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Reuse radar

Copenhagen

Copenhagen has turned old commercial buildings into homes for a decade — about 600,000 m² of housing in existing buildings, roughly 15% of all new homes — and office vacancy has fallen back to around 350,000 m² in the wider city. The best routes for a co-operative run through city land: the city publishes the properties it intends to sell, can sell to a housing co-operative without tender against a guarantee, and requires up to 25% non-profit housing in new local plans.
An empty building in Copenhagen with homes, balconies and neighbours drawn onto it in ink
Empty buildings on record
47
from 15 open sources
Vacant office space
450,000 m²
7% of the stock
Homes potential
≈ 1,210
if 30% of empty offices converted

Office figures: Ejendomstorvet.dk via the City of Copenhagen: about 450,000 m² of empty offices (about 7%) at the start of 2025 in Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, Tårnby and Dragør; down to about 350,000 m² by mid-2025. Homes: our economic model’s conversion engine. Map built 2026-10-09.

Empty buildings in Copenhagen

One point per building, from public records, open data and cited reports. Filter by type, size and how sure the evidence is; open one to see who says so and whether it could become homes.

BBR has no vacancy field. Floor area and storeys come from the national register (Datafordeler) for offices of 1,000 m² or more and for industrial and warehouse buildings of three or more storeys; smaller offices are not shown.

Loading map…
Colour = type of building named officially likely reported
Missing a building?

Check any building in Copenhagen: could it become homes, and could the EHC model work there?

3 more buildings in Copenhagen reported in the news, not yet on the map

The articles do not give an address we could place, so these have no pin yet. From news reports, summed up in our own words with a link to each article — not checked on site by EHC.

  • Former Herolds Varehus, Øresundsvej 21, Amager, Copenhagen — reported empty · formerly department storeCentury-old department store building closed a few years ago and decaying; demolition is barred and a 2024 local plan keeps the front house. TV 2 Kosmopol (2025-05-09)
  • Former Red Barnet headquarters — reported empty · formerly officeThe central Copenhagen office property had stood empty for nearly two years before the funds sold it EjendomsWatch (2026-01-12)
  • Laksegade Kvarteret, Laksegade — reported conversion under way · formerly bank · 36,585 m² · owner: Holmens Kanal ApS (Thylander Gruppen / KanAm Grund Group)Work began in May 2025 to turn sixteen former Danske Bank buildings, vacated in spring 2024, into offices, shops, restaurants and a hotel by 2028. Dagens Byggeri (2025-05-14)

Where conversion makes sense, and who to talk to

The districts where empty space, the right zoning and a working neighbourhood come together, and the owners and programmes that open a door. 450,000 m² of offices stand empty (7% of the stock).

A hand outlining a neighbourhood on a city map, with small houses drawn inside

Valby industrial district (Valby Industrikvarter, Torveporten, Ny Ellebjerg)

The largest cluster of former industrial and wholesale land in the phasing plan, with city-owned sites already being sold for non-profit housing.

  • Valby Maskinfabrik 17.8 ha and Grønttorvet 17.4 ha in the phasing plan
  • Torveporten: 10,140 m² of city land to be sold to KAB for non-profit homes
  • Hansstedvej 7: city building to be freed for care homes

Risk: Much of the area is new building on cleared land; the remaining factories are privately held.

2 sources

Jernbanebyen and the freight yards (Vesterbro–Kongens Enghave)

About 55 ha of railway land next to the centre, owned by the State railway and the State’s property company, now in local planning with non-profit housing.

  • Jernbanebyen 55.4 ha in the phasing plan; landowners DSB and Freja
  • Revised local plan proposal (Sept 2026): 25% almene homes, 57,000–94,000 m²
  • DSB workshops to leave the northern part around the end of 2026; listed-worthy buildings kept

Risk: A large master-planned district sold to developers; reuse of the old workshops depends on the plan.

2 sources

Nordvest and Brønshøj-Husum

The city is selling its own large office building on Ørnevej for care homes, and Bystævneparken is where it is testing how to sell land to co-housing groups.

  • Ørnevej 53–55: 17,053 m² city office property to be sold for non-profit care homes
  • Bystævneparken local plan adopted 18 Sept 2025; first building-rights tender expected early 2026
  • 149 office buildings in Bispebjerg (BBR use 321)

Risk: Care-home and family-housing programmes are fixed by the city; a co-operative must fit them.

3 sources

Amager (Urbanplanen and Nordøstamager)

City land inside the Urbanplanen estate is being sold for densification, and Nordøstamager holds former gasworks and industrial sites in the phasing plan.

