The European Commission will rent half of Engie's headquarters at Brussels North Station in a move that could be a game changer for the district, reported De Tijd.
European officials would work alongside the thousands of mostly Flemish and federal civil servants in the Brussels North quarter.
The Commission is set to rent the North Light office building from 2023. The new leaseholders intend to renovate the space in the first half of 2023 so that the Commission can move into the 30,000 m² by the end of 2023.
Last year the Commission announced that it would vacate half of its 50 office buildings in Brussels by 2030 due to increasing amounts of working from home. The plan is to keep just 580,000 m² office space out of 780,000 m².
Environmental gains
Like other large organisations, the Commission wants to move away from small, dated office buildings in an effort to reduce CO2 emissions. It previously left its offices in Evere (Geneva) and Auderghem (Beaulieu) to concentrate within the European quarter in Brussels.
Modern office buildings in Brussels are limited, so the Commission has considered relocating some of its operations to Brussels North. Currently, the Commission only rents one office building on Place Rogier for research institutes.
However, there is reportedly little enthusiasm among EU officials for working at Brussels North, and the Commission didn't respond to questions from De Tijd.
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Yet the arrival of European officials could be an important step in reviving the district. Flemish officials are also set to move into Befimmo's ZIN on the site of towers 1 and 2 of the WTC complex in Brussels North.
Real estate developers are well aware of the district's potential. Atenor and AG Real Estate are planning on constructing an additional complex with offices, housing and shops in the CCN building in front of Brussels North station. Immobel earlier this year applied for a permit to redevelop the two Proximus towers in the area.
