Belgium Real Estate Showcase 2013 - Full edition

Showcase

SHOULD A TENANT MOVE OR RENEGOTIATE THE LEASE? SHOULD AN INVESTOR BUY OR SELL AND WHEN? WHAT PERSPECTIVES DOES A DEVELOPER HAVE?

Erasmus Hospital Investment (110.000 m²)

Gutenberg Investment (30.000 m²)

A THOROUGH ANALYSIS WILL ENABLE YOU TO MAKE THE RIGHT DECISION.

RTBF Consulting (80.000 m²)

Century Center Investment (25.000 m²)

Connect to pro-realestate.be for news, trends, network and real estate management best practices

MARKET TRENDS

TOWN PLANNING

forthcoming development projects, urban regeneration, sustainable cities

BEST STRATEGIES

AG Real Estate

2013 / BELGIUM REAL ESTATE

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offices & retail

developers, local authorities, architects, advisers, brokers

Surf on our site www.anixton.com

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PROJECTS

KEY PLAYERS

Anixton is an independent consultant in corporate real estate. We do everything in our power to provide pragmatic and customised solutions to occupiers, owners, investors and property developers. We are committed to creating value, to giving efficient advice and to improving performances. While always bearing the following priorities in mind: ethics, quality, customised advice and services. Let us meet up and work out a strategy together!

Contact : +32 2 721 99 19 | info@anixton.com | www.anixton.com

vacancy, take-up, investment & letting trends

Belview - Allfin - Jaspers-Eyers Architects

FOR CORPORATE REAL ESTATE, A TAILOR-MADE APPROACH IS REQUIRED.

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2013 / BELGIUM REAL ESTATE

investment, property, buildings & workplace management

CENTRE 58 is set to respond to a call for tenders by the City of Brussels for the establishment of a new administrative complex. Along with the 30,000 m² of offices spaces there will be 4,500 m² of residential accommodation.

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www.profacility.be/guide THE Belgian market place

Let’s talk real estate 28, 29 & 30 May 2013 Tour & Taxis Brussels

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The online directory www.profacility.be/guide publishes the coordinates of more than 850 suppliers and potential partners who can you help you to perform in your real estate, buildings, workplace, facility and mobility management. These companies are classified according to their field of activities.

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EDITORIAL A rising market short of efficient and sustainable office buildings?

W

Silver Tower © Image Studio Milo for AG Real Estate - Architects Accarain-Bouillot / Atelier d’Architecture de Genval

hile it may be too early to say the crisis is behind us, the Belgian real estate market nevertheless showed signs of recovery in 2012. Take-up in the major Brussels office market pushed its way back to a much healthier 450,000 m² or so in 2012. And take-up in the Brussels office market amounted to around 130,000 m² during the first quarter of this year – 2013 – above the five year average. Vacancy was down a little in 2012 and has so far remained stable this year. The predominant factor in this is that the self-regulation in terms of new developments has had the desired effect – deliveries of speculative buildings are historically low and are set to stay that way for another couple of years. But when this is combined with the fact that tenants are showing a clear preference for new buildings in prime locations, and preferably with a green label, two problems appear.

Firstly, they simply can’t find these products and secondly, older office buildings are no longer able to compete. The solution to the first of these observations may be – as one leading advisor has suggested – that it is now time for speculative developments to begin again. The market knew when to stop building, but will it know when to start again…? As for the second point, financial realities are making it even more attractive to convert old office buildings to new uses, most notably residential in all its forms, including in particular retirement homes, where even the ‘big boys’ are now taking positions.

But the Brussels office market is no longer the only topic. There is a continuing trend to move away from the ‘big city’ to smaller cities located within easy commuting distance of Brussels, especially by train. Given the small size of Belgium, this means that there are many candidates: Antwerp and Mechelen, Ghent, Leuven and even Namur. While Liège, the largest Walloon city, is flourishing in its own right, with a number of developments, particularly around the iconic ‘Calatrava’ TGV station.

Articles on some of these markets are to be found later in this magazine. The relatively low number of shopping centres, or of new shopping centre developments, also continues to sustain occupancy (and rental levels) on the high streets.

Development does continue, of course, and is far more mixed use than in the past – a result of market needs and of political will. In this Belgium Real Estate Showcase edition, we put the spotlight on some of the more major examples. We also include articles and interviews with experts on the ground, with an emphasis on market analysis and property management best practices.

Tim HARRUP Final editor Pro-Realestate Media

The office market self-regulation in terms of new developments has had the desired effect – deliveries of speculative buildings are historically low and are set to stay that way for another couple of years. But tenants are showing a clear preference for new buildings in prime locations with a green label and there are only a few of those to come on the Brussels market. The market knew when to stop building, but will it know when to start again…? AG Real Estate is certainly looking very closely at the situation, and may decide to start the building of the 27-floor Silver Tower (33,000 m2) even though no occupier has yet been found.

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Belgium Real Estate Showcase I 2013 A special issue of Profacility quarterly magazine published by

s

Business Interactive Media sprl Avenue Louise, 475 - 1050 Brussels Phone: +32 (0)2 669 77 65 Fax: + 32 (0)2 626 37 17 info@bimedia.be - www.bimedia.be

SHOWCASE

Publication Director Didier VAN DEN EYNDE - dvandeneynde@bimedia.be EDITORIAL Final Editors: Tim HARRUP - tharrup@pro-realestate.be Eduard CODDÉ - redactie@profacility.be Bruno HODITTE - redaction@profacility.be

Masterplan © Eurogare / 3D general view Eurogare © Studio Milo

Our grateful thanks to mister Guibert de Crombrugghe, mrs Patrizia Tortolani and mister Pascal Vanhumbeeck from de Crombrugghe & Partners for their editorial contribution.

