Ghost offices: what if we turned them into housing?

In the Paris region alone, 1.2 million square metres of office space have been abandoned. These buildings are more than 1,000 square metres in size and have been unoccupied for at least two years, with no takers and no redevelopment project in sight. A sort of real estate no-man's-land, where even the tired neon lights have stopped flickering.

Why such an office wasteland? The health crisis hit hard, leaving behind bankrupt companies and empty head offices. But the pandemic didn't just precipitate the closure of companies: it also entrenched new working habits. Teleworking, flex office, coworking... Employees are no longer all in the office from Monday to Friday, which reduces the need for square metres. As a result, large office areas have become ghost towns for the service sector.

And if we look elsewhere in France? There are 800,000 square metres of derelict office space, particularly in Lille and the surrounding area. It's a situation that's beginning to spark the idea of massive redevelopment. In Lyon, for example, the Icade group is converting 8,000 m² of office space into 105 homes.

The Consortium des Bureaux en France puts forward a striking estimate: if these spaces were converted, up to 53,000 people could be housed in five years. Against a backdrop of housing shortages and rising rents, this is an attractive solution.

Rather than letting these offices fall into disrepair or constructing new buildings, renovating the existing ones would make it possible to limit land artificialisation. This is in line with the ZAN (Zero Net Artificialisation) law, which aims to halve urban sprawl by 2031. Less concrete, more rehabilitation: a choice that would please the planet.

Especially as demolishing to rebuild is often more polluting than renovating a building. Rather than razing these offices as a bad memory, why not give them a new lease of life?

Transforming these brownfield sites into housing would not only meet an ecological need, but also a social emergency. In 2023, 2.6 million households were waiting for social housing, with an average waiting time of 520 days. Yet 70% of households are eligible.

Some areas, such as Seine-Saint-Denis, Greater Lille and Nanterre, could benefit greatly from these conversions. Imagine a former office building transformed into a student residence, social housing or an eco-district combining housing, shops and green spaces... It's a way of breathing new life into areas that are losing their appeal, while supporting the local economy.

While the idea seems to make a lot of sense, there are still many obstacles to overcome: high conversion costs, complex regulations, reluctance on the part of investors, etc. Some buildings are simply not suitable for residential use (ceilings too low, no opening windows, deplorable insulation, etc.). But with public incentives and political will, these conversions could well become the norm rather than the exception.

So, instead of letting those empty square metres be the backdrop for cobwebs, why not turn them into housing? After all, an office without an employee is like a kitchen without a coffee maker: there's not much point.