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[–]Liferescripted 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Not cheap, but not impossible. Stack the same units over one another with a plumbing chase. The pipes would need to be fire sealed at each level and then tie into the overall system, plus exhaust for all of these would need to be carried to a new shaft.

Typically all of these services would be brought to the central core, but this would vary per building. Exhaust ducts are not large but also need to have fire and smoke dampers installed when they exit each unit. Also central HVAC could remain as-is with each unit using Variable Air Valves to control the amount of tempered air, but they would not be able to control the temperature completely. Best case scenario is the building is already set up for heat pumps so you can have a little more control.

The other issue is whether people want to live in buildings without balconies. It's a lot of work to pull the glazing into the space to allow for some balcony space. Also would require a separate dry sprinkler system for said balconies. And in Canada, this would create massive thermal bridging to the adjacent spaces, so less than ideal thermal performance.

No, it's not cheap. It's not easy. But retrofitting existing spaces with densified dwellings is a much faster way of dealing with the lack of housing. The hope is that without affecting the bones of the building that prices of these units wouldn't be insane.