ADVERTISING & MARKETING Key Account Manager Sigrid NAUWELAERTS - snauwelaerts@pro-realestate.be Marketing Didier VAN DEN EYNDE - dvandeneynde@bimedia.be Advertising rates available on www.pro-realestate.be/advertising PRODUCTION Lay-out Kurt THYS - Str8 Communication Company - www.str8.be

6 > 49

TOWN PLANNING

Public call for tenders for Neo I Projet Urbain Loi, new developments within an evolving urban framework I Land Development for housing in Brabant Wallon I Blue Gate I Antwerp demonstrates new dynamism to investors I AP University College, architectural and intellectual gem for Spoor Noord I The Loop I Mons 2015 I Val Benoît, rehabilitation of the former Liege university site I

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REAL ESTATE PROJECTS INDEX PARTNERSHIPS Profacility is Media Partner of

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Showcase 2013 / BELGIUM REAL

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ESTATE

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best practices

MARKET TRENDS Belview - Allfin - Jaspers-Eyers

- May 2013 - 35 Eur - Afgiftekantoor

Architects

vacancy, take-up, investment & letting trends

PROJECTS

Business Interactive Media

sprl - Belgium Real Estate

Showcase 2013, a special

issue of Profacility Magazine

offices & retail

KEY PLAYERS

architects, developers, local authorities,

forthcoming developme cities urban regeneration, sustainable

BEST STRATEGIES management buildings & workplace investment, property,

AG Real Estate

NORTH DISTRICT • Brussels Tower • Greenbizz • Just under the Sky • Neo • Silver Tower • UP-site • WTC IV

LOUISE DISTRICT • E Lite 38 39/67 42 68 66 38 67 66 40

63 37 86 08 63/110 36/62/116 62

advisers, brokers

TOWN PLANNING nt projects,

↓

BRUSSELS CENTRE (Pentagon) • Cond’Or • Chambon • Belair • Centre 58 • de Ligne • Le Toison d’Or • Regent 35 • Treurenberg • Victor

the the City of Brussels for to a call for tenders by m² CENTRE 58 is set to respond Along with the 30,000 administrative complex. accommodation. establishment of a new will be 4,500 m² of residential of offices spaces there

The 5,000 m2 of office space of the BELVIEW PROJECT located in the heart of in the European district in Brussels have been bought early this year by the German investor iii-Investments. The fact of buying a project which is not yet either built, or more importantly – let – is a possible sign of a return of investor confidence in office real estate assets.A real estate development by Allfin, designed by A2RC Architects & Jaspers-Eyers Architects

LEOPOLD/ EUROPEAN DISTRICT • Belview 35 • Brussels Europa 12/64 • Black Pearl 65 • Cobelfroi 65 • Projet Urbain Loi 12 • Realex 12/64 • Trebel 104

DECENTRALISED (in Brussels Capital Region) • City Docks • Just Under the Sky • Neo • Tivoli

68/98

41 86 08 37/126

RING AND PERIPHERY (outside Brussels Capital Region) • Gateway 59 • Uplace 43/86 BRABANT WALLON • Axisparc • Betons Lemaire • Collines de Wavre • Courbevoie • Domaine Cromwell • Portes de L’Europe • Watson & Crick Hill II

81 14 80 14 14 80 81

NAMUR • Atradius • L’Arc

82 82

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This guide gives real estate professionals a global view and analysis of the Belgian real estate market. It provides corporate end-users with key information and helps them to find the right partners and advisers to assist them in carrying out their real estate management: investment strategy (purchase, lease or rent), choice of the perfect location according to the company’s activities, selection of the most suitable and sustainable building, financing and taxation, building fit out, building facilities operations.

This book describes major town planning projects. It sets out market trends in terms of letting and sale for offices, retail and logistics estates. It presents the main projects and players for office buildings and shopping centers and highlights the best practices in property, buildings and workplace management.

Architects BURO II & ARCHI +I for Atenor

This guide’s directory identifies the key players in the real estate industry and enlist key suppliers who can assist Belgian real estate developers in achieving their real estate projects.

REAL ESTATE MARKETS & PROJECTS

50 > 87

Brussels office market, prime properties to let, office buildings projects I Antwerp, Mechelen, Ghent and Liege office markets I 2012-2013 retail market trends I Neo, Uplace and Just under the Sky projects are competing for shoppers I

INVESTMENT, PROPERTY, BUILDINGS & WORKPLACE MANAGEMENT

88 > 107

Understanding the new reality in real estate I Public-Private-Partnership structures under pressure I DFMO contracts: the demand for completeness I Letting and investment trends I Integrating the concept of the ‘New World of Work’ into a turnkey office offering I Expected investment allocation for 2013 I Sustainable buildings: the compulsory passive standard in 2015 I

also on www.pro-realestate.be/projects

CHARLEROI • Hôtel de Police & Charleroi Danses Performing Arts Center • Rive Gauche MONS • New station,convention centre, retail and housing LIEGE • B-50 • Cadran • Coronmeuse • Cristal Park • Rue du plan incline • Seraing City Center • Tour des Finances • Val Benoît ANTWERP • Antwerpen - X • Antwerp Headquarters • AP University College • Blue Gate • City Link 2 & 3 • Eilandje • Kievitplein

47

84

30/47

71 70 48 71 70 48 70 32

• • • • •

Nieuw Zuid Park Tower Spoor Noord Wijnegem Shopping Center ZNA Hospital

73 25 24 120 25

GHENT • Aartevelde Stadium • Ghent Sint Peter’s railway station • Aartevelde Tower • Oude Dokken • Take Off office Park • The Loop • Vita Verde • Waalse Krook MECHELEN • Station district • Zuidpoort • York Tower

20/70 70 22 18 21/72 24/46/72 20

44 76 76 76 26 26 27 45

74 74 74

108 > 135 REAL ESTATE NETWORK Identify the partners and suppliers who meet your needs through consulting their company profile AG REAL ESTATE

111

ADMOS DESIGN & BUILD

113

AREMIS

115

ATENOR GROUP

117

BELGIAN BUILDINGS AGENCY

119

(REGIE DER GEBOUWEN / REGIE DES BATIMENTS) CBRE GLOBAL INVESTORS

121

LOGISTIC ORGANISATION GROUP (L.O.G.)

