Caitlin Strongarm removes the lid from her glass jar of kombucha and peers inside. She recently lost a batch to mould. But this one has grown a new scoby: pale, flabby and the sign of a healthy kombucha.
We are inside Strongarm’s home, a bright warehouse unit (a former piano factory) at Omega Works on Hermitage Road, Haringey, that she shares with seven others.
The door is always on the latch at the communally designed live-work space, which has a handmade pulley system for teabags, a double bass, left by a former housemate, and a treehouse-like structure built by the housemates for people facing homelessness.
Strongarm, 30, moved in with her partner, Alex, in 2021. An Australian artist, Strongarm works from the space, and is happy to live somewhere where she can use her power tools, message the WhatsApp group if she needs a lemon and where no one minds if she’s struck by inspiration late at night.
“This isn’t just a home, it’s also our studio. I couldn’t do this work in a flat. You can see a lot of the artwork up here,” she gestures to the wall. “These areas are, in my opinion, healthy for London. It allows people to have a meaningful cultural output to a city that craves it — and trades on it.”
More than 100 people live at Omega Works, which was converted about 20 years ago. Many are creatives who also work from the space.
Amber, an opera singer, can practise from home without needing a studio, while actor Ata Aksit always has someone to run lines with.
Aksit, 28, moved to London from Turkey in 2017 and found himself drawn to warehouse living. “As someone who just moved to the country and didn’t know anyone here, I’ve found that warehouses are an amazing community of people,” he says.
“There’s a greater bond than you find in residential houses. When you allow people to be their creative selves, it creates a unique environment where you can build and nurture your own talents.”
Omega Works is Aksit’s third warehouse home and he shares his current unit with 12 other people. Their plant-filled communal workspace was built by a carpenter housemate. On Sundays, they screen films on their projector in the adjoining sofa area. He has lived there for just over a year and would like to stay long-term.
But in April this year, the building’s owners, Majorlink, submitted plans to redevelop Omega Works, which will see the existing warehouses demolished.
Under the plans, which divide the site into Omega A and B, Omega A (where Strongarm and Aksit live) would be converted into eight new “warehouse living units” with 67 beds — less than the current occupancy — plus 76 residential units up to nine storeys high and eight commercial units.
Omega B would form 31 new apartments for private sale and some commercial floorspace. The building’s façade will remain. But, the residents argue, their community will be lost.
Aksit has been here before. His first warehouse in Walthamstow was sold and turned into offices — although it is now empty. Only one of his 26 former housemates still lives in London.
He didn’t resist the plans then, but will now. “They’re commodifying the lifestyle that we have here, but in doing so, they’re destroying it.”
In response, the residents have launched Save The Warehouses, a campaign which seeks to stop the development. If they succeed, they aim to play a larger role in their own management, and for protection for communities like theirs to be enshrined in council policy. “The linchpin of the campaign is community,” says Strongarm. “We’re fighting for the right to be able to live in a community in London and not be displaced.”
So far Save The Warehouses has organised events, including planning objection workshops and a street party. Their online petition has received more than 6,000 signatures, while Majorlink’s planning applications have almost 300 objections online, including from Tottenham MP David Lammy, who expressed “deep concerns” over the plans.
The residents allege that they first heard about the development in 2021 from a sign attached to a lamppost outside. They feel that they have been poorly consulted throughout. The developers deny these claims and comment that they have “engaged with residents more than the statutory requirement”.
Majorlink has promised that new warehouse units will offer “affordable rent” and workspace, with residents to have priority over the new units. They say that the new building will be larger, with improved living conditions and energy efficiency.
However, at £1,000 per room (£750 in rent and £250 for bills), this represents a significant increase on current costs. Strongarm pays £750pcm for rent and bills, while Aksit pays £650.
Strongarm is also concerned that the planned workspace provision is better suited to desk-based work, and that noise may cause friction with the new flats above. If residents cannot work from the space, renting a studio will push costs up further.
For Strongarm, this will mean leaving London. “We won’t be able to afford to move back in,” she says. “If this area of artists is displaced, I don’t know where we will go.”
Whether they can afford to stay or not, the residents will be displaced during construction, placing them in direct competition for an ever-shortening supply of warehouse spaces elsewhere. Temporary accommodation provisions and the duration of the work are not indicated, although the developers say they will “phase construction”.
“Communities are not objects that you can pick up and place back again,” says Aksit. “It takes decades for something like this to grow organically.”
“These plans won’t work,” Strongarm agrees. “They will take away the soul of the building and the community who have this rich, shared history of working together.”
A council spokesman said: “We are aware of and fully appreciate the concerns expressed about this application. We have received a significant number of representations on this application as part of the formal consultation, which has now closed.
“However, residents can still submit their views, and we would urge them to do so. As part of our review of the application, we’ve already visited the site and will be raising with the developers the specific concerns of current residents.
“Our planning policy seeks to secure a long-term sustainable future for warehouse and creative living and to ensure the unique characteristics of this type of accommodation are provided in new warehouse living developments.”
Omega Works is also home to Snap Studios, an independent recording studio that has been there for almost 15 years.
In Snap’s lifetime, London has seen a string of important recording studios close, including Britannia Row Studios, which was converted into flats in 2016, Angel Recording Studios, which closed in 2021 and BBC’s Maida Vale recording studios, which are on sale for more than £10.5 million.
Some of the UK’s best-known artists have recorded at Snap, including Kate Bush, Stormzy, Lily Allen and Liam Gallagher.
Studio manager and resident engineer, Marco Pasquariello, is also wary of being priced out. “Our rent is already as much as we can pay, so if we had to move into a more expensive unit, it would be unfeasible,” he says.
“In an ideal scenario, the building would be improved and everybody could stay. But I think [the development] is going to go ahead.”
The residents are more optimistic about how the situation will unfold, buoyed by their experience of organising together. The campaign has “lit a beacon” for other warehouse communities facing similar issues, says Strongarm.
“What started as ‘please don’t knock down our home’ has turned into a housing advocacy campaign for this kind of alternative living. When they knock these spaces down, it’s not just our home and our workplace, but also something that is integral to the community.”
She adds: “I do have faith in the planning committee to listen to the community and make the right decision.” This is expected by the end of the month. If the plans are approved, the residents anticipate that they would receive their three months’ notice in October.
Outside Omega Works, leftover bunting from the street party is hung between the lampposts on Hermitage Road. It gives the road an upbeat feel. But if you look closely, there is black print on some of the fluttering strips. It reads: Save the warehouses.