  • Urbanplanen: about 9,500 m² of city land, 15,600 m² of homes and services allowed
  • Kløverparken (two parts, 54.8 ha) and Sundby Gasværk (5.9 ha) in the phasing plan

Risk: Several Nordøstamager areas are only in the plan’s long-term period.

2 sources

Signals to watch

Decisions, auctions and closures that change what becomes available, and when.

  1. 2026-09-15Jernbanebyen plan revised

    Revised local plan proposal for 55 ha of railway land: 25% almene homes (57,000–94,000 m²) including a 17,500 m² care home; DSB workshops to leave around the end of 2026.

    1 source
  2. 2026-08-20City sale list updated

    21 city properties and plots listed for sale by the end of 2027, including the 17,053 m² Ørnevej office building for non-profit care homes.

    1 source
  3. 2026-01-0115,004 flats without registered residents

    Flats in multi-dwelling buildings in Copenhagen with nobody registered as living there on 1 January 2026 (4.8%) — not the same as empty.

    1 source
3 earlier signals
  1. 2025-12-10
    Schools and colleges may sell through Freja

    From 1 Jan 2026 to 31 Aug 2030 State-funded education institutions can sell buildings to the State property company.

    1 source
  2. 2025-09-25
    Office vacancy falls

    Empty office space in the wider city fell from about 450,000 m² (start of 2025) to about 350,000 m² (mid-2025); about 600,000 m² of homes were made in existing buildings over ten years.

    1 source
  3. 2025-06-19
    Appeals Board limits help for co-housing groups

    The city may not favour co-housing groups for their form alone, but two sale models remain open, including sale to a housing co-operative without tender.

    1 source

Sources, and what we cannot see

24 sources connected, 1 waiting for access. We only use data we may lawfully reuse; where a publisher blocks automated access we do not work around it — a person downloads it, or we ask for permission.

