In the UK the government has set a target to build 300,000 new homes a year. This target is often discussed as being new build housing. This makes no sense to me as the UK is a small island with limited land which is limited even further for land that is suitable for new build housing. The other problem is that it’s not just building new houses it’s also providing the infrastructure that goes with it roads, public transport, drainage, fibre, utility supplies etc. This all has its challenges and cost implications. The key in my opinion to providing new housing is to make use of the existing buildings and utilising these first. Commercial to residential conversions can be a great way to do this especially for buildings and locations where the residential value per m2 is substantially higher than commercial. And especially where the commercial buildings have been sitting empty. Over the last 5 years we have converted numerous empty, derelict, and underutilised commercial buildings to residential which now house approx. 150 people. The cost of the building works has been about half of the new build construction and the end result and product is on par. On top of this there are some prior approval permitted development rights in place to help get planning permission through. Our next project is the conversion of an old empty office building in a great location to 20 great sized apartments. If you are interested in getting involved in a project like this please get in touch!

Posted by Tim Witt at 2026-06-16 12:49:07 UTC