Converting offices to housing

Ever since the pandemic, office buildings have become less popular (sometimes to the extent of being almost abandoned). So it might be worth converting some of that space into housing.

Hybrid approach

If only part of an office building is converted into housing, the considerations become easier:

• Less load on plumbing & wiring.
• Housing units could get the window space; office units could be in the building core.
• The building becomes mixed-use, which is good for promoting walkability.

Considerations

Supply

^{[RESEARCH needed]}

Just how much office space is there? To what extent could this help solve housing shortages? ^{[QUANTIFICATION needed]}

This varies by city and by country. This section needs at least a few examples. There could also be subpages devoted to particular regions.

Plumbing & wiring

^{[RESEARCH needed]}

Could the existing plumbing provide enough water & drainage for all the housing units? Could the existing wiring provide enough electricity?

How would the cost of new plumbing & wiring compare to just building a whole new building?

This section needs some case studies.

Need for windows

Manageable

By law (in most jurisdictions), every bedroom has to have a window; offices do not. Some office buildings are extremely wide, with lots of floor space compared to window space.

There are a few ways to work with this:

• Put the housing units by the windows.
  • Use the inner parts of the building for other things:
    • Common rooms, such as gyms, lounges, or places for kids to play(...)( in fact, there could even be a daycare in the building )
    • Office space still, if we're taking a hybrid approach (see above)
  • If space is really generous, make the housing units bigger.
• Worst case scenario, repeal the laws that require bedrooms to have windows. This should only be done in cases of extreme housing shortage!