At the beginning of 2025 we took over management of a former school situated right across from the Oval Cricket Ground. After a fit-out to make the property suitable for occupation by guardians, the first of what will be almost 60 property guardians have started to move in.
Keen to find out what the experience has been thus far of licensees moving into this unique property, we sat down with Johann, the first licensee to move into the space, to discuss his impressive classroom transformation and the impact that property guardianship plays on his role as an artist.
What made you decide to become a Property Guardian?
I have a friend that was living in a guardianship, in a converted school in Charlton. It was a massive room – so lovely. And then two houses ago I had to move out and I looked into it and I just kind of fell into guardianship, it really suits me.
Is living at ATS your first foray into guardianship?
This is my second, but my first with LOWE. I was in a one-bed flat before, with a different company. I got an email saying that I had one month left, as Guardians do, and then within 13 days I’d moved in here. The timing was absolutely perfect because I think I came to view this property three days after receiving the notice email for my flat and everything just kind of aligned perfectly.
The transformation you have done to your room in such a short period of time is amazing – how have you found the process of decorating it?
It’s been organic more than anything and mostly freecycle. I found the blue chest of drawers on freecycle and knew I needed to get that because I’m in the blue room. And then I saw an oval table again- and I live in Oval so I had to get that too. And I’ve just been enthusiastically using Freecycle for the first few weeks after moving in. We had one day where me and another Guardian Livvy rented a van and just zoomed around South East London for seven hours picking stuff up – everything just worked out really nicely.
How are you finding living in shared accommodation?
We like the sense of community, we’ve got a kind of ground floor camaraderie and we’ve been doing meet-ups and drinks and cooked meals together. As the new people have come in, it’s been really nice. I was a bit unnerved about hearing 50 people would be here but I can go a day without seeing anyone because it’s such a big building but then you can have the community if you want it, and I like that.
How are you finding the shared kitchen?
It’s quite nice because I like cooking – my mum’s a Chef, I’ve worked as a chef and I’m very into my cooking. It’s nice when you’re cooking up a sauce – taking your time with it and then other people are doing the same, coming in and out and it’s a nice open-door thing. It’s fun cooking with people all facing each other – he’s frying something, she’s doing chicken and rice and I’m doing a bolognese. It’s so big – it’s a school kitchen – I really like it!
The community sense really thrives in the kitchen and I really like that. Everyone’s quite mature – I was worried about someone being a bit messy or sloppy but everyone’s being accountable which is good.
Tell me a bit more about what you do?
I manage a restaurant in Peckham called Ganapati and I’m an artist. I’m a biro artist so I only work with a ballpoint pen. I used to work towards hyper-realism but I’ve moved away from the pressure of that and into photo-realism or literalism. I’m now doing lots of still life; capturing a snapshot of an object in an exact moment of time in its life. I’m taking quite mundane, boring things but elevating and aggrandising them and making them a big icons. I like using art as a snapshot, making it for posterity so it’s forever there, this discarded, decaying thing. The ball especially, it’s dead and buried now but it’ll live on forever which is so nice, the cards as well.
What kind of role does affordable accommodation play for you as an artist?
I do group exhibitions and apply to open exhibitions but the cost of being an artist with the cost of living in London is hard – you need money to make money. I’ve got to do the work so lose on time and then framing, which costs a lot of money. I then have to get it photographed and printed which costs more than it should. A lot of the time you have to pay to be in shows, so it’s hard to earn money as an artist hence why I’m a restaurant manager – anything affordable is a big plus.
What has your experience been thus far with the LOWE team?
Everyone’s lovely. Everyone’s sweet. The Brixton office is crazy nice – big thumbs up.
How would you describe property guardianship to someone who’s never heard of it?
My understanding of it before was that it was like squatting but it’s not that at all. It’s perfect for people who are flexible; that can move in and out, are independent and have their own things. I had my sofa which I would’ve had to put into storage and pay for storage on top of rent, but having my own space means I don’t have to do that. Guardianship is ideal for someone who is flexible in their situation.
And to live in a massive classroom in a school? How many people in London could say that? My room’s bigger than most people’s flats right now.
How are you finding Oval as a location?
The area is crazy nice, every pub I’ve been into is really nice and the river is right there. I’m planning on going with another guardian for a walk along South Bank – it’s only 25-minutes away. Being in Oval, everything is around me. I’m next to a tube station which I’ve never been close to before, so now I can zip everywhere.
London has become more accessible, and I’m quite close to Peckham and Camberwell as well which I love.
ATS will not only host property guardians but also serve as a community hub, with artist and community spaces.
If you’re interested in living with LOWE or have a vacant property that we can assist in securing, we’d love to hear from you.