Desperate times call for desperate measures, and there is perhaps no more desperate measure than moving into a skip to beat rising rental costs and crippling cost of living pressures.
That is what British artist Harrison Marshall has done, building his very own tiny home in a yellow skip, where he will live for the next year.
The Skip House includes in insulated timber frame and barrel roof to fit a bed, kitchen hob – including a sink, stove, and tiny fridge – and wardrobe.
A month after Mr Marshall moved in, the skip was finally connected to the grid, meaning he could power a heater to warm his 25sq m home.
And despite not having a flushing toilet and needing to shower at work or the gym; it’s costing less than $90 a week in rent – almost putting many a dodgy sharehouse to shame.
The 28 year old architect built the Skip House to raise awareness about people being forced out of their homes because of soaring rent prices in London.
“People across the country are changing the way they live to compensate for the rising cost of basic necessities,” Mr Marshall wrote on the Skip House’s Instagram page.
“Living in a skip isn’t the solution, but rather an exploration and a statement.”
The idea was a collaboration with a company called Skip Gallery, which commissions artists to create artwork in the confines of a skip, and was inspired by another skip-based art installation by Caukin Studio, the social enterprise he co-founded with mates from uni.
When Mr Marshall returned to London after several years overseas working with Caukin, he was struck by how far prices had gone “through the roof” in the highly competitive London housing market.
He told local newspaper Southwark News that the skip was “the only way” for him to live in the area, and in TikTok tour of the tiny home, Mr Marshall said it provided “a loophole to live in central London for next to no money”.
“It also gave quite a good juxtaposition between what you don’t typically think of as a house and almost the polar opposite of that, which is a bin or dumpster, and how actually that could be turned into something which is relatively cozy and homely,” he told Business Insider.
“I’ve been lucky enough to find a site in London to do this, which was always going to be one of the biggest challenges.”
The land was provided by art charity Antepavilion, and a portaloo was “generously” donated to the site.
It cost almost $7130 to build with the help of his friends through December.
The site also includes a small water tank, which Mr Marshall refills from a neighbour’s hose, which means he can wash dishes and brush his teeth.
He plans to live in the tiny skip for at least a year, but is reportedly open to staying for longer or moving the space where necessary.
A skip bin is perhaps the strangest iteration of the tiny house trend, which has grown in popularity exponentially since the first properties built from shipping containers captured Australian hearts.
And soaring house costs and the push to return to a more minimalist lifestyle may mean we see ever more tiny homes popping up. And perhaps more and more skip houses like this.
