The man who has been living in a skip in Bermondsey for nearly a year, his ‘only way’ to live in central London, says he is ‘enjoying it’ and wants to live there longer.
Harrison Marshall, 29, has been living on the site on Page’s Walk since January. In a meeting with the News, he revealed how life in a skip has been for the past eight months.
“I’ve enjoyed it,” he told us, “obviously there have been some inconveniences – the most obvious one is the shower. You can’t just wake up and shower – it’s frustrating not having somewhere right next to you.”
For the first seven weeks, he said he didn’t have any electricity so, being winter still, it was ‘very cold.’
But he said if he compared it to other experiences he has had living in London in shared houses – ‘this has a lot of benefits.’
Man who built a house in a skip is receiving a warm welcome from his new neighbours in Bermondsey
“It’s been nice to have my own space and not worry about anyone else.”
His initial aim was to raise awareness about rising rent prices and how unaffordable it has become to live in London.
Asked whether he thinks he has succeeded in that aim, Harrison said: “It’s an issue everyone knows about. But the project has spread much further than I ever thought it would. So it’s definitely got people talking.”
Since it began, his project has been covered by every main UK news outlet and even made its way onto international news. The videos of him building the skip and a tour around it have amassed millions of views.
Most people have been impressed, but as with anything that goes viral online, he said not all the comments have been good.
“When something spreads online and people see a short video, naturally they’ll make their assumptions,” Harrison said.
WATCH: A tour of The Skip House that has settled in Bermondsey
“Often the reaction is positive. But for this project, a lot of the criticism came from assumptions of who I am and why I’m personally doing this – maybe because of the way I look or sound.”
On the kind of negativity he has faced, he said, “A lot of people assume I’m rich and I don’t have to do this, or I must have a house down the road which I must be sleeping in.”
“I’m not. I’d love to have a swish house I could go back to.”
That said, he added that regardless of reaction, he said it’s encouraging the conversation about rising rents: “That’s the whole point of it.”
“Of course, there are so many more people worse off than I am – but the fact is everybody is struggling in London with trying to find a place. Nobody is ever going to be able to get on the property ladder in these conditions.”
On arrival back in January, he received a warm welcome from his neighbours but how have others reacted to the skiphouse?
“It can be hard moving to a new area to meet people,” he said. “But by having something so unusual – it gives people an excuse to stop and talk to me.”
He said people often ask to have a look inside.
“I have a letterbox and people leave me notes in there. A little girl who lives up the road had to write a letter to a stranger for her homework and she chose me.
“Then she and her dad came round to have a tour and were asking questions. Things like that have been great.”
By January, Harrison will have lived in the skip house for a year, which was the original plan.
Reflecting on this, he said although he won’t live in it forever – he doesn’t want to jump ‘skip’ anytime soon.
“I want to live in the skip house for as long as possible. I said I would live in it for a year but I would do longer.”
“The thought of moving out and paying £1000 in rent a month doesn’t appeal to me.”
He is looking for another location as his landlord only agreed to give him the site for a year.
Before Harrison and the skip house moved in, ‘Stompie’ the soviet Tank occupied the site. There is currently no news of whether Stompie will return.
Reflecting on when he moved into the skip, which he commented ‘doesn’t feel that long ago’, Harrison remembers that safety and security were some of his biggest worries.
The barbed wire fence is enough to keep out most people, but he said there was one incident where ‘two drunk men’ climbed over the wall at the back of the site and were trying to get inside.
“That shook me up a bit. I didn’t know what to do at first. But I peeped through the roof and asked them to leave and they did. I had to let them out the front gate.”
“I added an extra layer of barbed wire where they’d got in.”
For updates on The Skip House click here.