I’ve heard claims that its often better and cheaper to just knock down and rebuild from scratch.
Sometime it is, sometimes it isn’t. It’s incredibly situational.
The zoning laws need to be relaxed across the board, which is a big part of why it’s hard to convert. It would also probably just be better if the government went halvsies on the cost of conversion with developers. It would be cheaper than the government funding brand new projects, and it would make it more economically viable for developers to do conversions. Because the total cost to society will almost always be higher to rebuild from scratch.
That, and quite a lot of pollution is created in the process of tearing down and rebuilding a brand new building. We already payed for the pollution for these buildings the first time around, we should avoid a 2nd round if possible.
Sometime it is, sometimes it isn’t. It’s incredibly situational.
The zoning laws need to be relaxed across the board, which is a big part of why it’s hard to convert. It would also probably just be better if the government went halvsies on the cost of conversion with developers. It would be cheaper than the government funding brand new projects, and it would make it more economically viable for developers to do conversions. Because the total cost to society will almost always be higher to rebuild from scratch.
That, and quite a lot of pollution is created in the process of tearing down and rebuilding a brand new building. We already payed for the pollution for these buildings the first time around, we should avoid a 2nd round if possible.