122

CAMELOT

123

(PROTECTION IMMOBILIERE / VASTGOEDBESCHERMING) GLOBAL - WORKPLACE CONSULTING,

125

DESIGN & PROJECT MANAGEMENT BRUSSELS REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY (SDRB / GOMB)

127

VK ARCHITECTS & ENGINEERS

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Meer informatie op www.profacility.be/agenda

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Projet Urbain Loi Real estate developments within an evolving urban framework

T 14

Antwerp Spoor Noord AP University College, architectural and intellectual gem

26

6 PRofacility GUIDE 2012

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Land development in Brabant Wallon Objective 2030 : 38,932 residential units to be constructed

© Take Off_Bontinck

22

© Poponcini & Lootens ir. Architecten

© Jaspers_Eyers Architects

© Syntaxe Architects

© image ATENOR – Architects BURO II & ARCHI +I

12

The Loop Targeted developments for the 18 lots of the 45 hectare-new district of Ghent

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T © Image Eurogare – Architect Daniel Libeskind

TOWNPLANNING & LAND DEVELOPMENT

→→

30 Mons 2015

Not only a magnificent station but a whole new district

© Baumans-Deffet – rendering QuickIt

32 Val Benoît

© Jaspers_Eyers Architects

Rehabilitation of the former Liege University site

38 Toison d’Or

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Mixed projects in a ‘triple A’ prime location of Brussels PRofacility GUIDE 2012 7

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© Image KCAP

TOWN PLANNING I BRUSSELS NORTH I

Public call for tenders fo With the mixed-use NEO urban plan the City of Brussels wishes to exploit the huge potential of the Heyzel plateau for new economic and tourism opportunities. On an estimated surface of 18 hectares out of the 68 hectares making up the Heyzel Plateau, this quality mixed-use project development plan includes the building of an internationalscale convention centre, a shopping centre, a hotel, housings and leisure facilities.

T

he project has been slow in making progress, for reasons which include neighbouring developments and political (regional) considerations, but it is going ahead step by step. Alongside the conference centre and its allied facilities, a hotel complex is (naturally) planned, and there is set to be a substantial quantity of housing. A recreation and leisure hub with sports and tourist facilities, represents a further element. None of this is particularly controversial. However, it is the last element, and in many ways the most iconic element, which has up to now caused the most controversy. This is a 72,000 m² shopping centre – to put the size into perspective, this equates to around fifty floors of a large office building. The controversy involves a nearby project – Uplace in Machelen – which is

also proving difficult to get underway, and which is largely a shopping centre development. Does this part of the city need two new centres, and if not, which one? Adding to the complexity is the fact that Neo is in the Brussels Region while Uplace is in Flanders…

In 2006, the commercial development scheme commissioned by the former Regional MinisterPresident Charles Picqué recommended the building of one or more shopping malls. It was calculated that Brussels would need 233,000 m2 of extra commercial space to reach the average for major Belgian cities. Today three retail development projects are competing to fill this gap and seize this real estate development opportunity: Neo, Uplace and the ‘Just under the Sky’ retail & leisure center located alongside the canal to the

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The international Convention Centre will be located on top of the existing Heyzel metro station and it will be directly connected with the Brussels Expo exhibition halls via a pedestrian bridge

© Image KCAP

s for Neo

A new cable car will provide direct connection into the new convention centre and the Heyzel metro station.

north west of Brussels center, near the Van Praet bridge. From a mobility point of view, the Heyzel plateau would be an ideal site for a new shopping mall, being easily accessible to the site by car and public transport which is already extremely good, with metro and tram stations in operation.

public call for tenders contracts. This follows the decision in 2011 to appoint a master planner for the site, the chosen bureau being KCAP (Kees Christiaanse) of the Netherlands, and a further step earlier in 2012 of modifying the ‘Brussels Ground Use Plan’ or PRAS. The city authorities seem to be aiming to give a signal to would-be In June 2012, the City of Brussels authorities stakeholders that Neo has reached a decisive stage launched the phase one of the procedure for the in its pre-construction phase.

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TOWN PLANNING I BRUSSELS NORTH I

© Image KCAP

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Heyzel Plateau Development With the master regeneration plans, KCAP has drawn up its vision to transform the incoherent site of the Heyzel plateau (inelegant buildings, open-air car parks, derelict land, unplanned road system, etc.) into a harmonious district that is in keeping with the immediate environment and the specific features of the site and its landscape (Brussels Expo exhibitions halls, the stadium Roi Baudoin, the Atomium, the park, the Trade Mart, the Kinepolis multiplex cinema,...). The concept and philosophy of Neo are well defined and activities need to be fitted into the right place depending on their specific shapes and characteristics.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Homes

93,750 m2

Commercial centre - retail

72,000 m2

International Convention Centre

44,000 m2

10 New Expo hall 11 New Event hall 12 Covered Parking lots

Offices

20,000 m2

Existing and maintained infrastructure

Indoor leisure and recreation

20,000 m2

Outdoor leisure and recreation

26,000 m2 plot

Hotel

18,000 m2

Catering outlets and restaurants

13,500 m2

13 Brussels Expo exhibitions halls 14 Roi Baudoin stadium 15 Atomium 16 Trade Mart

Cinema

16,500 m2

First tender The phase one of the public call for tenders intends to find private partners for the construction of the 72,000 m² shopping centre with a further 9,000 m² of café and restaurant facilities, along with 500 to 575 residential units, also set to be built. These units represent the second largest element of phase one of the project. In order to optimise the tourist attraction, already a very important feature of the Heyzel plateau, candidates for its development have been invited to propose an extra leisure concept with a tourist vocation (26,000 m² indoors and 26,000 m² outdoors). The master plan also schedules a certain number of offices in order to facilitate the operation of the other functions within the site. This first phase also includes the creation of 3,700 underground parking spaces which should enable most aboveground parking to be eliminated and the quality and aesthetics of the public areas to be improved.

