SBTI: AI-based tool helps Dutch municipalities identify suitable buildings and areas

Transformation is urgently needed

To address the housing shortage in the Netherlands, around 100,000 new homes need to be delivered each year. Transforming vacant non-residential buildings into homes is an indispensable instrument in this major housing challenge and a valuable addition to new construction. Transformation also helps to combat vacancy and urban decay.

It is more sustainable than new construction, saving materials and emissions. Valuable heritage is preserved, and often the necessary infrastructure and amenities are already in place. For these reasons, the Dutch Ministry of Housing and Spatial Planning (VRO) drew up the National Transformation Plan in 2022, aiming to increase and accelerate the number of housing transformations. VRO estimates that up to 15% of the homes to be realised could come from transformation.

Making better use of potential

Since the peak in 2018 and 2019, the number of housing transformations in the Netherlands has declined to around 8,500 per year. There are several reasons for this. The most attractive buildings have often already been tackled by developers. Yet, most municipalities still have plenty of potential. We may need to look more broadly: at office locations, business parks, shopping streets and areas, public buildings, and heritage sites.

This requires a broader perspective and market knowledge: what is vacant, and what will become vacant? Smaller municipalities often lack the capacity to identify less obvious properties. How do you identify suitable buildings and areas? What data do you use, and how do you extract the right insights?

Tool provides insight

To encourage municipalities to make better use of transformation potential, VRO has set up the Transformation Acceleration Agenda. TNO is directly contributing to this agenda by developing the Smart Building Transformation Identifier (SBTI). Using AI, this tool helps municipalities accurately determine transformation potential based on various data sources.

From municipalities’ detailed transformation data, building characteristics can be used to determine success factors for specific building types. Environmental factors are also considered, such as public transport accessibility and proximity to amenities. Other valuable sources include the CBS vacancy monitor, land registry data, and Funda.

Basis for proactive policy

The result is that municipalities will soon see a map showing transformation potential down to neighbourhood level, both for buildings and areas. Municipalities can then further investigate these locations using additional data.

This tool enables municipalities to actively develop policies around vacancy and transformation. The instrument shows where potential lies in the region and encourages municipalities to take a more proactive approach to vacancy. In the future, the tool may also be able to predict vacancy, for example based on energy consumption and data traffic in buildings.

Vision for the future

The Dutch national government will gain insight into the national transformation potential with the tool. On the one hand, knowledge is built up about which building categories are promising for transformation. On the other hand, it becomes clear where such buildings are not yet being transformed, enabling the government to better determine where additional incentives are needed.

Although SBTI is primarily being developed to make better use of transformation potential, this model could also be used more broadly in the future to gain insights into the housing market, such as issues around housing mobility.

Stay involved in this project

The SBTI tool is still under development. TNO is currently working closely with VRO and three municipalities (Amsterdam, The Hague, and Ede) to map out user requirements and determine which data are needed.

The aim of this phase is to jointly arrive at a proof of concept, allowing a larger group of municipalities to gain initial experience. The added value of SBTI lies in the collaboration between municipalities, jointly developing a tool from which all municipalities, large and small, can benefit. That is why TNO is keen to get in touch with municipalities that would like to contribute to the development of the tool through our sounding board group.