While proposals to convert offices into student accommodation or other forms of residential accommodation are regularly mooted, care is required as residential developments are subject to wholly different planning standards especially regarding open space. The Business Post's latest article on this shows the potential but not the how.
Ireland’s student accommodation sector is expected to be one of the markets to
benefit from a stabilisation in both interest rates and construction cost
inflation. Already the market is underpinned by student demand as reflected in
Higher Education Authority (HEA) estimates that 75,640 student beds would be
required by 2024. But supply is well short of that figure and according to
the latest report from Mitchell McDermott property consultants, only 1,500 to
2,000 beds are being built annually so supply will reach only 55,000 beds by
2027. One way to accelerate delivery would be conversion of office
buildings and John Dobbin of Shay Cleary Architects said that student
accommodation (PBSA) could be a more suitable conversion project than
residential apartments. Indeed, by providing PBSA more quickly this would
also help to remove thousands of students from the wider residential rental
market. Dobbin pointed out that older offices built in the 1960s, 1970s
and 1980s are particularly suited for conversion compared to more modern ones
because the older ones have narrower floor plates of 13 to 15 metres, central
corridors, suitable floor-to-ceiling heights and fewer columns.
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article @ The
Business Post
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