The Brussels Region and City have now designated the 3 candidates for the construction : Unibail-

10,000 m2 15,000 seats 5.800 spaces

Rodamco/CFE/Besix, Hammerson/Soficom/Codic and Klépierre/AG Real Estate/Wereldhave. The dialogue process is set to take another year or more, following which the winning candidate will be named. The Brussels-Capital Region has set a demanding objective for this project. It has to combine its anchorage in a historical urban fabric with at the same time becoming a shining example of urban planning conception. One of the specific factors within the context of Neo, which will affect the shopping centre as much as the other functions, is that it is a private initiative subject to directional guidance from a public authority.

New competition for the construction of the Convention Centre and Hotel Amongst the main pillars of the city’s desire – and thus of the master plan – is a 5,000-seater conference hall which could host large international conventions. It has long been regretted that this type of venue, to be found in numerous major cities across Europe,

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does not exist in the European capital. With its construction, the Neo project intends to boost the business tourism which is already a major economic activity in the Brussels region. The proximity of Brussels main exhibition centre and the development nearby of shopping and recreational facilities would be highly complementary. To improve hospitality for visitors to the new congress centre but also to the existing Brussels Expo and the Trade Mart an extra 500 hotel rooms would be needed and is integrated in the development programme. This year during MIPIM in Cannes, the public call for tender for the convention centre and the hotel has been announced, to be launched in the second quarter of 2013. The international Convention Centre will be located on top of the existing Heyzel metro station and it will be directly connected with the Brussels Expo exhibition halls via a pedestrian bridge. A new cable car will also provide direct connection into the convention centre and the metro station Heyzel giving easy access to downtown Brussels but also to the international high speed train networks and Brussels Airport.

This new infrastructure would enable Brussels to host major cultural and sporting events which the city cannot accommodate at present. The further addition of a major museum beside the Congress centre such as the ‘Museum of Modern Art’ would add a cultural dimension to the area.

Lastly, although the iconic Atomium which sits on the Heyzel plateau will obviously be untouched, the fate of one of Belgium’s other major tourist attractions, Mini-Europe with its accompanying shops, restaurants and cinemas, and which is in the shadow of the Atomium, is much less clear. The owners say the city will force this to close, but the city (in the words of Mayor Freddy Thielemans), says that “there is a place for Mini Europe in Neo, but not necessarily in the same place or at the same price, as now”. Freddy Thielemans also says that the owners broke off negotiations…

The development of green space and of the existing park are also essential to the perfect harmony of the Neo project. Sport grounds (tennis, football, athletics) would be incorporated in the new green spaces. On-road parking is set to be eliminated, More appeal for the Heyzel plateau and the space freed up for broad cycle-ways and Regarding leisure facilities, to give the Heyzel plateau pedestrian boulevards. even more appeal, the building of a new concert hall with a capacity of 15,000 seats is also envisaged.

Tim HARRUP n

KCAP, chief town planner for NEO KCAP, the Rotterdam based firm of architects and town planners won the international competition for the selection of the chief town planner for Neo. KCAP has highly valuable experience with this type of masterplan which they have undertaken with success for example for the port of Hamburg (165 ha) and the London Olympic Games post-games site redevelopment (170 ha). Kees Christiaanse, partner of KCAP, sees NEO Brussels as a development which will “strengthen the positioning of the Heyzel area, through a high quality development which will add value to the existing space and introduce a sustainable development framework. A strong vision which will bring together Brussels, Belgium and Europe in one prestigious location”.

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Town Planning I Brussels European District I

Projet Urbain Loi New developments within an e The ‘Projet Urbain Loi’ (PUL) is one of the twelve urban and architectural projects set out by the European District blueprint, adopted by the Brussels Capital region government in April 2008. Designed to be a catalyst for the redevelopment of the European district, the Projet Urbain Loi conceived by French architectural bureau ‘Atelier Christian de Portzamparc’ was evaluated and approved by a Brussels decree on December 16th 2010.

T

he Projet Urbain Loi has a number of objectives. It aims to bring more density to the constructed area and to add a mix of functions into the district, with the target of minimum 12.5% of residential accommodation along with shops and services. The PUL aims to enable the Rue de la Loi to evolve from a ‘corridor’ into an open and lively street, reducing the number of driving lanes and creating many public areas of ‘pocket park’ type. To achieve this, the project schedules that several buildings are set back, and defines volumes and sizes according to type of construction. New buildings to be built in that area should respond to the demand of a sustainable development and of a compact dense city.

rendering ASSAR Architects

The winding road of the RRUZ In order to make the ambitions and philosophy of the Projet Urbain Loi a concrete reality, the Brussels

Realex Assar Architects has designed for Realex a facade which is in complete contrast with the overall monotonous character of the rue de la Loi. The real estate developer Leaselex has been granted a planning permit which allows for substantial office space (45,000 m2) above ground and a large basement area.

In keeping with the ‘mixed use’ philosophy of Brussels for this district, Realex will also have conference facilities, shops and residential accommodation. In addition to its high architectural quality, the building will be state of the art in terms of both technology and sustainability.

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n evolving urban framework government for the first time adopted a Zoned Regional Planning Legislation (RRUZ). This translates the ideas and concepts of the PUL into regulatory terms. The RRUZ was drawn up and approved by the government during 2011 before being put to public enquiry in 2012. Many observations were advanced by the district committees, which persuaded the Brussels Region Minister-President to carry out an impact study for the RRUZ at the end of 2012, in order to discover the strong and weak points of the dossier. Following this impact study, the text of the RRUZ had to be modified and the new RRUZ regulation is set to be definitively adopted over the coming months.

Brussels Europa At the junction of two emblematic roads, Brussels Europa intends to perfectly reflect and bring into being this return of housing to a district dominated by offices.

The Chaussée d’Etterbeek crystallises the human and convivial dimension of a very cosmopolitan district, while the Rue de la Loi remains profoundly characterised by the presence of European institutions.

