Living over the shop
Living over the shopLiving Over The Shop is a scheme to provide accommodation in otherwise unused property, for instance above shops. Link to press release
The University seem to be stuck for a name for this student residence, forcing those who live there to invent their own. As part of York's drive to increase the number of people living in the centre of York, and the University's to provide more accomodation, a network of 16 rooms were converted above Jacksons supermarket in Fulford. As with many such conversions, the size of rooms varies, with some huge and some not so huge. Let to undergraduates. Quite handy for town.
There is now a second set of rooms in Fulford Road, at 65/67 - see latest news for details.
11 single rooms, close to town. Let to undergraduates, especially finallists.
Another set of accomodation over a supermarket, Jacksons in Bishopthorpe Road. It opened in January 1996, as mentioned in the February 1996 Grapevine:
Students housed over the shop in city centre
University of York student housing developed in Scarcroft Road was ready for occupation at the beginning of term. This was the latest in a scheme called `Living Over the Shop' which aims to convert the unused spaces above shops into accomodation. The Scarcroft Road site was the premises of a former Co-op store which had been empty for over 20 years and still housed the winch for lifting flour into the bakery.
The LOTS organisation has been based at King's Manor since 1990 and in April it moved into a new phase of its development with the setting up of a company limited-by-guarantee with the University. Ann Petherwick, the Project Director, encourages property owners, local authorities and housing associations to work together. She is working closely with the University in creating student housing over shops in the city. In York apparently there are hundreds of potential dwellings.
According to Ann, the space above shops is the most undervalued housing resource in the country. Shelter predicts that 100,000 rentable homes will be needed every year for the next five years and LOTS could help to find the answer.
Benefits the LOTS scheme could bring to York and other city centres are obvious: the whole place would become more active in the evenings and therefore safer; it could bring back trade to small shopkeepers and might even mean less traffic.
Another LOTS scheme, mentioned in the July 1996 University Magazine. The site, near Micklegate Bar, to accomodate 20 students. See latest news.
Another new-for-1996 property, see below.
This from the University Magazine, October 1996:
LOTS more accommodation
The Living Over The Shop project took another step forward this month with the completeion of three further schemes. This will increase the total of students housed in York under the scheme from 26 to over 80.
The properties are at 1-3 South Parade (opposite the Odeon in Blossom Street), 65/67 Fulford Road - where the shops are being utilised in addition to the upper floors, and 50-54 Walmgate. All will provide good standard accommodation in interesting buildings, and the Walmgate property is the first to be completed within the city walls.
The LOTS office is already working on eight further schemes for 1996/7, some of which may be available for the start of the January term. It is hoped to extend the range of housing provided to create some self-contained accommodation, either in the form of one-bed flats or studio flats. This would be particularly attractive to postgraduates, but LOTS is also looking at the possibility of creating some housing for newly-arrived members of staff.
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