Circular Building Convert

Circular Building Convert : A collective adventure for sustainable housing

Across North-West Europe (NWE), cities face a pressing paradox: a severe lack of affordable and social housing, yet a growing number of vacant office buildings that no longer meet modern needs. With hundreds of thousands of housing units missing in countries like the Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, Belgium, and France, the social and economic costs of inaction are increasing. 

At the same time, urban areas are constrained by land scarcity and under pressure to meet ambitious climate and circular economy targets. Office buildings constructed between the 1970s and 1990s—often poorly insulated, oversized, and unsuited to contemporary business use—represent a dormant resource. Their transformation into homes offers an untapped solution to address housing shortages, reduce the environmental footprint of construction, and preserve already urbanised land. 

Yet, turning offices into homes is far from simple. Technical hurdles flourish: how to adapt the structure, add balconies, redesign interiors, and ensure affordability—all while maximizing the reuse of materials and minimizing emissions. The circular building economy, though promising, remains immature and fragmented, lacking the standardised solutions needed for widespread adoption. 

The Circular Building Convert project (CBC) was born to tackle these interlinked challenges. Through two full-scale pilot projects in Lille (France) and Heerlen (Netherlands), we will be developing and testing replicable, cost-effective, and circular conversion methods. These local experiences will feed into a transnational strategy and a training programme, ensuring that the know-how developed benefits the entire NWE region, and endures beyond the project’s lifetime.