© image ATENOR – Architects BURO II & ARCHI +I

Major projects awaiting permits Buildings which conform to the Projet Urbain Loi, such as the Brussels Europa and Realex projects , will then finally be able to be built. In 2005 Atenor acquired the Crowne Plaza Brussels Europa hotel, located in the heart of the European district. The objective was to convert the building into a quality mixed real estate project, once the hotel activity ceased in December 2011. The project is now becoming a reality, within this evolving legislative framework, which has resulted in Atenor revising its plans, having originally lodged a permit request at the end of 2008, and lodging a modified permit request in December 2012. The Atenor project involves 47,000 m², this surface area being spread across the floors of a 114 metre high tower, with a ground area covering half a hectare. Brussels Europa is characterised by two breaks at different levels of its elevation, architectural devices which should be pleasing to the eye.

Stéphan Sonneville, CEO of Atenor comments on this course taken in order to arrive at lodging the environment permit request for Brussels Europa within a rapidly evolving planning and legislative framework: “With our architects we went back to the drawing board in order to respond to the demands of the RRUZ (in its initial form – ed.) particularly in terms of recess and volumes, thus turning an obstacle into an opportunity. We also paid great attention to the environmental nature of our project, making it a sustainable and passive building, both in terms of the choice of materials and in construction methods”.

Bruno HODDITE n BELGIUM REAL ESTATE SHOWCASE 2013 13

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Land Development I Brabant Wallon I HOUSING I

Objective 2030 : 38,932 residential units to be built According to the Federal Planning Bureau, there will be 450,000 inhabitants in Brabant Wallon in 2030, against 386,785 on January 1st 2012. It is with this in mind that Laurence de Hemptinne of Editions & Séminaires and Kim Verdonck, Head of Research at Real Estate Consultants CBRE, undertook a survey in 2012 which was unveiled during a Property Meeting organised by Editions & Séminaires.

F Laurence de Hemptinne, founder and managing director of Editions & Séminaires

Kim Verdonck, Head of Research, CBRE

rom the survey it emerges that 38,392 new residential units will have to be built, which equates to 2,020 per year between now and 2030, in order to house these new inhabitants. The survey’s authors asked themselves if this objective was feasible.

To try and answer this, they compared actual constructions delivered over recent years with future needs. It would appear that in certain years, actual construction has not been sufficient, notably in 2008 and 2010, with only 1,600 and 1,700 units delivered. By contrast, 2009 and 2011 were record years, with more than 2,500 and more than 2,300 units actually constructed.

As for the permits granted before any housing can be built, they are down in 2010 and 2011, below the necessary figure of 2,020 at just 1,600 and 1,500. Having said that, the survey’s authors also note that very many residential projects are at various stages of being planned.

8,765 residential units in the pipe-line The authors were already able to identify 8,765 new residential units in the pipe-line on a map showing where the major projects are located.

They insist that this figure has to be viewed with caution, given the number of projects which may fail or which are still only right at the beginning of the planning permit stage, or which haven’t even got that far – simply being at the ‘land acquired’ stage, for example.

Amongst projects highlighted are: those of the Brabant Wallon Land Agency (the regional housing agency) which is aiming to build 1,350 residential units by 2018. Amongst provincial projects the Gastuche ‘ZACC’ project (220 units) in Grez-Doiceau and the Chastre ‘Bois des Champs’ project (110 units) should be

mentioned, along with the site of the former Folon school in Wavre for which a call for tenders has been launched and is awaiting results.

Rehabilitated industrial wasteland Numerous projects located on industrial wasteland were also detailed, such as the former Genval Paper-works (Equilis), the former breweries (Matexi), the former paper-works at Mont-Saint-Guibert (Ginkgo), the Henricot factories at Court-Saint-Etienne (Equilis), etc.

The authors also mention the 2,000 residential units scheduled in the master plan recently presented by Duferco Development for the conversion of the Clabecq Ironworks at Tubize along with the 800 units planned for Genappe on the site of the former sugar works (property of the Walloon Region). These developments may take many years to come to fruition.

An important transaction was revealed during the conference: the ‘Bétons Lemaire’ site at Ottignies, not far from the ‘Galerie du Douaire’, a site of more than seven hectares, has been acquired by the Matexi group which wishes to develop a substantial residential project here once the termination of activities of the company has been announced.

Another interesting project announced during the seminar was the ‘Domaine de Cromwell’ at Nivelles, on the former production site of Lazer Hats, (the Cromwell was one of their iconic models). Currently under development

by Thomas & Piron with architecture bureau Montois Partners, the Domaine de Cromwell will be directly connected to the RER. And this trend seems to weigh heavily, even if the opening of the RER has now been put back to 2022.

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Named Courbevoie, the new major Thomas & Piron en Besix real estate development in Louvain-la-Neuve will see 600 residential units above the future RER car-park. Syntaxe Architects have been selected to design these buildings.

RER stations are the star attraction It is indeed clear that many residential projects are planned almost everywhere around future RER stations – Nivelles, Louvain-la-Neuve and Braine-l’Alliance for example.

Where Louvain-la-Neuve is concerned, Philippe Barras, MD of Inesu Immo, the real estate arm of the UCL, talks of over 1,000 units at project stage, which is over 100,000 m².

A large project (56,000 m²) is scheduled for the covering of the future RER car-park at the ‘Ferme de Lauzelle’ (following modification of the sector plan) and another of 25,000 m² is planned along the Aula Magna. For the first project of 600 residential units named Courbevoie, real estate partners have already been found: Besix and

Thomas & Piron. The imposition of long term leases in force at Louvain-la-Neuve does not therefore seem to constitute any sort of obstacle for investors! And that isn’t the end of the matter for Louvain-la-Neuve: a modification of the sector plan is already underway, to transfer 30 hectares of economic activity area to housing.

At Braine-l’Alleud, alongside the Parc de l’Alliance, the representative of AXA Belgium, Jean Sterbelle, indicated that a project of 700 to 800 residential units was being studied close to the future Braine-l’Alliance RER stop, a project which has already been named ‘Porte de l’Alliance’. He also spoke of a shopping centre project which may come into being close to the same stop.

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Land deveLopment I BraBant WaLLon I HoUSInG I

evolution in the type of housing The type of construction being realised in Brabant Wallon is substantially evolving. The tradition in the young province is for detached houses. And although this type of house makes up the majority of the existing stock, it is the construction of apartments which has the wind in its sails today. In 2007 apartments became the most constructed category in the province.