Every source, its licence and when we last read it
SourceAccessRecordsStatusLicence
OpenStreetMap disused/abandoned tags and brownfields
OpenStreetMap contributors
Open API24Live
2026-10-09
ODbL 1.0 (© OpenStreetMap contributors)
Rail, S-Bahn and U-Bahn stations (OpenStreetMap)
OpenStreetMap contributors
Open APIscoringLive
2026-10-09
ODbL 1.0 (© OpenStreetMap contributors)
Building heights: GlobalBuildingAtlas (TU Munich)
Zhu, X. X., Chen, S., Zhang, F., Shi, Y., Wang, Y. (2025), Technical University of Munich
GlobalBuildingAtlas: an open global and complete dataset of building polygons, heights and LoD1 3D models. Earth System Science Data 17(12), 6647–6668, doi:10.5194/essd-17-6647-2025. Read from the Parquet copy on Source Cooperative. Satellite-derived heights (typically 1.5–3 m error in Europe), turned into storeys with storey heights fitted on Berlin; used only where no register or official 3D model sizes the building.
Open download24 buildings sizedLive
2026-10-09
CC BY-NC 4.0 (heights); footprints from OpenStreetMap and Microsoft: ODbL
Storeys and floor areas: BBR building register (Københavns Kommune)
Københavns Kommune; Bygnings- og Boligregistret (BBR), Vurderingsstyrelsen
Data fra Bygnings- og Boligregistret (BBR). Recorded total floor area and storeys per building.
Open API108 buildings sizedLive
2026-10-09
Free reuse (BBR terms of 29 May 2019)
Road noise (EU Environmental Noise Directive, Lden)
European Environment Agency
Open APIscoringLive
2026-10-09
EEA standard re-use policy (attribution)
Leerstandsmelder.de — public reports of empty buildings
Leerstandsmelder (Gängeviertel e.V., Hamburg)
Shown while we ask Leerstandsmelder for permission. Reports since 2016 only, with the address, the month reported and a link to each entry; not checked by EHC. Each point says when a report has since been marked demolished, lived in, in interim use or rebuilt on Leerstandsmelder, and the owner type the reporter gave (private owners are never named).
Asking for permission0Pending
2026-10-09
Credited to Leerstandsmelder.de; asking for permission
Open-ended property funds: buildings they report partly empty
Open-ended real-estate funds (each point names its fund and report)
German and Austrian open-ended public property funds must list every property with its vacancy (or letting) rate in their annual and half-year reports. scripts/reuse/import-fund-reports.ts reads those lists; properties at 10 % vacancy or more are shown, those at 25 % or more count as evidence.
Open download0Live
2026-10-09
Published fund report (KAGB / KARBV property list), cited per point
Co-working spaces, department stores, banks, hotels and cinemas listed as permanently closed
Overture Maps Foundation (closure data: BrightQuery company records)
Places with operating_status "permanently_closed" in the monthly Overture release, read by scripts/reuse/import-overture-closures.ts and matched to the building they sit in. A closed business is usually one unit; names are shown only for companies, never for sole traders.
Open download88Live
2026-10-09
CDLA Permissive 2.0 (Overture Maps Foundation)
Land without current use and stalled construction, mapped from satellite imagery (Copernicus Urban Atlas 2006–2018)
European Environment Agency — Copernicus Land Monitoring Service
Urban Atlas class 13400 (brownfields, demolition sites and gaps in the built-up area, 0.25 ha and up) compared across the 2006, 2012 and 2018 editions, so each plot says how long it has stood unused; plus construction sites (13300) already under way in 2012, and 2012 construction sites left unused by 2018. Read from the EEA's open ArcGIS services, the same way in every radar city. The 2021 edition (Copernicus Data Space) drops plots built on since 2018 where scripts/reuse/import-urban-atlas-2021.ts has been run. Points are context, never evidence of vacancy.
Open API18Live
2026-10-09
Copernicus open data (© European Union, Copernicus Land Monitoring Service 2006–2021, EEA)
Stalled construction and buildings held by insolvent developers
EHC research (dated press and court sources per point)
Signa, Adler/Consus and other developer insolvencies since 2022 and stalled sites, each with its latest dated status (src/scripts/data/reuse/stalled-projects.json; news leads from scripts/reuse/mine-news.ts are reviewed before they join).
EHC research0Live
2026-10-09
Cited publisher per point
Church buildings the dioceses and regional churches plan to give up
Catholic dioceses and Protestant regional churches (their building plans), via EHC research
Buildings a church body’s published building plan or recent reporting names as to be given up, without church funding, for sale or lease, or profaned (src/scripts/data/reuse/church-plans.json and brussels-churches.json).
EHC research0Live
2026-10-09
Cited publisher per point
Named buildings and sites from EHC research (each with its own source)
European Housing Coop research
Includes the library’s public lighthouse conversions (src/scripts/data/reuse/lighthouses.json), shown under "Already converting" with a link to their library page.
EHC research13Live
2026-10-09
Facts cited to their publishers
Year built and listing: OpenStreetMap building tags
OpenStreetMap contributors
start_date / construction_date and heritage / listed_status of the OpenStreetMap outline a record is matched to, where no register answers. Read with the outline match, not a separate query.
Open APIscoringLive
2026-10-09
ODbL 1.0 (© OpenStreetMap contributors)
Buildings owned by the City of Copenhagen (BBR, 500 m² or more)
Københavns Kommune
Open API896Live
2026-10-09
Open data, Københavns Kommune (free reuse with attribution)
Office buildings of 1,000 m² or more, with floor area and storeys (national building register)
Bygnings- og Boligregistret (BBR), via Datafordeler
Open API1,171Live
2026-10-09
Free public data (Danish basic data programme), credit BBR / Datafordeler
Industrial and warehouse buildings with 3+ storeys (national building register)
Bygnings- og Boligregistret (BBR), via Datafordeler
Open API87Live
2026-10-09
Free public data (Danish basic data programme), credit BBR / Datafordeler
Urban development areas (Kommuneplan 2019 phasing plan)
Københavns Kommune
Open API74Live
2026-10-09
Open data, Københavns Kommune (free reuse with attribution)
Local plans in preparation, or adopted since 2024 with homes
Københavns Kommune
Open API113Live
2026-10-09
Open data, Københavns Kommune (free reuse with attribution)
Brownfield land (OpenStreetMap)
OpenStreetMap contributors
Open API11Live
2026-10-09
ODbL 1.0
Buildings marked as being demolished (under nedlæggelse) in the City's building map
Københavns Kommune — bygning_kk (GeoDanmark building outlines with BBR use)
Open API126Live
2026-10-09
Open data, Københavns Kommune (free reuse with attribution); GeoDanmark data CC BY 4.0
Buildings with 4 or more condemned dwellings (BBR)
Bygnings- og Boligregistret (BBR), Vurderingsstyrelsen — via Datafordeler
Open API30Live
2026-10-09
Free reuse (BBR terms of 29 May 2019); credit: Data fra Bygnings- og Boligregistret (BBR)
Buildings with 1–3 condemned dwellings (BBR)
Bygnings- og Boligregistret (BBR), Vurderingsstyrelsen — via Datafordeler
Open API53Live
2026-10-09
Free reuse (BBR terms of 29 May 2019); credit: Data fra Bygnings- og Boligregistret (BBR)
Buildings named in the news (each with its article)
Local and national press, read by EHC
Buildings the news reports empty, for sale or to let, to be demolished or being converted (src/scripts/data/reuse/news-building-leads.json; rules in src/lib/reuse/news-layer.ts). A report that names a building already on the map is shown on its card instead of a second point; one an open source contradicted, or that says the building is in use, is left out. Not checked on site.
EHC research11Live
2026-10-14
Facts with a link to the article; the one-line summary is ours — no article text is republished
Year built: BBR building register (via the municipality)
Københavns Kommune / Aarhus Kommune; Bygnings- og Boligregistret (BBR), Vurderingsstyrelsen
Data fra Bygnings- og Boligregistret (BBR). The construction year (opførelsesår) of the BBR building a record sits in, from the same municipal layers that give the floor areas; a rebuild year is not used.
Open APIscoringLive
2026-10-14
Free reuse (BBR terms of 29 May 2019)
Probable era: estimated from a street photo (Panoramax, Mapillary, Google Street View)
Panoramax and Mapillary contributors; Google Street View (research use agreed with Google, 14 Oct 2026); estimate by EHC with a vision model
Where no register dates a building: its era read from a Panoramax or Mapillary photo looking at it — Google Street View only where no open photo answers (scripts/reuse/estimate-photo-eras.ts), only when the building is clearly visible and the model is confident, and only as “before 1945” or “1945 or later” — the split it got right for 89% of buildings with a register year in Amsterdam and Paris, and 89% from Street View pictures alone (photo-eras/calibration.json). An estimate: a sentence in the conversion check, never points.
Open APIscoringLive
2026-10-14
Open photos CC BY-SA 4.0 or Licence Ouverte 2.0 (per picture); Street View read for research only, never stored or shown; only the estimated era is published, never a photo

