What do we see?
While the use efficiency of single-family homes and average residential buildings has remained constant, there has been a decrease when it comes to multi-family homes. However, we do need to add a caveat here: multi-family homes offer 32 times more living space compared to the same area in single-family homes. Multi-family homes offer 8.4 m2 of living space per square metre of space, whereas single-family homes only offer 0.26 m2 per square metre.
What’s the aim?
To relieve the pressure on the environment and reduce the demand for new buildings, we need to increase the use efficiency of the floor area of buildings and therefore also the living space per square metre. This can be done in two ways:
Firstly, we can increase efficiency by building more floors. Here, we would just need to take into account the greater impact of taller buildings, for example due to deeper foundations. This has an impact on the soil and groundwater system.
Another option is the densification of zones that are already built up. This would require even more extensive research into the impact of zones with a high level of densification.
What does this indicator measure?
This indicator shows the use efficiency of single-family and multi-family homes based on the floor areas of the types of plot as listed in the Land Registry. This data comes from Statbel.