So it is that in 2009, 1,500 apartments were built against only 1,000 houses. The survey’s authors also emphasise the modification to the way households are made up in the province, indicating a clear increase in households of one

or two persons. The average occupancy level in residential units in Brabant Wallon now stands at 2.37 persons. The success of apartments is also explained, of course, by the increasing scarcity and price of land for construction. It also corresponds to the desire of the Walloon authorities to achieve higher residential density, especially around stations and RER stations.

This desire was reiterated by Michel Dachelet, assistant bureau head for Walloon Land Use Minister Philippe Henry.

Bruno HODDITE ■

the impact of the rer development The Regional Express Rail network (RER) has the objective of relieving the chronic traffic congestion in Brussels by enabling drivers to leave their cars behind and use public transport. The sections of rail line involved in this project will be increased to four tracks and two of these will be reserved for the express service. During peak times, the RER will give those living within a radius of 30 km around the capital the possibility of taking a train every fifteen minutes from all stations and stops located on the network. Communications hubs are the subject of profound studies which aim to integrate all modes of transport into the public domain, including the soft modes. Inter-modality is at the heart of this thinking, with its corollary, an increase in the quantity and quality of car-parking facilities.

Eurogare is studying and establishing ten stations and stops on lines 161 (La Hulpe to Ottignies) and 124 (Waterloo to Nivelles). Setting up the RER implies repercussions which go far beyond just the engineering work on creating four tracks. Originally scheduled to come into service in 2012, the RER was put back to 2015, then 2018, and the new date is 2022!

The simple prospect of access to an RER stop in a few years is leading to unprecedented interest in real estate.

And companies also seem to be convinced by the proximity of an RER station. The upcoming move of the headquarters of AGC Glass Europe from Brussels to Louvain-la-Neuve falls within this context.

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Duinbergen

Welcome to the neighbourhood.

“Everybody deserves a great place to live.”

That’s why we want to make each home a better place to live. So we create neighbourhoods that are inspirations to make the most of our lives, all together. We can achieve this thanks to our expertise, our experience and our desire to earnestly cooperate with all stakeholders: from land and property owners, client-investors and capital providers to partners and (local) authorities. That’s how we can contribute to inspiring and sustainable living environments, today and tomorrow.

Militair Hospitaal

Anco Torens

WE’D BE HAPPY TO WELCOME YOU ON REALTY - HALL 2 STAND 2124

www.matexi.be

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TOWN PLANNING I Antwerp I

Blue Gate Antwerp The ‘Blue Gate Antwerp’ site, formerly known as the ‘Investeringszone Petroleum Zuid’ [South Petroleum Investment Zone], is 103 hectares in size; 73.1 hectares of this can be developed in the short term as a project area. This involves a so-called ‘brownfield’ and is consequently subject to a rigorous preliminary investigation to speed up the later issuance of environmental permits. The crucial environmental impact report is expected by autumn of 2013.

B

lue Gate Antwerp is a triangular site, the base of which stretches along the Scheldt.

On the northern side it borders on ‘Nieuw Zuid’, an area where development is fully underway and in which the new courthouse forms the landmark. On the south side there is the Hoboken Polder nature reserve. The Antwerp Grote Markt is only about three kilometres away. Connection to the international road network is provided via the Antwerp Ring.

The site contains several special obstacles, including a 40-hectare petroleum cluster for which the concession runs until 2035, and International Oil, for which a demolition permit has been granted. It has now been established that a number of heritage relics like the pipeline network and the petroleum pier will be kept as visual reminders and as features contrasting the past and future of the site.

The environmental impact report will help determine the layout of the green link to Hoboken Polder

(14.5 hectares). A soil survey and consultation with OVAM [the Public Waste Agency of Flanders] will definitively determine the remediation approach for the site.

Focus on the environment The public partners want to develop Blue Gate Antwerp according to the BREEAM norms. Blue Gate Antwerp can thus be a pilot project for area development according to the norms.

Moreover, the ‘Cradle to Cradle’ principles developed

by American architect William McDonough and German chemist Michael Braungart are to be taken into account throughout the development of Blue Gate Antwerp: waste becomes raw materials, solar energy is used, and biodiversity is strengthened.

Blue Gate Antwerp strives to be innovative in various areas: service provision, energy production, infrastructure, and synergy between production, logistics and R&D. The proximity of the University

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Blue Gate Antwerp is a 103 hectare triangular site. the base of which stretches along the Scheldt. On the northern side it borders on ‘Nieuw Zuid’, an area where development is fully underway and in which the new courthouse forms the landmark. On the south side there is the Hoboken Polder nature reserve.

www.bluegateantwerp.eu.

of Antwerp and several colleges is an added value for prospective users.

Companies that locate on the Blue Gate Antwerp site will have to take into account, among other things, the BREEAM and C2C principles. That appears not to deter prospective users, as there is already a great deal of interest from national as well as international companies. Blue Gate Antwerp primarily targets R&D-oriented enterprises, eco-production and smart logistics. Sustainable chemistry - with the BlueChem incubator - is a priority.

Ultimately, Blue Gate Antwerp aims to produce more energy than is consumed by users on the site.

the city centre. Supply takes place from a logistics distribution centre. Deliveries (exports) from Blue Gate Antwerp are carried out on a bundled basis using electric vehicles, or even by bicycle, and no longer with the environmentally harmful vehicles for standard transport. The distribution centre can in addition offer various other services.

The location on the Scheldt is naturally a major asset in developing this environmentally-friendly city distribution. Transport by water will be promoted as much as possible for all the companies on the site. A 13-hectare logistics zone along the river is also reserved for this.It is estimated that Blue Gate Antwerp will create 1,500 to 2,000 jobs at highly City distribution pilot project diversified levels. Complete development will take Consideration of the environment also lies at the place in phases, depending on market demand. basis of the ‘city distribution’ pilot project that should begin this year. This involves organisation of a centralised warehouse for goods to be delivered to Eduard CODDÉ ■ BELGIUM REAL ESTATE SHOWCASE 2013 19

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Town Planning I Antwerp I

Antwerp demonstrates n to investors “With the new administration, we are emphatically seeking to bring about a change of mentality,” opens Alderman Rob Van de Velde, who is responsible for Urban Planning and Development. “The turnaround time for large projects needs to be cut drastically; waiting times of ten years in some cases are no longer acceptable.”

