Minister of Culture for the Wallonia-Brussels Federation (WBF), Bénédicte Linard has announced the budget for a series of energy renovations to cultural infrastructure throughout Belgium’s French-speaking regions.
€31.7 million will be allocated to increasing the energy efficiency of cultural buildings, RTBF reports. After local authorities were called upon to identify where energy could be saved, a total of 27 one-off projects and 37 broader renovation plans have been approved.
“Making our cultural buildings more energy efficient is an absolute priority in the context of the ecological transition but also to help cultural operators cope with rising energy prices and reduce their bills,” Linard told RTBF.
Requirements
To meet the funding criteria, large projects must commit to energy savings of at least 30%. The investments will ultimately benefit numerous theatres, libraries, cultural centres, museums, and performance halls.
Some notable recipients of the investment will include the WIELS Contemporary Art Centre in Forest, Brussels, the Museum of Ixelles, the Quevaucamps Cultural Centre, the library of Hannut, the Roseraie in Saint Gilles, the “Hanger” hall of the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Charleroi, the Martinrou farm in Fleurus, and the Trianon Theatre in Liège.
In Rochefort, the city’s cultural centre is set to receive an investment of over €400,000. “We will completely review the ventilation and the cooling of rooms,” said Louise Weertz, Alderman for Culture in Rochefort. “Thanks to this new state-of-the-art system, we will save a lot of energy and produce 29.5 tonnes less CO2 each year.”
Culture sector feeling the pinch from energy prices
Spiralling energy costs have hit the cultural sector hard, both in Belgium and the rest of Europe. According to the Brussels Institute of Statistics and Analysis (IBSA), many cultural centres and buildings in the capital are a large burden in terms of energy expenditure.
“A significant proportion of the sector’s income is absorbed by the operating costs of public facilities. Often dilapidated facilities can become an energy burden. In the last quarter of 2021, energy costs absorbed 7% of the turnover of libraries, museums, and historical monuments,” statisticians noted.
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The allocated FWB budget will cover 70% of the cost of energy-saving building works and 40% of the cost of additional works and expenses. This may be adjusted again by a further 10% if the cost of construction rises with inflation.
While some projects are ambitious in scale, others are more modest. The Four Hands Theatre in Beauvechain – one of three projects in Walloon Brabant – will receive investment of around €60,000 for five solar panels and a heat pump to ventilate its 100-seat theatre hall.
“We didn’t expect to be selected,” explained Marie-Odile Dupuis, co-director of the theatre, “When we saw the requirements, we thought we would probably have to think bigger and review the theatre as a whole, especially with the risk of a situation like Covid happening again. In the end, we are improving comfort while saving money. We are delighted.”
