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Greasing the wheels, or a spanner in the works? Permitting the adaptive re-use of redundant office buildings into residential use in England

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  • Kevin Muldoon-Smith
  • Paul Greenhalgh

Abstract

This paper explores the challenges involved in planning the adaptation of the urban built environment. It approaches this subject by appraising a recently introduced national planning policy (the permission to convert office buildings into residential use without planning permission) in England. Drawing on interviews conducted with planning practitioners, it is possible to unravel the impact of this policy instrument at the coal face of the discipline. The office-to-residential conversion policy has removed the long-established process of local planning discretion in England in favour of a developer led planning policy. Consequently, there has been a tactical manipulation of additional planning tools, originally designed for other use, to re-exert influence at the local level by local planning authorities. Rather than greasing the wheels of office-to-residential conversion, the new policy has thrown a spanner in the works of a unique local planning process that was originally developed to manage urban change. The paper concludes by calling for local planners to reformulate their role in planning urban adaptation by reasserting their role as “market actors” through the development of city information models, the exploitation of professional communication networks and the transference of their own tacit knowledge.

Suggested Citation

  • Kevin Muldoon-Smith & Paul Greenhalgh, 2016. "Greasing the wheels, or a spanner in the works? Permitting the adaptive re-use of redundant office buildings into residential use in England," Planning Theory & Practice, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(2), pages 175-191, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:rptpxx:v:17:y:2016:i:2:p:175-191
    DOI: 10.1080/14649357.2016.1156144
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    Cited by:

    1. Nancy Holman & Alessandra Mossa & Erica Pani, 2018. "Planning, value(s) and the market: An analytic for “what comes next?â€," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 50(3), pages 608-626, May.
    2. Rylan Graham & Jenna Dutton, 2021. "Obsolescence as an Opportunity: The Role of Adaptive Reuse in Calgary's Office Market," SPP Briefing Papers, The School of Public Policy, University of Calgary, vol. 14(4), February.
    3. Ian Chng & Jonathan Reades & Phil Hubbard, 2024. "Planning deregulation as solution to the housing crisis: The affordability, amenity and adequacy of Permitted Development in London," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 56(3), pages 961-978, May.
    4. Jessica Ferm & Ben Clifford & Patricia Canelas & Nicola Livingstone, 2021. "Emerging problematics of deregulating the urban: The case of permitted development in England," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(10), pages 2040-2058, August.

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