What if affordable workspace was a civic requirement?

 

You may find yourself sharing the lift with someone in paint-splattered overalls, corporate workers in polished shoes and grey suits, or kids in tutus off to dance practice. The notion of wholly different disciplines exercising frictionless use of the spaces is evidence of the potential for a robust and energetic occupancy system in the capital.

 

The amount of vacant commercial property has increased in the wake of pandemic-era disruptions, but property owners have faced complications when turning to “guardianship”of vacant buildings. The 2020 court case London Borough of Southwark v Ludgate House Ltd ruled that property-owners remained liable for business rates on empty buildings with guardians. This has increased the attraction of alternative, low-risk interim uses. 

 

At the same time, affordable workspace has been identified as a priority in the 2021 London Plan, particularly under Policy E3, which encourages developers to include creative workspaces at below-market rents. Yet delivery has often lagged behind policy ambition. SET’s model offers a way to realise these goals quickly and effectively, whether through temporary occupation during development phases or as part of longer-term placemaking strategies.

 

“The challenge is not a lack of buildings, it’s a lack of flexible frameworks,” says Lamb. “One of the biggest challenges is structural risk aversion across the wider property system. Delays often involve lenders, insurers and legal teams operating with different timescales. Concerns around security of tenure, in particular, can become disproportionately cautious, even where flexible models already exist. The result is that buildings can sit unnecessarily vacant simply because the system is not well designed for flexible community occupation.”

 

SET’s first studio project transformed a disused paint factory in Bermondsey into a thriving arts hub, housing around 100 practitioners across disciplines that included sculpture, music and performance. Though that initial site closed in 2020, the model proved replicable. Today, SET operates multiple centres across London, supporting around 1,000 artists and managing over 13,000m sq m (140,000 sq feet) of space.

 

 

Crucially, its model also aligns with the financial and regulatory frameworks governing property ownership. As a registered charity, SET benefits from business rates relief, reducing the burden on landlords while ensuring that buildings remain actively managed.

 

This management is comprehensive: fire safety compliance, insurance support, repairs and ongoing risk assessments are all handled as part of the service. SET’s occupancy of a building involves minimal external reconfiguration and no attempt to overwrite its architectural identity. Rather, its approach is to give a texture to existing space, introducing layers of use and occupation that reveal latent potential without impeding future possibilities. By remaining within permitted use classes and avoiding major structural alterations, SET ensures that its presence does not complicate or delay eventual redevelopment.

 

This sensitivity extends to planning processes. Increasingly, SET collaborates with councils and developers at early stages, advising on how spaces can be configured for interim or affordable use. Its experience offers a practical understanding of how to align such initiatives with Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) relief and Section 106 agreements.

 

The question of value, particularly social value, is central here. How is the benefit of such interventions measured? Beyond the obvious financial savings for landlords, there are wider impacts: Supporting creative economies, fostering community engagement, and preventing the urban decay often associated with long-term vacancy. Half of SET’s studios are reserved for residents of the host borough, with the aim of feeding right back into the local community.

 

SET’s programming reinforces this outward-facing dimension. Tucked behind a traditional guardianship, inside an old school house in Peckham, SET Social hosts exhibitions, workshops and events. An annual £12 membership fee gives access to the large workspaces, cafe and bar. SET91, meanwhile, is the organisation’s in-house contemporary arts gallery based at 91 Tabernacle Street, Shoreditch, and also hosts talks and workshops. A short walk away, in a former keycutters and cobblers you will find SET Ceramics, a community ceramics studio with studio memberships, offering courses in throwing and hand-building.

 

 

Most SET studio leases are short to medium term, and members understand that relocation may be part of the cycle. At some sites, early occupants have been offered guarantees, providing a degree of stability within an inherently flexible framework. Fit-outs are planned with similar pragmatism, balancing immediate usability with the knowledge that spaces will eventually transition.

 

“Stability is essential,” says Lamb. “Even within temporary arrangements, non-profit organisations like SET need enough certainty and term length to invest properly in the space and ensure it remains truly affordable and local communities use it.

 

“For SET, unpredictability is a major challenge. A lack of certainty around timelines can force a focus on rapid occupation and financial sustainability, however, with longer leases and greater stability, we can focus on deeper community support from day one. There remains a disconnect between the flexibility required for cultural use and legal structures designed around conventional commercial leasing.”

 

Meanwhile use cannot substitute for long-term investment in affordable infrastructure, nor can it resolve systemic inequalities in access to space. But as a component of a wider strategy it is compelling and adaptable.

 

A locked, empty building may be legally secure, but it contributes little to the city around it. In contrast, a building animated through structured charitable incentives is protected and productive.

 

Organisations like SET demonstrate that this is a practical reality – one that challenges conventional assumptions and opens up new possibilities for how we can optimise urban stewardship to facilitate the creative output of global cities. It’s exciting, not only to see what comes from the individuals working in the SET community, but the continued fervency of mutable artistic content as it encounters unexpected urban pockets, with an agenda of inclusivity and production, versus art-washing and regeneration. If cranes and construction are a mainstay of the cityscape, then why not celebrate the DIY aesthetic by inviting in people that work best within that structure.

 

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Lewis Duncan studied history of art at the Courtauld Institute and Goldsmiths. He works freelance in events, cooking and writing in London