Harringay online

Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

This premises used to be home to HK Furnishings in Hermitage Road.

On Friday a small fire occurred within and the Fire Brigade were called.

It is currently home to `artists` and used as workshops and residential living accomodation with scores of residents.

The Fire Brigade were so appalled by some of the construction works which was done to seperate the old HK Furnishing floor spaces into living accomodation that they ordered a closure of the premises. 

Tags for Forum Posts: omega works

Views: 3079

Attachments:

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Thanks for this snippet, Paul. How awful for the people who live and work there.

I'm not sure that's how the occupants see it, Anne. But, in answer to your question, no, awful as in losing your home and workspace in one go.

Oh gosh. That comes as quite a shock - not least because I know that these spaces are considered to be quite desirable among what you might call "arty types" in the area and I'm frequently amazed by how many people I meet in the media/theatre/creative world who've lived there at some point! The rents weren't much lower than in 'ordinary' flats either from what I've been told...unless I'm thinking of a different warehouse community? Know there are a few dotted around.

Any idea how many people live there? Are they going to just be turfed out? :(

There are over 100 people living there but the prohibition order currently only affects one unit. The order can only be liftedby the LFB if the landlord can prove that remedial works have been effected. This would be after a further visit by Fire Safety officers.
There are several warehouses throughout the London borough of Haringey (I know of five such premises in Harringay alone).

this is sad indeed not only for the residents and businesses interruptions .  im concerned more about the potential loss of life in the way below par saftey these conversions have been made.  im a professional carpenter and have been amazed at the poor safety both strudturally and fire hazzard seen in these amazing places that are in my opinion being let by landlords at high rent and wiht no concern for the safety of the creative souls living there.  i know its a tough world and we must make do with what we have etc but at what cost?

thankfully i take it no one was hurt.

this kind of living is the way forward , so lets just do our best to ensure we live to pass it on.

yours sincerely

jonny rogers

Yup, it's really sad and a shame they were not made safer from the word go. i think that is kind of what you expect with warehouse living though so I'm sure nobody involved was remotely ignorant about the risks involved. 

Tbh there are so many awful, ugly and possibly equally unsafe conversions going up in my hood for nothing than profit that I wish some of those would be clamped down on instead of penalising what is clearly a thriving community. I know for a fact that some do not have planning permission either but nobody seems to notice, or care.  Whole parade of shops just got converted on Seven Sisters Road - apparently with no planning applications made at all. 

Having once been in a fire, I always know where all the exits are in every building. I get twitchy above two floors if I can't see a way down (I figure a ten foot drop would only break a leg). You're right, how many HMOs have useable fire escape routes?

The development of the industrial units in Hermitage, Vale and Eade Roads has been done with no permission for change of use.  While it's all very lovely and arty and stuff there are reasons for this permission, one of which is the safety of said arty lovelies.  There have also been issues with rubbish outside Omega and noise from commercial parties in other units.  The area has potential to be a really wonderful hub of creative energy, I wonder if those involved could put together an application to regenerate it professionally?  

Well said! do it yourself is the way! our ancestors did it and we grew to let others do it and buy into the system, now no one knows whats what and whos to blame.  well i say we are responsible for our own actions and have the power to join up and become a force to effect the change needed in all manner of lifes foybles.

Here you go, a beginners guide to Building Control. Note that this is different from planning regs.

in response to  Takaokagiejin

We would love to.

we were involved in setting up Haringey Arts

we are involved in saving Wards Corner.

The Artists that live and work in Haringey Village are all for regenerating the area.

many have been involved in previous regeneration schemes such as Hackney and Shoreditch.

I think that everybody ultimately wants the same thing, regeneration is good for the community, the council and the landlords... we just need to start a dialogue between all parties.

As for the artists... Haringey has a huge amount of diverse multicultural talent living and working in one of the poorest boroughs of London. over 1500 artists and performers live in the warehouse district or Haringey Arts Village, but unfortunately they take their work mostly to other boroughs as there is no infrastructure in the area, ie galleries, music venues etc.

If we all worked together we have the potential to make Haringey a wonderful place to live, it's true that health and safety regulations were not always adhered to in the past when people converted warehouses and probably some people still live in unsafe conditions but for the most part the people who do the building have learned a lot and everything built in the last 5 years is within health and safety regulations... which the fire brigade and council will verify.

Haringey is a very desirable area now for artists to live because we have spent years building this creative village, we can now all benefit from that if we work to finding the correct solutions.

Personally as an artist I am happier and feel more at home in this community than anywhere else I have ever been

 

well said sir, i am one of those who strongly (put my life on it) believe and love and have devoted my life to this area which gave me the foundation to bring BRAND NEW START to reality. 9 years on and been through a hell of a lot of resistance to bring this to life from an unscrupulous ex wife and business partner.  standing tall and proud that im still working on the same basic structure that i ran succesfully on my own for 6 years.  anyway i love the area and its creativity set me up to bring my skills from restoring and carpentry, people skills and extreme positivity to life and making a creative live owrk village 5 times bigger that its founding building that teaches back 25% of the time is the main drive , ensuring we employ existing skills and teach them and the morals of the excercise to BRAND NEW STARTERS . this simple ethos can go global and will if i have anything to do with it. sorry for mini rant! but good to read your comments and i hope maybe we can meet to discuss some future plans for harringey? your sincerely jonny rogers

RSS

Advertising

© 2024   Created by Hugh.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service