The Flemish Community Commission (VGC) last week unveiled plans to transform a vacant building in the centre of Ixelles in Brussels into a multi-purpose education centre.
"With this €60 million construction project, the creation of a large educational campus in a prime location in Ixelles, the VGC is once again proving its commitment to Dutch-language education in Brussels," affirmed Brussels Minister for Multilingualism Sven Gatz.
Developer Befimmo will head the project which aims to convert the empty Beobank building, located between the VUB university campus and Etterbeek station, into 11,400 m² worth of educational facilities. This will include a theatre (375 m²), sports facilities (2,000 m²) and 590 m² worth of multi-purpose spaces, all of which will be available to both students and the wider public.
Gatz places huge importance on initiatives such as this one to strengthen the Belgian capital's multilingual character.
"With this major conversion project we are killing three birds with one stone," he stated. "Firstly, we are realising a major expansion of 1,150 places in Dutch-language secondary education, through two established school boards, with general and technical and vocational offerings. Secondly, we are making many sports clubs happy with a balanced sports infrastructure. Thirdly, we are transforming an empty office complex into an education campus in a prime location."
One less empty building
There are over 1.2 million m² of unused land and vacant buildings in Brussels, and this particular project represents an attempt to utilise some of this space for public benefit.
Urban policy in Brussels has tacked towards more sustainable development in the past decade. In 2015, it was the first region in the world to introduce passive standards ensuring that constructions are as energy-efficient as possible.
One prong of this policy is to favour the renovation of buildings over their demolishment. "Destroying a building results in a lot of CO2 being released, and of course, the construction of a new one emits a lot too," Damiaan De Jonge, spokesperson for former State Secretary for Urban Development Pascal Smet, told The Brussels Times in 2022.
Regarding the education centre in Ixelles, current State Secretary for Urban Development Ans Persoons said: "With the VGC we are fully committed to shared use of space and to use the scarce space in the city as efficiently as possible."
The centre is expected to open by September 2026.
