Brussels launched a macro urban project around the Heysel Stadium

Brussels plans are beginning to take shape to make a urban macro project at the foot of the Atomium with a new sports spacea shopping center, homes, daycare, cinema, restaurant and two small amusement parks.

After several steps back and more than a decade of difficulties, the NEO project, as the initiative that began to take shape in 2009 is known, gained momentum with the announcement of the opening of a tender for start construction next summer on a large sports complex that should be completed by 2030.

The new facilities, whose ownership will fall to the city of Brussels, will have a estimated cost of around 50 million euros and will cover 27 of the 70 hectares where the entire projected complex will expand on the so-called “Heysel plateau.”

The famous Heysel Stadium takes its name from the old agricultural area north of the Belgian capital, where in 1985 39 people died in an avalanche during the European Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus, an area that has been remodeled and renamed King Baudouin Stadium.

This first phase of the new project should be completed by 2030 and give the site the one and a half field hockey field with a grandstand for 2,500 people, an athletics training track and representing 500 fans and an artificial turf for rugby and soccer which can accommodate up to 5,000 spectators.

The new sports space will also have a social area and a water recreation area, a set of waterfalls and an underground parking lot for 200 cars, and will require the demolition of some old sports facilities.

The idea is that the athletics track will continue to be used by the Excelsior club and the rugby field by the Primorose club and the city will try to ensure that these clubs “can stay as long as possible in their old facilities and they can move . soon to the new ones.” “, as the Brussels Sports Councilor, environmentalist Benoit Hellings, explained to the newspaper Le Soir.

billion

But that phase is only part of the bold – and slow – transformation of an ancient site that borders the royal gardens of Laeken and which has traditionally functioned as a major center for events, exhibitions, leisure and sports.

Also common on the Heysel plateau are the so-called “urban rodeos”, that is, improvised car races where people drive recklessly at speeds of up to 100 kilometers per hour on streets limited to 30 or 50 km /h, for example. or that urban development will also seek to “occupy” neglected spaces.

The entire project, the first ambitious initiative to renovate the area since it hosted the 1958 World’s Fair explaining the Atomium, will require several billion public and private investmentsand finish solving a complex puzzle where the first piece will now begin to be placed.

If it goes according to plans, the rest of the plan will be carried out by a consortium formed by Unibail-Rodamco, CFE and Besix and will also have 590 homes for about 1,500 people, 2 daycare centers, a nursing home , offices, a supermarket, 9,000 square meters of restaurants and 21 cinemas.

It also anticipates the total renovation of the permanent exhibition of “Mini Europe” models and an indoor park of 10,000 square meters designed for children between 3 and 10 years old and dedicated to the Belgian comic character Spirou, though the mayor’s office is experiencing difficulties. over many years to develop the project in its entirety.

The shopping center is the most difficult part, as it requires an urban reorganization that has already been destroyed twice by the Council of State in 2015 and 2020, while a third attempt is expected before the end of the year.

Among these setbacks, such as a difficult process to obtain a permit from the Flemish authorities to dig a tunnel or delays arising from the pandemic, is the announcement in 2018 about the participation in the NEO project II by the French architect and Prizker winner Jean Nouvel, author of the Institute of the Arab World in Paris, the National Museum of Qatar or the Agbar tower in Barcelona.

This extension also planned to build a convention center and a hotel, but the city of Brussels ended up abandoning it, and led to a lawsuit by the architect against the promoters, considering that they owed the 2.6 million euros.

football stadium

There is also a stadium where the Belgian soccer team plays, what used to be called Heysel Stadium and now King Baldiuno Stadiumwhich will undergo a deep modernization independent of the arrangement of the area.

The venue, which has a capacity for 35,000 spectators and is owned by the city of Brussels, was built in the 1930s and was renovated for Euro 2000.

And now he will wash his face with 6.5 million euros budget to change part of the seats and adapt the changing rooms and the press room to UEFA standards and then, in the more distant future, also renew the ceiling and the lighting system.