News from The Hague

11 Januari 2012

Students could live in empty office buildings

The Municipality of The Hague will study whether it’s possible to find a new purpose for the city’s empty office buildings. It will examine whether vacant offices can be converted into student accommodation, which is in short supply in The Hague.

A specially-appointed ‘office pilot’ will seek out new uses for the empty buildings, bring together market parties and match supply with demand. The buildings could be used not only for student housing but also for shops and hotels.

Due to such factors as budget cuts at the national government level, an ageing population and a more flexible style of working (including working from home), some 13% of the city’s 4.3 million square metres of office space is currently empty. While the municipality owns the buildings in only a few cases, it aims to play an active role in tackling the vacancy problem. This problem is in fact relatively mild in comparison to other cities in the Randstad area.

Because of government downsizing, the Municipality of The Hague still has to find a solution for a number of large, empty prominent buildings such as the Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Security and Justice and the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment.

 

 

Source: www.denhaag.nl/en