Why invest in a reversible building design?

Commercial buildings often have a much shorter service life compared to their technical life. Change in market needs is a leading reason for their premature demolition. “Reversible buildings”, which are capable of transformations in function and structure, are of high relevance for this building category.

Reversibility starts with design. How can the investors be convinced to invest in a building with reversible design in the first place? The market value of commercial buildings is determined by the revenue they can generate through their service life. If the flexibility enabled by reversible buildings can be translated into higher market value, that could provide short-term incentives to invest in a reversible design.

This study will be presented at the BAMB’s final event “BUILDINGS AS MATERIAL BANKS – A PATHWAY FOR A CIRCULAR FUTURE” on February 6-7th in Brussels, Belgium. A full version of this document will be published in the conference proceedings.

Authors: Ke Wang, Sofie de Regel, Wim Debacker Jona Michiels, Joëlle Vanderheyden

Photo of BAMB pilot Green Transformable Building Lab. Follow the Changes in the BAMB pilot Project blog.

Read an abstract of the report (pdf 1,3 MB)