The rate at which empty Dutch office blocks are transformed or demolished has become faster over the past five years, according to property consultants JLL on Tuesday.

In that period, 1.8 million square metres of office space was given a change of use, for instance as a hotel, housing or a health centre. In addition, half a million square metres has been demolished.

Office blocks became empty as a result of the economic crisis, the growth of flexible working and a glut of building just before the financial crash of 2008.

Currently, there are around 7.1 million square metres on the office rental market, of which 2.2 million have been empty for more than five years.

Attitude

The speed up in the rate of change of use can be found in the more flexible attitude of councils and the writing off of losses by property owners, according to the Financieele Dagblad.

Despite this, the amount of empty office space is still growing, rising from 16% in 2014 to 17% this year, the estate agents’ association NVM Business told the paper.