If it was easy to convert offices to apartments, it would be common

Reality trumps imagination most of the time

Converting vacant commercial and office buildings into residential apartments might seem like a good idea and an efficient use of space and resources. The real-world experience is often quite different, which is why we don’t see many successful examples of this approach.

In the most basic sense, commercial and office buildings are not designed to be retrofitted. Simple things become challenging, like ensuring proper access to windows, or providing balconies.

Unsurprisingly, conversions like this tend to be expensive and difficult. Often, they are not economically viable because the cost of construction will not be offset by revenue from sales.

The Wool Stores, Tenerife, Brisbane - a successful conversion

Expensive operational costs also add to elevated conversion costs. Residential apartment buildings are expensive to run, with high costs associated with pumping water upwards, common spaces using lighting heating cooling and providing lift access 24 hours a day.

Deep energy retrofits could make the operational costs of such conversions viable but are not often undertaken.

There are also negative social consequences associated with converting commercial and office buildings into housing. Such buildings may not be well located to support residential communities. There may be distant from vital services and social infrastructure like schools and green spaces.

Notwithstanding the many challenges of converting vacant commercial and office buildings into apartments, the approach is common in the UK. Termed “permitted development”, it is an experiment in deregulation, allowing old offices and shops to be converted into apartments with easier development approvals.

While an estimated 65,000 apartments were provided in the UK in this way, the experiment has arguably been catastrophic in several ways. Problems include disconnection from services, lack of public transport, proximity to major roads, social isolation, crimes, and other social dysfunctions.

Terminus House, Essex - an unsuccessful conversion plagued by isolation, lack of services, crime and social dysfunction

So, the next time politicians or housing advocates point to an easy win by converting vacant commercial and office buildings, be critical of their prescriptions. After all, if this was a viable approach to housing supply, cities worldwide would already be doing it.