ABSTRACT
Belgium, like other Western regions, faces a significant shortage of affordable housing and a lengthy social housing waiting lists. Urban areas, on the other hand, often have numerous vacant commercial buildings, particularly aging office structures. Repurposing these vacant buildings for new housing functions offers a sustainable solution while avoiding open space loss and demolition. In the Brussels Region, almost 300.000m² of office buildings were reconverted from 2021-2022. However, research indicates that reconversion projects often face unpredictability and therefore high construction costs, compared to the conventional method of demolition and rebuilding. This research explores the methodological aspects of assessing the reconversion potential of office buildings into housing through a retrospective analysis of 13 cases, focusing on building properties, trends, and patterns to identify suitability for reconversion. Simultaneously we are conscious of the vast number of aspects in the building’s context that play a role too.