What this radar cannot see yet

  • BBR has no vacancy field. Floor area and storeys come from the national register (Datafordeler) for offices of 1,000 m² or more and for industrial and warehouse buildings of three or more storeys; smaller offices are not shown.
  • There is no open register of empty commercial premises; vacancy is only published as totals from the brokers’ portal Ejendomstorvet.
  • Statistics Denmark counts flats without registered residents by municipality only, and that is not the same as empty.
  • Aerial close-ups come from Dataforsyningen's orthophoto, which needs a personal token: they appear once DATAFORSYNINGEN_TOKEN is set (the server adds it, visitors never see it).
  • Frederiksberg is a separate municipality inside Copenhagen and is not on this radar.
  • Wikidata’s query service disallows automated access in robots.txt, so it is not used.
  • The City's list of its own vacant leases is internal: only the ones no City department wanted reach the committees as notes (six units in Kødbyen, Slagtehusgade and Birkedommervej in November 2025; a listed office on Jagtvej in June 2026) — small units, not on the map.
  • Condemned dwellings (BBR's unit-level 'kondemneret' flag) sit in the national building register behind Datafordeler's keyed API; By & Havn's plot map loads only by POST request; freja.dk (State disposals) did not answer on 8 Oct 2026.

Know an empty building we have missed?

Open data cannot see everything. Tell us about a building in Copenhagen that stands empty or barely used; once we have checked it, it joins the map under “Reported by visitors (checked)”.

A phone held up to photograph an empty shopfront, with a map pin drawn above it

We publish the address, the kind of building and your description once we have checked it — never your email. Please do not name the people who own or live in a building.

Radars nearby

The other radars in the same country and the nearest beyond. All 149 cities in the atlas

The figure on each card: empty buildings on record.

Aarhus, Denmark18empty buildings on recordBerlin, Germany1,902empty buildings on recordBraunschweig, Germany83empty buildings on recordBremen, Germany216empty buildings on recordBydgoszcz, Poland285empty buildings on recordGdańsk, Poland421empty buildings on recordGothenburg, Sweden23empty buildings on recordHamburg, Germany555empty buildings on recordHannover, Germany203empty buildings on recordKiel, Germany66empty buildings on recordMalmö, Sweden19empty buildings on recordSzczecin, Poland355empty buildings on record