Two German entrepreneurs have been converting old factories and disused office spaces into affordable apartments in Berlin for years. As rents spiral in the German capital, Euronews met them to ask if such projects could be a feasible solution for the housing crises dominating Europe.
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00:00These two entrepreneurs have been converting old factories and disused office spaces
00:05into affordable apartments in Berlin for decades.
00:08As Rentspira in the German capital, Euronews met with them to ask if such projects
00:13could be a feasible solution for the housing crises that are dominating Europe
00:17and to ask how the idea was born.
00:30When we first came here, that is, when we built SP Warenhäuser,
00:33we had a completely different view on the topic of housing.
00:36And we just thought it was practical.
00:38And then we said, if we are not allowed to tear it down, then we just build apartments.
00:42That's how the idea came about.
00:44Of course, there were many challenges in this regard,
00:48in terms of fire protection, in terms of old buildings,
00:52which all had to be disposed of.
00:54But our goal was to build small affordable apartments.
01:00Principally, students, trainees and pensioners live in these apartments.
01:05Where we put a lot of emphasis is, of course, on the energy level,
01:09which we have brought to the green area
01:13to provide the tenants with as little cost as possible for heating.
01:20The building is energetically at its best.
01:23The windows are sound-insulated.
01:25Basically, you can live here.
01:27With the possible shift to a four-day work week and more people working from home,
01:31many office spaces may no longer be needed.
01:34It would be relatively easy to create a lot of living space quickly in the city,
01:38especially since the infrastructure is already in place.
01:41If you now have office buildings in peak conditions,
01:44then the prices are simply so high that you don't expect that from the conversion.
01:49But if you go into the edges and the office simply no longer works in the edges,
01:55then it makes sense to convert it into apartments.
01:58This is, of course, in contradiction to what municipalities want.
02:01They want to attract companies with commercial and office spaces,
02:06create jobs and, of course, bring in commercial tax.
02:10But without housing being a top priority for the mayor or the government,
02:13things are unlikely to change.
02:15Liv Stroud for Euronews.