A completely new old town

Urban sprawl, which results in both the need to build up infrastructure and lengthier travel times to work and school, is a damaging phenomenon that not only increases real estate investment costs but also has a negative impact on the quality of life. When both users and investors lose interest in some types of commercial space, quite often in older office buildings and shopping centres, the growing gap in the residential market and the lack of new development sites could force investors to turn to changing the usage of existing buildings. One example of this is the conversion of the office building at ul. Solec 22 in Warsaw into a student residence, while another is the conversion of the TVP television tower in Szczecin into an apartment block. Occasionally, a change of usage can require existing buildings to be demolished, while historic industrial buildings can also be converted to new usages. Re-using these buildings and plots in such ways has many advantages, including what is of