W

ith its new policies, the City of Antwerp is striving for a close interweave between industry, SMEs, residential and green facilities. “In the past an either-or approach was taken, yet it is precisely the coexistence of urban activity, of local employment opportunities, that is the motor for the city’s future development,” argues Rob Van de Velde. “Entrepreneurship must not turn its back on the city any longer. The city needs to be both economically viable and a pleasant place to live in.”

Building will continue on the Kievitplein site, including the Electrabel tower (11 floors high). Behind Kievitplein (Pelikaanstraat) there are plans for a mixed development with residential units and offices.

Image AGstadsplanning Antwerp © BUUR_HOSPER_ARA

The high-rise building memo With the high-rise building memo, a new instrument for appraising projects will shortly become available for the city. When projects are situated within the field of vision of the Cathedral of Our Lady (123 m high, a UNESCO world heritage site), high-rise building is not permitted.

However, high-rise building is allowed in certain zones, and is even encouraged there as a means of contributing to the look of the city as new reference points. This principle is also included in the execution plans, and applies to Het Eilandje, Nieuw Zuid and the Groene Singel, the basic concept for which has also been retained.

A favourable climate for investors “Antwerp is a city that continues to grow,” comments Alderman Van de Velde. “We expect population growth of 15 to 20% by 2020 to 2025, and that in itself is a vital opportunity for investors.”

An adaptation of the Spatial Structure Plan is being worked on, which will mean that the different districts are involved in preserving their individuality, but at the same time in being absorbed more closely into the urban fabric.

Various major residential projects are in the pipeline, such as Eksterlaar (Deurne), Neerland (Wilrijk) and Regatta (Antwerp Left Bank) in order to meet the expected population growth.

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s new dynamism

Disentangling the transport knot “Sorting out the transport tangle is the first thing that businesses and investors need us to do as a City,” acknowledges Rob Van de Velde frankly.

“Antwerp’s attractiveness is directly dependent on accessibility and smooth traffic.”

New developments are not possible without a watertight transport plan, as is demonstrated by the intentions with the former Postal Service site Berchem X. As Rob Van de Velde explains: “The project places too much emphasis on the attractiveness of the position next to the railway station, but the present plans will also inevitably lead to an increase in road traffic, to which the parking facilities and access measures that have been included represent an inadequate response.

Balance between construction and the associated experience of a site and its impact on transport flows is indispensable to the success of such projects.”

The nearby City Link proves that that balance is attainable. “The belt around the site will be occupied by offices, and there is space in the interior for dwellings and even service flats for the elderly,” explains Van de Velde.

available as a sizeable urban site with numerous possibilities. Rod Van de Velde: “The planned reorganisation of police services has freed up a lot of space for new urban initiatives. There is also the 7-hectare site of the federal police in Wilrijk, which will offer numerous possibilities.”The longdebated Handelsbeurs project will be sorted out by offering the three properties both together and separately for promotion, although there will be a requirement to preserve them as a visual entity.

Rob Van de Velde: “The building plans currently on the table offer opportunities for public-private partnership, but we are not making a point of looking for that.”

Interview by Eduard Coddé n

“

Building will continue on the Kievitplein site, including the Electrabel tower Behind Kievitplein there are plans for a mixed development with residential units and offices.

“

Alderman Van de Velde: “Building will also continue on the Kievitplein site, including the Electrabel tower, work on which starts this year and which is scheduled for completion in 2014.

The tower will be 11 floors high and is just 400 m from the station.” For Pelikaanstraat, situated behind Kievitplein, there are plans for a mixed development with residential units and offices.

Van de Velde: “We emphasise to investors that Antwerp today has a strong administration with fresh dynamism, ensuring a professional response and a sympathetic treatment of planning applications.”

Antwerp’s building plans It turns out that Antwerp has numerous building plans on the table, many of which relate to the change of use of existing sites and promote the interweave of residential and work-related functions in and around the city centre.

Thus there is the construction of a new ‘Arresthuis’, as a result of which the well-known former prison on the Begijnenvest becomes BELGIUM REAL ESTATE SHOWCASE 2013 21

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© Poponcini & Lootens ir. Architecten

TOWN PLANNING I Antwerp I

An architectural gem f On 13 June 2009, the 24-hectare ‘Park Spoor Noord’ was ceremonially opened. Today, there is a great deal of construction activity on the remaining 6 hectares at the northern end of the former railway siding, enclosed between the Noorderlaan viaduct and Ellermanstraat.

The new AP University College building will be the site’s architectural gem.

A Dirk De Cuyper, Facility services director and safety adviser, Artesis University College.

“An agreement had to be made with the Belgian Railways, which owned the land and were selling building rights for Spoor Noord. In the end, an agreement was reached for the purchase of 40,000m² by the Artesis University College.”

ntwerp University College (Hogeschool Antwerpen) was created in 1995 from a merger between the Municipal Education Authority for Antwerp and Mechelen, the Flemish Community Education Authority and the public social welfare centre, which provided training for nurses and physiotherapists. As a result, some 33 very varied educational programmes were brought within a single institution. The Flemish Community Education Authority transferred its facilities to the new institution, while the cities of Antwerp and Mechelen granted the right to use their facilities.

Dirk De Cuyper, facility services director and safety adviser: “For the most part these facilities were in fact real monuments, but there were also properties that had scarcely received any maintenance during the 80s and 90s. In October 2002, the Board of

Directors therefore decided on a Master Plan for the University College. That Master Plan also included the new structure that is being built now.”

