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> …and they're about to ban windowless bedrooms which will make office-to-housing conversions impossible. Where is this not banned? And it’s not like offices

• astrange 11mo ago
  No, the ban is because an architect thinks they're icky, sent in a request to ban it, and the building code people take any suggestion to ban anything that anyone sends them. Safety regulations are written in blood, you know! https://bsky.app/profile/stephenjacobsmith.com/post/3m3xpe3nbz22s https://bsky.app/profile/stephenjacobsmith.com/post/3m3xpe3n...
  • nradov 11mo ago
    The ban on windowless bedroom is at least partly about fire safety. A window provides an escape route for low floors, or a means for firefighters to rescue the occupants.
    • gottorf 11mo ago
      The GP's point is that levelheaded cost-benefit analyses on things like that seem to escape regulators, and everything is greatly skewed towards "it's worth it if it saves even one life". Sure, fire safety in homes is a good thing to have. But is it so good that we can't economically build buildings to meet them, and people end up with no home at all?
      • nradov 11mo ago
        We can economically build buildings with windows on all the bedrooms. That has virtually zero impact on the final price to residents so complaining about it is a total red herring. The actual problem is high land prices, slow permit approval processes, and restrictive zoning codes.
        • astrange 11mo ago
          You can easily build them without windowless bedrooms, yes. The problem is you can't easily convert office buildings to housing without these, because the floor plates are too different.
          • nradov 11mo ago
            That's only one of many problems with converting office building to residential. While a few conversions have succeeded, usually it's cheaper to just demolish the building and start from scratch. Allowing windowless bedrooms won't change that.
            • JumpCrisscross 11mo ago
              > While a few conversions have succeeded, usually it's cheaper to just demolish the building and start from scratch Do we have cases of Japan or China converting industrial or office spaces into residences?
              • roryirvine 11mo ago
                I've no idea about Japan or China, but I do know that "office-to-resi" has become reasonably common in the UK. Since 2013, it's been classed as "permitted development" (so, automatically allowed as long as the building isn't listed as architecturally or historically important), and liberalised further in the early 2020s. House prices have outstripped commercial rents for most of this century, and change of use is cheaper than demolish-and-rebuild, so I'd expect to see the trend continue. The issue with unsuitable floor plates is real, though, particularly in larger buildings. One solution is to cut chunks out of the curtain wall, turning part of each floor into an open-air terrace which functions as a light well. The reduction in useable floor area means that's only really viable at the premium end of the market, though - a prominent (albeit mixed-use) example is https://www.constructionenquirer.com/2024/07/18/striking-new-look-for-canary-wharf-hsbc-tower/ https://www.constructionenquirer.com/2024/07/18/striking-new...
        • JumpCrisscross 11mo ago
    • astrange 11mo ago
      [flagged]
      • alephnerd 11mo ago
        > Windows aren't used for that in the US Yes they are, and I say this as someone who eons ago lived in a shithole apartment that had a fire scare and needed the Fire Dept to help out. Egress windows and fire trucks with ladders exist for a reason.
      • nradov 11mo ago
        Bullshit. Check the municipal fire code in any major US city. There are explicit requirements around using Windows for egress and fire rescue.
        • astrange 11mo ago
          Windows above the first few floors. See the thread. You'd have to break into them, since they aren't required to be openable.
    • JumpCrisscross 11mo ago
      > ban on windowless bedroom is at least partly about fire safety. A window provides an escape route for low floors, or a means for firefighters to rescue the occupants New York City's fire engines can't reach its skyscrapers' top floors. Not saying you can achieve similar resuls with office-to-residential conversions. But windowless bedrooms aren't a non-starter because of fire safety, they're a non-starter because they make wealthier residents uncomfortable.