A Grade II-listed former library on Garratt Lane is to be taken on by WIP Space Studios under a two-year lease agreed with Wandsworth Council, creating a new home for artists in Wandsworth Town.
The council says the building at 11 Garratt Lane is intended to be gradually transformed over the next two years into at least 14 affordable artist studios. The initial agreement is for two years and forms part of a phased approach, with a longer-term plan envisaged but not yet set out as a settled commitment.
Other parts of the proposed project are conditional. Plans for a public exhibition space, a community space and live/work artist studios are subject to funding and planning permission. The council has not announced that those elements have received either approval or funding, so they remain potential additions rather than confirmed facilities.
A new use for a listed building
The former library stands at 11 Garratt Lane. Its formal heritage listing identifies it as the Old County Court House, a Grade II listed building first designated in 1975. The official listing describes a mid-19th-century, three-storey red-brick building with a set-back block to the left. The address and Grade II status match the building described by the council as the former Wandsworth Library.
The council announcement says WIP Space will take on the building following an agreement with the authority. The lease is for two years; it is not presented as a transfer of ownership or a permanent arrangement. The announcement describes gradual transformation during that period and indicates that a longer plan is a future aspiration, without specifying its length or terms.
WIP Space is described by the council as an artist-run organisation providing studios, exhibitions and community spaces in historic buildings across London. It already operates at Wentworth House on Dormay Street in Wandsworth Town. The council says that site contains 17 studios, two live/work spaces, a gallery, a project space, a community meeting space and an artist residency programme. Those are facilities at the existing site, not a description of what is already available at the former library.
What is planned, and what remains conditional
The clearest element of the new proposal is a minimum of 14 affordable artist studios. The public announcement does not give a timetable for individual openings, studio sizes, rental prices, eligibility criteria or a definition of affordability. It says the conversion is intended to happen gradually over two years, rather than specifying that all of the studios will open at once.
Plans for exhibition and community areas could give the building uses beyond artists’ workspaces, while live/work studios would combine working and residential space. But all three are expressly dependent on funding and planning permission. There is no confirmed opening date for these additional spaces in the announcement, and the council has not presented them as approved outcomes.
The new Wandsworth Town Library opened in early 2024 and is open to the public from Tuesday to Saturday, the council says. The announcement does not set out the former library building’s full history, the cost of its proposed renovation, the source of funding, or any detailed construction schedule. Nor does it specify the conditions of the lease beyond its two-year term.
The agreement therefore establishes a near-term route for the historic council building to be used for creative work, while leaving several aspects of the longer-term scheme unresolved. The studios are the stated core of the plan; public, community and live/work facilities will depend on the required permissions and funding.
