The City of Brussels will be reconstructing the historic Place de la Liberté in the northeast of Brussels after a project from the 1970s to add trees has badly damaged the square.
Some 50 years ago, when the City decided to add trees to make the square greener, planners did not take into account the growth of the planted trees in the design, leading to a visibly negative impact on the space today.
While the trees play a key role in making the square more liveable, tree roots are pushing up pavements and the street lining, making accessibility very poor. Today, the square is a lively meeting place where people walk, rest or visit the surrounding restaurants and bars.
On Wednesday, the City of Brussels announced it, therefore, applied for a permit to carry out a facade-to-facade reconstruction of the square and the nearby intersections on Rue du Congrès to the south of the square. The new design will focus on its heritage and urban needs.
"Combining heritage conservation with contemporary urban needs such as (active) accessibility and greening is always a challenge," said Councillor for City Planning, Ans Persoons. "The trees on the square are not part of the original design, but undeniably create enormous added value for the square."
Giving trees space to flourish
The project pays special attention to the protection of the existing trees in the centre of the square, as a series of phytosanitary studies showed that, bar two trees that need to be cut down due to root damage, they are reasonably healthy.
To preserve them, the area around them will be raised, and they will be laid down in dolomite, which supplies plants with calcium and magnesium to support their healthy growth and allows the roots to grow unhindered. Meanwhile, the central green area around the statue of Charles Rogier will be restored and replanted.
The square and the stretch of Rue du Congrès will be brought to the same level, while four new trees will be planted on both sides of the street, and the project also includes the removal of the 21 parking spaces around the square will be replaced with loading zones to prevent a gathering of cars around the space.
"This design restores value to the historical elements of the square while incorporating the necessary interventions to allow the trees to flourish," Persoons said.
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A public enquiry will run from 26 April to 25 May, so locals can react to the plans. The works are expected to start in the autumn of this year and will take around 100 working days.
"They will be phased to cause as little disruption as possible to residents. Different parts of the project will therefore be realised in different phases," the City's administration explained.
