FAQ

The content of the project
THE DESIGN
The works and their preparations
  • Offices in the Justice (12,100m²), Sablon (4,400m²) and Paille (9,350m²) buildings.
  • An apartment block of 8,200 m2 located in Rue Lebeau.
  • The Justice building, which provides semi-public areas for the neighbourhood.
  • Commercial areas in the Sablon, Lebeau and Justice buildings.
  • A two-storey, underground car park which will accommodate not only spaces for cars (158), but also for bicycles (425). There will be electric charging stations to meet the needs of users of electric means of transport.
  • A 1,050 m2 interior garden which will serve as a meeting area and which will bring light and greenery to the complex.

Overall, more than 75% of the site will be renovated, i.e. three out of five buildings, the Paille, Sablon and Justice (incl. Ruysbroeck) buildings.

The Lebeau building will be a new construction and will not exceed the height of the existing building. The building will also be set back from the road, allowing more natural light through to the road. The objective is to breathe more life rue Lebeau and make it into an area that people come to rather than simply pass through.   

Various studies showed that it was not possible to renovate this building while maintaining an ambitious plan that ensures diversity, consistency and interactions in order to transform the block into a more suitable place which prioritises the quality of life within it. However, we can guarantee that it will fit in seamlessly with the surrounding area by adopting similar architecture and materials as the other buildings in the complex. 

The characteristic features of the buildings will be preserved as much as possible. This version of the project provides for maximum renovation as far as possible and the aim is to remain faithful to the architecture of the site. 

In order to reduce the CO2 emissions of the works, the materials present on the site will be reused and materials from other sites will also be recycled. Thus, reusing the materials makes it possible to obtain a result that will integrate perfectly into the environment of the site.

The car park serves to compensate for the on-street parking spaces which will disappear in the future in the centre of Brussels. It will offer secure slots and it will also be equipped with electric charging stations to meet the needs of cars and electric bikes, which are constantly increasing.

The 1,050 m2 interior garden will host all kinds of plants and will act as an island of freshness. The neighbourhood is densely built and Immobel wishes to remedy this by adding greenery. The interior garden will also reduce the building volumes of the complex and bring more light into it. The excess rainwater collected via the balconies and roofs of the buildings will be used to irrigate the garden.

The project is intended to be even more sustainable than the first version of its design. It has the ambition to obtain a BREAAM Outstanding & Well platinum certificate, the highest sustainability certificate that a project can receive.

The buildings will be equipped with heat pumps, geothermal installations and will not require any fossil fuel. Thanks to the reuse of materials which the teams will find on site, the project aims to obtain a better CO2 emission score than international standards. 

The car park will also be equipped with charging points to meet the growing needs of electric cars and bicycles.