‘The idea of creating apartments above shops is nothing new,’ Hilko says. ‘But it is becoming more and more of a topical issue as the nationwide housing shortage increases. We also know that inner-city areas are improved when people start living above the shops. The social control increases. And there are even government funds available to promote this development. The scale of Vastned’s operation is exactly right for pursuing this kind of initiative, and that is what we are doing. But however simple the idea may sound, putting housing above a shop is more complicated than you might think’

Total approach is key

‘There are a number of little issues you have to think about when it comes to residential space above retail space,’ says Hilko. ‘There are many parties involved. The retailer, for starters, is interested is keeping his shopfront as broad as possible and creating the most attractive possible display window across the maximum breadth of the shopfront. There may be no separate entrance to the apartment upstairs and little to no space available to make one. One solution can be an entryway shared between two broader retail spaces, a combination with a location belonging to another owner, or a side entrance, which can be a possibility with a corner location. Other impediments can be fire safety requirements, municipal parking requirements and issues with historic buildings. It is not just about preserving historic façades; in these buildings, it is generally not possible to break down the original supports or walls. All parties see things through their own eyes and think about their own obligations. What we need is an approach that takes all of these into account. One city, Utrecht, has recently created a coordination point for these types of issues, and it proves to be helping enormously.’