Thursday 8 October 2009
Monday 5 October 2009
Meet the Guardian
Interview with Guardian Tim Hill
02-10'09 Ad Hoc Newsletter
What do you do for a living?
I’m an artist visually and with sound.
How long have you lived in London and if you’re not from London where did you move from?
I have been living in London for three years and I’m from Hayward's Heath West Sussex.
How did you hear about Ad Hoc and our Guardian concept?
I heard through a friend of mine, he recommended me and then I completed the registration process and I have been living in the ad hoc scheme ever since..
What do you like about being a Guardian?
I like the freedom, primarily financial but also I have more creative freedom as a consequence. I have lived in different and diverse places in London by moving around a lot and I have experienced a lot in the process. I’ve enjoyed meeting people who have shared accommodation with me all of which have been amicable. I was also grateful to ad hoc for the amenities they provided, such as a shower and heaters in the winter.
I was living in Clapham Common for a while and the place we lived in was a large vicarage with a garden which was pleasant.
What kind of place and neighbourhood are you living in now and what do you like a about it?
I live with my girlfriend in Vauxhall on Wandsworth road in a maisonette which is great, the bills are taken care of and the neighbours are friendly. We live near Victoria and Battersea where there is a car boot sale every Sunday. There are obviously good places to eat and a gym next door if you are that way inclined. The area is safe and the transport excellent.
Tim Hill
Graphic design& illustration
07534669282
http://www.bivouac1927.blogspot.com/
www.myspace.com/thenascentpress
www.myspace.com/bivouac1927
Web site:
www.ai-em.net/bivouac
representation:
http://new.hybridlab.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=34&Itemid=97
02-10'09 Ad Hoc Newsletter
What do you do for a living?
I’m an artist visually and with sound.
How long have you lived in London and if you’re not from London where did you move from?
I have been living in London for three years and I’m from Hayward's Heath West Sussex.
How did you hear about Ad Hoc and our Guardian concept?
I heard through a friend of mine, he recommended me and then I completed the registration process and I have been living in the ad hoc scheme ever since..
What do you like about being a Guardian?
I like the freedom, primarily financial but also I have more creative freedom as a consequence. I have lived in different and diverse places in London by moving around a lot and I have experienced a lot in the process. I’ve enjoyed meeting people who have shared accommodation with me all of which have been amicable. I was also grateful to ad hoc for the amenities they provided, such as a shower and heaters in the winter.
I was living in Clapham Common for a while and the place we lived in was a large vicarage with a garden which was pleasant.
What kind of place and neighbourhood are you living in now and what do you like a about it?
I live with my girlfriend in Vauxhall on Wandsworth road in a maisonette which is great, the bills are taken care of and the neighbours are friendly. We live near Victoria and Battersea where there is a car boot sale every Sunday. There are obviously good places to eat and a gym next door if you are that way inclined. The area is safe and the transport excellent.
Tim Hill
Graphic design& illustration
07534669282
http://www.bivouac1927.blogspot.com/
www.myspace.com/thenascentpress
www.myspace.com/bivouac1927
Web site:
www.ai-em.net/bivouac
representation:
http://new.hybridlab.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=34&Itemid=97
Tuesday 22 September 2009
Vacant Churches occupied by Ad Hoc
http://www.bbc.co.uk/print/wear/content/articles/2008/12/18/church_sitter_feature.shtml
Monday 24 August 2009
Zoe Ad Hoc Guardian
I'm a property guardian angel... for £60 a week I get 11 bedrooms and 12 bathrooms in HampsteadBy Zoe Cobb
Last updated at 3:13 PM on 26th January 2009
Comments (0) Add to My Stories Palatial living space, 11 bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, a large, three-sink kitchen for all my cooking experiments and a spacious back garden to boot.
As the global recession digs in its heels, I lean back in my desk chair and look out on to the trees and old stone steeples of the beautiful Hampstead Cemetery. I couldn't be happier because all this costs just £60 a week, all bills included.
How can you find yourself a little piece of cake in this bread-and-butter climate? The answer is to become a property guardian, like me.
Having been given the hot tip from a fellow actor, I am, as of six months ago, a proud property guardian in London. I work with AD HOC, a company that provide the owners of vacant buildings with a security service by placing responsible, flexible, normally young professionals in the buildings.
HOME HELP: Zoe is one of six guardians at this former nursing home in Hampstead
As guardians, we get an interesting place to live, a feeling that we are contributing positively to our community by looking after a vacant building - in my case, a former nursing home - and all for an affordable rent in one of the most expensive cities in the world.
The building owners get virtually a 24-hour presence on their property for a fraction of the costs of security guards. And with the threat of buildings being taken over by squatters, and property sales almost at a standstill, it is not surprising the numbers of properties and guardians that AD HOC are working with double every six months. They have also expanded from the capital to Leeds, Manchester and Brighton.
Companies such as AD HOC, work with more or less the same model. A building will become vacant for any number of reasons: redevelopment projects, lengthy sales, planning applications or waiting to come up for auction. When AD HOC notice a building has been emptied, they offer their services.
There is no restriction on what kind of building they will work with, other than it being se to inhabit. They consider churches, vicarages, pubs, residential homes, hospitals, schools, warehouses, blocks of flats and, of course, houses.
AD HOC charge the owner £50 per week per building, negotiate the utilities and place guardians in the building. The number of guardians is dependent on what is needed to create an obvious presence in the building, but both guardians and AD HOC like the numbers to be as small as possible, leaving the guardians with more space and enabling AD HOC to work with more buildings.
