Thinking inside the blocks: converting offices into homes

Repurposing office buildings after 9/11 freed up a large amount of apartment space in the heart of Manhattan. Could the same be done here to ease the housing crisis and bring the lifeblood back into our cities?

Mike Pettinella, director of EMEA sales at Autodesk, thinks unused office space should be converted into accommodation and he is working from precedent. Picture: Jon Bradley Photography

There’s a good chance you’re reading this in the place you’ve spent most of the last year and a half working. But what if the place you worked in before the pandemic could become the place you live and work in?

This is the vision Mike Pettinella has to address the housing crises across Europe, particularly the one in Ireland, and to revitalise city centres.

The director of EMEA sales at Autodesk, the multinational software ...