Vacant buildings – offices, warehouses, pubs and disused police stations – can provide a sustainable, short term approach to affordable living in city centres, according to a property management company. That would provides property owners with a way to keeping their building secure. Lowe Guardians has worked with Studio Bark, an architectural practice, on a modular SHED concept (pictured) within an otherwise abandoned property.
Studio Bark first came into the public eye when their sustainable, private home ‘Periscope House’ was featured on Channel 4’s Grand Designs show.
Lowe Guardians suggests some 600,000 empty properties across the UK could be used for temporary residency; including thousands of prime sites in central London.
Tim Lowe, Director, Lowe Guardians, said: “The vacant buildings we assess can vary hugely in both condition and function. Sometimes the sheer or size or layout of properties means we are unable to take them on. Derelict warehouses remain a huge, untapped potential for us that could benefit Guardians and property owners alike.
“However, the reality is that turning vast, open spaces into private rooms for Guardians has always been both tricky and time consuming. Our aim is to help London professionals and keyworkers as much as we can and this means taking on larger vacant buildings that offer huge potential for providing quality accommodation.
“The SHED concept provides a safe, sustainable alternative for workers seeking short-term accommodation. In every site we occupy, we fit the spaces out to a habitable standard but this has historically created a considerable amount of waste; both financially and environmentally. We were looking for a solution which allowed us to much more creative with the space, and take everything with us when we went onto the next site.”
Each SHED takes one day to build and is made of lamb’s wool insulation, oriented strand board (OSB), and recycled polyester. The SHEDS come in varying sizes starting at around 120 sq ft. For a video showing the construction of the model visit http://loweguardians.com/shed/#content.
