In recent years, this past year more than ever, it has become more increasingly common for property developers and others alike, to purchase unused, spacious commercial builds (retail, office space etc) and transform them into new, modern residential homes.
Why?
Because the evolution of online shopping is emerging, rent is increasing, and more people are permanently working from home.
The more empty commercial builds there are, allows for more residential conversions to be constructed.
This isn’t to say that it comes without some hesitancies; each build, new*1 or refurbished, has a copious amount of pros, cons and challenges to it, throughout the entire design process.
Let’s dive deeper into this:
- Planning;
In this stage, you must ensure that the building is eligible for renovation into a residential building; though most can be, there are still some exceptions – for example, listed buildings.
Then, you must identify the class of the commercial building; A (shops, restaurants), B (offices, storage facilities), C (hotels, care homes) or D (more miscellaneous, school, doctor surgeries, leisure facilities).
- Design;
Planning permission, budget and financial planning.
Though some conversions won’t need or will already have planning permission, you will still need approval from the local council.
It is also a must that you put a budget in place so you know exactly how much you are willing to spend – construction projects like this usually always have some additional unexpected costs, so it’s always worth over-budgeting.
- Construction;
The main event; the actual creation of the residential homes.
What are the materials you plan on using? How are you going to start? What about window and door placement?
There is a lot to consider even when the construction phase is occurring; be prepared to collide with unexpected obstacles and find ways to alter your design to fit around them.
- Post construction;
Finding the residents; will it suit the needs of a family or single person household? Young or elderly couple?
Also be aware of any errors that may occur and need remedial work – it happens, but is an easy fix.
All this information… but why should you consider investing time and money into a project like this?
The advantages that come with commercial to residential builds are infinite; but the ones in our top 3 would rank as such:
- It’s a blank canvas.
It is likely that your commercial property will need to be completely gutted, to make it safe and suitable for residents to live in. This means that there will be plenty of scope for you to design and decorate the property in any way you’d like and feel is fashionable and functional , without too many constraints to consider.
- The location is (usually) well positioned.
More often than not, the location of commercial builds are in prime areas; city centres, close to transport links etc. Naturally, this is a large selling point for many buyers and makes the residential property a lot more desirable.
- Prices are competitive.
Currently, the commercial property market is competitive; prices are lower than residential properties, so there is potential to get a building which you can add value to, whilst making a good profit from converting it.
However, naturally there are challenges to compete against all the advantages you muster up:
- Time is of the essence.
As you can imagine, a job like this won’t happen overnight; you need a lot of time and patience to conduct a project like this, probably more than you think – it is inevitable that you will have some hurdle to overcome on the way to the finale.
- Have you got the materials*2?
We are facing a nationwide shortage of building materials due to the combined impact of Brexit and the pandemic; linked with new customs regulations and the increase of global demand, imports have been slowed – making the process of gaining new materials hard to come by.
- Is it eligible?
Is the premises fit for a renovation? The last thing you want to be doing is spending money on a commercial build that cannot be repurposed into a residential property.
Whatever you are planning, our team at RDN have years of experience with conversions and renovations of such style, and are confident in our ability to to transform any commercial build into a stylish and functional residential property for you.