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.
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