Can converting disused office spaces into flats solve Berlin's housing crisis?

Over the past several years, veritable housing horror stories have become all too prevalent in most European cities as housing crises shape entire generations.

As property markets boom and construction is kept at bay by soaring material and labour costs and burdensome bureaucracy, the situation has become the main cause for concern for many young people in Europe.

But two German property entrepreneurs have been getting creative with former factories and disused office spaces for nearly 15 years, giving them a new lease of life as affordable apartments.

In their repertoire of converted spaces with a history are a former sweets factory, a department store and the abandoned offices of the former communist East German railway company.

For property entrepreneurs Lutz Lakomski and Arndt Ulrich, turning the office building into apartments was almost an accident.

Some 12 years ago, the duo, who knew each other from the West German village of Dernbach, began the project, and around 400 people now live in the old administrative building.

Initially, they wanted to demolish the building to make room for commercial spaces, the sector they both worked in for many years, but the authorities didn't allow it.

"We simply thought practically. So, we said, if we can’t demolish it, then we'll convert it into apartments," Ulrich says.

This was not their first expedition into residential housing. In 2010, they also transformed an empty department store into 86 apartments with shop space on the ground floor.

"Of course, there were many challenges, especially concerning fire safety and the building’s contamination, which all had to be removed," Lakomski told Euronews.

Then, the work on the nine-story high office building began.

A tricky task

The pair took great care in transforming some of the car parking spaces into a well-maintained playground, and making sure the building was up to the latest energy standards, including through district heating and soundproofing.

"We’ve taken an old building and, through modernisation, brought it into a very modern state. Additionally, the building is wheelchair accessible, which is something not often seen in Germany," Lakomski said.

The apartments, between 25 and 35 square metres, are rented out mainly to students.

Both Lakomski and Ulrich make it a priority to visit their buildings once a month to see if anything needs repairing. They want to ensure the building remains in good condition, and indeed, it's easy to spot the level of care that went into filling corridors with art.

Two tenants Euronews spoke to independently said they were thrilled to live in the building because it "looks new" and as students, they can afford it.

"Office buildings often have certain requirements that don't align with residential construction. So, it's not an easy task, but it definitely helps to build faster because the building already exists," Lakomski said.

"And generally, there are enough parking spaces associated with office areas, which could even be converted into green spaces to offer better living quality to people."

Could this be a future solution for other cities?

Both Lakomski and Ulrich are sceptical about the prospect of converting buildings into offices near the centre of cities.

"If you have office buildings in prime locations, the prices are so high that conversion doesn’t pay off. But in peripheral locations where offices no longer work, it makes sense to convert them into apartments," Ulrich explained.

However, the pair also warned that bureaucracy and authorities can create barriers to such projects, because "they want commercial spaces, office spaces to attract companies that create jobs and bring in business taxes," Lakomski added.

Firstly, the pair advise that cities should provide land at attractive prices and encourage municipal housing companies to build affordable and social housing.

"But many cities argue that this isn’t feasible because it doesn’t pay off. However, private investors are willing to do this, which creates an absurd situation," Lakomski says.

But cities and their politicians need to be more proactive, create favourable conditions, and then things will move forward, the duo say.

"Essentially, housing construction should be a top priority. The mayor or the head of the city must personally take responsibility. I believe things would move faster and more efficiently if it didn’t get lost in the bureaucratic process where many are responsible, but no one is truly accountable," Lakomski said.

The entrepreneurs say that discussions about expropriation and rent caps, often mentioned in the housing crisis debate, "scare off investors".

"If investors can’t make long-term plans or financial plans, they won’t come and won’t invest. This issue also needs to be addressed. As an investor, especially a private one, I need planning security," Lakomski explained.

"In large cities like Berlin, we have plans that are over 10 years old. We have plans that are over 20 years old and still not completed because they are constantly being debated," he concluded.

The duo currently don't have any plans to convert more spaces into apartments in Berlin, but have upcoming projects in the west German city of Koblenz.