The £60 I pay each week to AD HOC for my Zone 2 property would rise to £70 if I moved to Zone 1 or fall to £50 anywhere else.
The company will pick a 'head' guardian to liaise with the agency. There are six of us in the nursing home: a couple on the ground floor, another on the first floor, I'm on the second and another lady is on the third. We have varying careers: a teacher, an urban designer, a set/costume designer and a musician.
Being a freelance actor I have moved a lot, constantly looking for ways to cut costs and maintain a good standard of living.
The last place I lived in was a gorgeous two-bedroom flat in North Kensington, but to balance the rising cost of maintaining a property, the landlord wanted to move two more people in. At 29, I no longer wish to live like a student and this allows me to save up to buy a property in the future.
Getting hold of us all might be a challenge, so to co-ordinate various meetings with potential buyers, inspectors and gardeners, the head guardian will relay messages. In addition, AD HOC perform random checks, simply to make sure there is a good standard of cleanliness, and that I have not sub-let the rest of my floor - all my ten spare rooms.
It is a little absurd, and at times spooky, that my floor has so many empty rooms, so I have begun making the best of it; I have a living room, a music room, a playroom, dressing room, yoga room and a shower room.
AD HOC pride themselves on their vetting and placement skills. They interview all their guardians and request the usual pieces of identification: passport, bank statements, proof of income, letters from a referee and your landlord.
If successful, you will be provided with all the basic living requirements - a bathroom, lavatory, kitchenette, heating, water and electricity - and in exchange you are asked to sign a licence for living in and caring for the place as if it were your own.
So, what is the catch? For some, the 14-day warning period for relocation can be too unsettling, although AD HOC will relocate you into one of their other buildings.
The only drawback is that I can't have parties here. It's like the hotel in the film The Shining - and would be perfect for a Hallowe'en bash.
www.adhoc.eu
Last updated at 3:13 PM on 26th January 2009
Comments (0) Add to My Stories Palatial living space, 11 bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, a large, three-sink kitchen for all my cooking experiments and a spacious back garden to boot.
As the global recession digs in its heels, I lean back in my desk chair and look out on to the trees and old stone steeples of the beautiful Hampstead Cemetery. I couldn't be happier because all this costs just £60 a week, all bills included.
How can you find yourself a little piece of cake in this bread-and-butter climate? The answer is to become a property guardian, like me.
Having been given the hot tip from a fellow actor, I am, as of six months ago, a proud property guardian in London. I work with AD HOC, a company that provide the owners of vacant buildings with a security service by placing responsible, flexible, normally young professionals in the buildings.
HOME HELP: Zoe is one of six guardians at this former nursing home in Hampstead
As guardians, we get an interesting place to live, a feeling that we are contributing positively to our community by looking after a vacant building - in my case, a former nursing home - and all for an affordable rent in one of the most expensive cities in the world.
The building owners get virtually a 24-hour presence on their property for a fraction of the costs of security guards. And with the threat of buildings being taken over by squatters, and property sales almost at a standstill, it is not surprising the numbers of properties and guardians that AD HOC are working with double every six months. They have also expanded from the capital to Leeds, Manchester and Brighton.
Companies such as AD HOC, work with more or less the same model. A building will become vacant for any number of reasons: redevelopment projects, lengthy sales, planning applications or waiting to come up for auction. When AD HOC notice a building has been emptied, they offer their services.
There is no restriction on what kind of building they will work with, other than it being se to inhabit. They consider churches, vicarages, pubs, residential homes, hospitals, schools, warehouses, blocks of flats and, of course, houses.
AD HOC charge the owner £50 per week per building, negotiate the utilities and place guardians in the building. The number of guardians is dependent on what is needed to create an obvious presence in the building, but both guardians and AD HOC like the numbers to be as small as possible, leaving the guardians with more space and enabling AD HOC to work with more buildings.
The £60 I pay each week to AD HOC for my Zone 2 property would rise to £70 if I moved to Zone 1 or fall to £50 anywhere else.
The company will pick a 'head' guardian to liaise with the agency. There are six of us in the nursing home: a couple on the ground floor, another on the first floor, I'm on the second and another lady is on the third. We have varying careers: a teacher, an urban designer, a set/costume designer and a musician.
Being a freelance actor I have moved a lot, constantly looking for ways to cut costs and maintain a good standard of living.
The last place I lived in was a gorgeous two-bedroom flat in North Kensington, but to balance the rising cost of maintaining a property, the landlord wanted to move two more people in. At 29, I no longer wish to live like a student and this allows me to save up to buy a property in the future.
Getting hold of us all might be a challenge, so to co-ordinate various meetings with potential buyers, inspectors and gardeners, the head guardian will relay messages. In addition, AD HOC perform random checks, simply to make sure there is a good standard of cleanliness, and that I have not sub-let the rest of my floor - all my ten spare rooms.
It is a little absurd, and at times spooky, that my floor has so many empty rooms, so I have begun making the best of it; I have a living room, a music room, a playroom, dressing room, yoga room and a shower room.
AD HOC pride themselves on their vetting and placement skills. They interview all their guardians and request the usual pieces of identification: passport, bank statements, proof of income, letters from a referee and your landlord.
If successful, you will be provided with all the basic living requirements - a bathroom, lavatory, kitchenette, heating, water and electricity - and in exchange you are asked to sign a licence for living in and caring for the place as if it were your own.
So, what is the catch? For some, the 14-day warning period for relocation can be too unsettling, although AD HOC will relocate you into one of their other buildings.
The only drawback is that I can't have parties here. It's like the hotel in the film The Shining - and would be perfect for a Hallowe'en bash.
www.adhoc.eu
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