Living above the shop is nothing new. We’ve been doing it for centuries. Across our cities, towns and villages retailers and businesses have functioned perfectly well in what was, more-or-less, the old-fashioned version of working from home!
The arrival of suburban retail parks, shopping centres and local convenience stores has slowly eroded the commerciality of our cities. Add to this the unpleasantness of traffic congestion, the trudge of a daily commute along with the rise of the out-of-town business centres and the unceremonious slow death of our city centres is unsurprising. And then came Covid-19. Need I say more? The only antidote for this sad demise is people. Our cities need people.
And our people need homes, but, as we know, we’re in the midst of this housing crisis which, like a stubborn, irritating itch, just won’t go away.
Although a 1994 scheme delivered some increases to the supply of city-centre residential accommodation, these successes were few and far between.
An interesting conundrum when you consider that according to this year’s census, we have over 166,000 vacant homes across the country. And while we know this number includes 35,500 empty rental properties and a further 27,500 which had been owned by those recently and not so recently deceased, the vacancy rate is still hovering close to the 100,000 mark.
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Add to that shameful statistic, the number of vacant properties that the census does not capture. Curiously, if a property is part-occupied, even if it’s only one floor of an entire multistorey building, then it is not considered “vacant”.
Walk down any one of our major shopping streets and take a look up. There are empty spaces everywhere, which with a little imagination could be transformed into residential accommodation for somebody. Just think of the possibilities that exist on Grafton Street, O’Connell Street, Henry Street and all the streets between in Dublin, on Shop Street in Galway, on Patrick Street in Cork, and O’Connell Street in Limerick.
And these are just our major cities. At a national level, the potential for living over the shop in spaces that are, at present, lying empty is obvious. These spaces, once homes to shop keepers and their families, are crying out for restoration. More importantly, they provide a very real opportunity to add numbers to our deficient housing stock.
But of course, this is “old” news. Ever since the introduction in 1994 of the Living Over The Shop scheme (LOTS), property industry experts, politicians, and other commentators have tied themselves up in knots debating the merits and possibilities presented by bringing people back to live in our cities, and specifically over shops. Nearly three decades later, we still haven’t got it right. So why is that?
Well, it’s not from the lack of grants and tax incentives. Although the 1994 LOTS scheme delivered some increases to the supply of city-centre residential accommodation – Dublin’s Capel Street being a case in point – these successes were few and far between.
The LOTS scheme’s 2015 successor (the recently extended Living City Initiative), of which I am a big fan, targets owner occupiers, both commercial and residential, with tax reliefs on the refurbishment costs of their properties. A second, and much-talked about scheme, is the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant (VPRG) operated through the Government’s Croí Cónaithe fund. Both of these grants offer valuable financial support to anyone wishing to refurbish their properties.
As with most things, terms and conditions apply, and although both schemes do have room for improvement and expansion, they create vital opportunities for bringing our old buildings back to life. If we’re allowed to.
We need a defined national strategy, an explicit instrument that will start conversations and enable professionals to make informed and consistent decisions
The real problem lies with our overly restrictive building controls. If we are to make good and proper use of the spaces above our shops and the offices that populate our cities’ Georgian cores, there needs to be a seismic shift in our approach to building regulations, specifically those that govern fire, disabled access and energy, for existing buildings.
Today, we do things very differently to the way things were when these regulations were introduced. Fire prevention, detection and isolation systems have all become far more sophisticated and accessible. Why can’t these improved technologies be taken into account when planning for the refurbishment and repurposing of older buildings into much-needed homes?
Why can’t we accept that not every old building can reasonably be made accessible for all. Disabled access involves far more than just sticking a loo on the ground level. We have to take a pragmatic approach to this. We must be reasonable and work towards finding a balance between what’s achievable and what’s feasible.
The alternative is that we do nothing and simply let these buildings fall into such disrepair and dereliction to the point where some of them will ultimately have to be demolished. In an era where sustainability is so important to our collective future, it’s a no-brainer that we acknowledge that the most sustainable building is the one that’s repurposed, not knocked down and rebuilt.
The longer we wait, the longer we leave these buildings to decay. A consequence of which will be more time, effort and money needed to revive them. Now is the time to step up and take responsible, intelligent, and sensible action.
We need a defined national strategy, an explicit instrument that will start conversations and enable professionals to make informed and consistent decisions. Let’s bring our various sectors’ best minds together, the planners, conservationists, architects, developers, politicians and those looking for a home above our shops into one room to explore the possibility of change.
