is not solely for using a meeting room, i.e. you spend a significant amount of time working at a desk rather than just being in a meeting room. If you do use a room for physically meeting others then all people must present a valid covid pass and meet all other requirements listed on our protection page, including being normally based in Whanganui.
Under red we are limiting the use of meeting rooms to locals who are regular coworkers at Confluence, and then only to either zoom or call others, or meetings with other locals. To help you understand how much time is available for meetings, each deal includes an amount of bookable time in the meeting rooms for your exclusive use. How long will CONFLUENCE CINEMA REMAIN CLOSED?
Forever, as we have decided to cease trading under the Confluence Whanganui Ltd trading name of Double Farley.
Double Farley has ever developing plans to reopen or run a boutique cinema in the region in the future. More news on this will be released as it happens, but our initial plans are looking at a sustainable business for as many factors as possible, including energy usage, sourcing films, and audience participation. How do I explain coworking to my employer?
Coworking in its truest sense is not renting or leasing and there are no complicated agreements, minimum terms, commitments, or deposits.
Unlike shared or rented offices you are not responsible for the upkeep or cleaning of the desk and equipment you use. We do it for you and it's included in the price. Also many common business expenses are also included in the price, such as unlimited access to the fastest fibre internet, colour printing, stationary, power and air-conditioning, and even you choice of free teas or coffees. Good luck finding a coworking desk in Whanganui - at the time of this update in May 2022 we are unaware of any remaining - sorry. HOw many people coworked at Confluence?
The easiest way to answer this was by saying we only had 10 desks in the main coworking space, so including one staff member, there would be a maximum of 11 people at anyone time.
Typically on a busy day we accommodated 6 or 7 people. Our Dublin St. Bridge Passing By deal was also proving popular in early 2022. How busy we were depended upon national or school holiday periods, people's working habits, and of course concerns about the Covid19 pandemic. Confluence took great care, often at the detriment to our direct income, to ensure everyone there was as safe as they could be in a social space. That was the main reason why there were only 10 desks, as there was always heaps of personal space around you. Unlike coworking spaces in bigger NZ cities, Confluence in Whanganui had a quieter and more home comfort feel rather than the corporate and funky designs of some coworking spaces. While it was clean and uncluttered, you were still more likely to find vintage film gear and lego there, than designer beer fridges or baristas! |
