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UK plans to convert offices into apartments
Source: Agencies |
January 23, 2013, Wednesday
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THE British government will make it easier for developers to convert offices into apartments, the latest initiative to kick-start economic growth through housing.
Planning minister Nick Boles is due to announce the changes to the planning system this week to help meet the country's huge demand for housing and revamp rundown areas where office schemes are not viable, a government source said.
"We are currently looking to make it easier to convert empty and under-used commercial space into residential use. This will provide new homes, help regenerate urban areas and boost local town centers," a spokeswoman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said. "We will announce more details shortly."
Other housing initiatives include Funding for Lending and NewBuy, both of which are unlikely to make a significant dent in the target of 240,000 new homes every year by 2016 to meet population needs, Peel Hunt analyst Robin Hardy said.
"If the planning barriers to conversion are effectively removed, this could have a significant impact," Hardy said of the new scheme. "The whole country is littered with masses of under-occupied low-value office buildings that would make fabulous residential (property)."
Residential values are about double office values across much of the UK, making housing schemes more viable, said Mat Oakley, director of commercial research at real estate consultant Savills.
"You have to ask whether some office sites have any value at all if they are empty," he said.
Planning minister Nick Boles is due to announce the changes to the planning system this week to help meet the country's huge demand for housing and revamp rundown areas where office schemes are not viable, a government source said.
"We are currently looking to make it easier to convert empty and under-used commercial space into residential use. This will provide new homes, help regenerate urban areas and boost local town centers," a spokeswoman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said. "We will announce more details shortly."
Other housing initiatives include Funding for Lending and NewBuy, both of which are unlikely to make a significant dent in the target of 240,000 new homes every year by 2016 to meet population needs, Peel Hunt analyst Robin Hardy said.
"If the planning barriers to conversion are effectively removed, this could have a significant impact," Hardy said of the new scheme. "The whole country is littered with masses of under-occupied low-value office buildings that would make fabulous residential (property)."
Residential values are about double office values across much of the UK, making housing schemes more viable, said Mat Oakley, director of commercial research at real estate consultant Savills.
"You have to ask whether some office sites have any value at all if they are empty," he said.
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