Car park in Peckham Levels

Photo: Matt From London on Visual hunt / CC BY

News

London car park reborn as cultural working space

Seven levels of Peckham’s multi-storey municipal car park have been converted into a mixture of new artist studios, co-working spaces and restaurants.

Christy Romer
2 min read

Seven unused floors of a car park in Peckham have re-opened as a cultural working space filled with creative businesses, bars and 50 artist studios.

Floors zero through to four of the Peckham Levels complex offer ‘affordable’ artist studios, at an average price of £260 a month, though 10 of the studios are offered as 12-month residencies at “less than £110 per month”.

Floors five and six will be open to the public year-round with a mixture of bars and restaurants.

At least 70% of occupants have to be residents in the local borough of Southwark, and all artist and business members of the site have signed up to a ‘community investment scheme’, pledging to donate a minimum of one hour a week to take part in “positive local projects”, which include mentorship and training.

Events

The opening of the complex featured open studios and interactive sound and light installations. Other events, including DJ gigs and panel discussions – around themes such as “community healing and community building” – are also planned for the space.

Profit share

Make Shift, the team behind Peckham Levels, took on the project in 2015 after Southwark Council put out a call for proposals to reclaim the interior of the car park. They have been granted a six-year lease on the site, during which they will not pay rent, but will pay the council 25% of any profits when the venture breaks even.

The council’s decision to accept Make Shift’s bid and turn down a rival bid from Bold Tendencies – an arts organisation already based on levels seven to 10 of the car park – attracted controversy, given the vast difference in the number of proposed on-site artist studios. Whereas Bold Tendencies planned to create 800 artist studios in the building, Make Shift’s bid only includes provision for 50.