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Conversion into housing is a way of adapting and reusing vacant office buildings. Former research has shown possibilities for this type of conversion, and has delivered instruments for determining the conversion potential of vacant offices. While adaptation and renovation of outdated offices can prove to be a successful real estate strategy, conversions into housing still take place only on a small scale. There are several reasons for this, like uncertainty about financial feasibility, and little knowledge about the opportunities and risks of building conversions. This paper reveals drivers for office-to-housing conversions and conversion opportunities and risks, based on a review of international literature and a cross-case study of 15 buildings in the Netherlands which were converted from offices to housing. The findings show that various legal, financial, technical, functional and architectonic issues define the opportunities and risks of building conversions. These insights can be used to support decision making on how to deal with vacant office buildings.

A new life Conversion of vacant office buildings into housingRemøy, HT; van der Voordt, Theo Important noteTo cite this publication, please use the final published version (if applicable). Please check the document version above. CopyrightOther than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons. Takedown policyPlease contact us and provide details if you believe this document breaches copyrights. We will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Design/methodology/approach Through former research in Delft University of Technology, tools are developed to decide the potential for conversion of buildings. In this paper, we discuss the risks and chances, and brakes and triggers of transformation projects, based on case-studies. These case-studies are performed through interviews with professionals involved in the transformation process and through analyses of architectural drawings of the before and after situation. For each project two interviews were held; with the architect and the developer or client. The interviews focussed on the process of the transformation projects. This work is downloaded fromFindings Conversion of non-descript and unarticulated buildings makes sense from the point of view of sustainability, both ecologically and from the urban regeneration context. These projects will only be interesting for developers of commercial real estate if they can be made economically feasible. Social Housing Associations also have additional social goals. Through a longer investment perspective these associations can wait for property increase through long-term externalities as result of upgrading of the area. In buildings which are kept because of economical or social feasibility there are strong connections between target group, location and the conversion costs. Practical implicationsThe former developed tools have proven to be useful for quick scans of the potential for building conversion. This paper is a first step in trying to depict a more detailed view of the risks and chances of building conversions. Knowledge of the risks and chances of conversion is required for making decisions concerning transformation projects.Originality/value Through our research we develop knowledge about transformation projects and decision support tools for the conversion of buildings, based on empirical studies.

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Resource consumption and related waste production are still rapidly increasing all over the world, leading to social and environmental challenges and to the production of the so-called 'wastescapes'. Peri-urban areas-in-between urban and rural territories-are particularly vulnerable and prone to develop into wastescapes because they are generally characterised by mixed functions and/or monofunctional settlements, as well as by fragmentation in a low-density territory that is often crossed by large infrastructure networks. Moreover, peri-urban areas are generally the selected locations for the development of plants for waste management. In this way, they are crossed by waste flows of a different nature, in a landscape of operational infrastructures and wasted landscapes. Implementing Circular Economy (CE) principles, interpreting waste and wastescapes as resources, is a way to significantly reduce raw material and (soil) resource consumption, improving cities' metabolism. A circular approach can positively affect the spatial, social and environmental performances of periurban areas. However, the transition towards a CE presents many challenges. This article outlines an approach to address these challenges, presenting a co-creation process among researchers, experts and stakeholders within Living Labs (LLs) processes. LLs are physical and virtual spaces, aiming at the co-creation of site-specific eco-innovative solutions (EIS) and strategies. In the LLs, public-private-people partnerships are developed by applying an iterative methodology consisting of five phases: Co-Exploring, Co-Design, Co-Production, Co-Decision, and Co-Governance. This article presents a case study approach, analysing the co-creation methodology applied in two peri-urban living labs, located in the Metropolitan Areas of Naples (Italy) and Amsterdam (The Netherlands), within REPAiR Horizon2020 research project.

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PurposeThe City of Melbourne seeks to retrofit 1,200 CBD properties by 2020 as part of the strategy to become carbon neutral, whilst Amsterdam aims to cut CO2 emissions 40 per cent by 2025. Oversupply in the Amsterdam office market makes conversion to residential use viable. In examining converted buildings in Amsterdam and the Melbourne CBD typical attributes of converted stock can be identified to target retrofit measures. This paper seeks to focus on these initiatives.Design/methodology/approachIn Amsterdam five case studies were undertaken to reveal and define building attributes that explain the viability of these conversions. On the other hand, the Melbourne study was based on a database assembled containing all Melbourne CBD office building adaptations carried out between 1998 and 2008. The research analysed the conversion of office buildings and the scope for sustainable retrofit evaluating a limited number of attributes known to be important in adaptation.FindingsThe outcomes of this research showed similarities and differences in scope, which are relevant to all urban areas where adaptation of office buildings can mitigate the impacts of climate change and enhance a city for another generation of citizens and users.Practical implicationsThe outcomes highlight the property attributes that explain conversion viability and that are most strongly associated with conversions. In addition the research identifies some sustainability measures that are possible with this type of stock.Originality/valueThe paper compares and contrasts qualitative data from a small sample of buildings in Amsterdam with quantitative data from a census of all change of use adaptations in Melbourne from 1998 to 2008. The contrasting approaches make it possible both to explain the driving forces of adaptations and to deliver statistical evidence of what is described in the case studies. Despite the differing approaches it is possible to compare and contrast the attributes of properties from both cities.

Purpose Triggered by public concerns over office workplace safety during the COVID-19 pandemic, this study sheds light on the office workplace environment and aims to investigate how organisations respond to forces from the external environment (impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic) and how they modify their office workplace management strategically and operationally to suit the stakeholders’ needs and future development in the post COVID-19 period. Design/methodology/approach A desktop study was conducted to provide the framework for the in-depth interviews with five corporate real estate (CRE) managers and three workplace consultants. Thematic analysis including coding technique was adopted to analyse the qualitative data. Findings The findings show that during the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the intended and implemented office workplace modifications are mainly related to two types of risk control: administrative control and personal protection. At a strategic level, organisations react to the external forces by re-modelling their businesses and working towards re-orienting their CRE strategies, such as portfolio transformation, agile portfolio strategies and redesign of the office workplace, etc. Originality/value This is a topical and timely study that presents the general practice of office workplace modification during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the related CRE management (CREM) strategies developed for the new normal. The findings obtained through in-depth interviews have well supported the CREM strategic alignment theory. It is foreseen that office workplace management will encounter other challenges due to uncertainties of the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings of this study provide a practical lens to look at the future changes of office workplace environment.