A first call for tenders followed in 2004. The market was scanned for a plot of land lying between the Scheldt and the Singel. The plans for Spoor Noord were attractive. The special zoning plan made provision in 2005 for around 200,000m² of office space, and authorised mixed use. Dirk De Cuyper: “An agreement had to be made with the Railways, which owned the land and were selling building rights. In the end, an agreement was reached for the purchase of 40,000m² by the Artesis University College.” There was a requirement to provide the necessary parking facilities. The Flemish Architectural Regulator was to monitor the architectural quality. Two calls for tenders using the Design Build Finance (DBF) formula followed.

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© Poponcini & Lootens ir. Architecten

m for Spoor Noord

Challenging architecture In the end, the proposal of POLO Architects (Poponcini & Lootens ir. Architecten) was chosen.

Work on the site began in August 2012. The first brick was laid in September. The striking building, which will determine the appearance of the top end of Spoor Noord and which can also be regarded as a new gateway to the city, represents a northern counterpart to the new court complex –

Artesis Plantijn University College new buildings will consist of a trapezoid principal building that opens onto the Noorderplaats (Italiëlei - 8 levels), a square building on the Ellermanstraat (4 levels), a long single storey building on the Noorderlaan and a ramp on the Ellermanstraat leading to the extensive underground parking garage and bicycle racks.

also known as the Butterfly Palace – by architect Richard Rogers on the south side of the Leien.

The new campus brings together seven locations of what is today the Artesis University College.

It offers a net usable area of 25,000m² as the new home for 3,000 to 3,500 students from the professional bachelor’s programmes. On level -2, there are 200 parking spaces and spaces for 1,000 bicycles. POLO Architects have designed a kind of BELGIUM REAL ESTATE SHOWCASE 2013 23

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© AG Stadsplanning Antwerpen

TOWN PLANNING I Antwerp I

Spoor Noord, a striking gateway to the city.

concrete honeycomb shell from which the structure inside is suspended. Complex calculations have had to be performed for the construction. The completed building is scheduled to be handed over in spring 2015, so that the internal fixtures and fittings can be finished in time for the start of the academic year 2015 – 2016.

Before the 2013 summer break, work will start on the new Plantijn campus on Ellermanstraat, next to the 60-metre high ‘North Star’ customs building which has already become operational.

This will have a capacity for 1,200 students. The 13,000m² building for what is today still called the Plantijn University College should be ready in 2015 at virtually the same time as the Artesis campus.

No separate parking facilities are planned for this building.

From 1 October 2013, the Artesis and Plantijn University Colleges will be combined as the Artesis Plantijn University College (AP University College). The available rooms in the two new buildings will doubtless be assigned on the basis of practical requirements. Once the new campus begins to be used, the AP University College will be present throughout the city: from the South (Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp – De Singel), taking in the centre (Royal Academy of Fine Arts Mutsaardstraat, Meistraat, Lange Nieuwstraat, etc.) and through to the North (Campus Spoor Noord).

Link with Het Eilandje In May 2015, the top end of Spoor Noord will be linked with Het Eilandje via a ‘Park Bridge’ to be constructed by the City of Antwerp. This is intended for pedestrians, cyclists, wheelchair users and roller skaters. A green slope with grass, trees and street lighting will form the approach from the University College to the 70-metre long bridge over the Italiëlei. On the Eilandje side, the bridge will be supported by the already occupied London Tower. It will be made of folded and perforated sheet steel, with openings in the sides.

Spoor Noord, three towers in a row Immediately after the opening of the 24-hectare ‘Park Spoor Noord’, work began in 2009 on the 6-hectare site at the head of the Spoor Noord. The first building to appear was the 60-metre high ‘Noordster’ office tower with an underground car park. Since 2010, the tower has been occupied by the Customs and Excise administration. Next to ‘Noordster’, a second tower is being built on the Ellermanstraat across from the De Pretstraat: ‘Park Tower’, it will be the tallest residential highrise in Antwerp. The third tower to be built is the ‘Lichttoren’ along the Ellermanstraat across from the end of the Fuggerstraat. This structure was designed by the architect Bob Van Reeth.

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Park Tower The 78.8 m high luminous white high-rise is a four-level mix of various functions: commercial ground floor, student housing, apartments and the technical areas, each separately accessible via different sets of lifts. This is a sustainable principle that will make it possible to vary and convert the uses of the space without any structural changes.

The structure is designed in such a way that all the walls between the load-bearing facades, 6 columns, the stairs and lift wells can be removed. This means that lofts, hotel rooms or open-concept offices can be created with only minimal adjustments. The total surface area of the ‘Park Tower’ is 32,500 m², of which 12,500 m² is underground storage, parking and racks for 778 bikes. The completion of the tower is planned for September 2014.

The tower will house 360 residential units, of which 240 are designed specifically as student housing and 120 as two- or three-bedroom apartments.

With the commercial ground floor, the building has a total of 20 storeys. The student rooms and flats are spread across floors 1 through 10, and have a separate entrance. There is no direct connection between the Artesis Plantijn University College and the student flats. However, given the proximity to the college, this is of course an ideal location.

State-of-the-art hospital for the 21st century At the Kempisch Dok, across from the Artesis Plantijn University College and bisected by the Noorderlaan, is the site where construction will begin in 2014 on the new ZNA hospital. The majority of the activities of the existing ZNA Stuivenberg will be transferred there. The annual capacity is in the region of 135,000 patients. The plans include an accident and emergency department, an intensive care unit and a maternity ward, in-patient wards, a day hospital and an outpatient clinic.

The project comprises three buildings and will be nineteen storeys high. Two residential towers with home care centres will flank the central hospital part. The entire ground floor will be taken up by a care boulevard and a shopping street. In all, the project will cover 65,000 m², to be built via a public-private partnership, and is to be operational in 2018. The Flemish and federal governments will finance 95% of the entire investment of 150 million Euros.

Eduard CODDÉ n

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TOWN PLANNING I Mechelen I

Ideal central location Mechelen’s position exactly midway between Antwerp and Brussels, on the country’s busiest rail route, represents an enormous advantage for the city: it is just 10 minutes to Brussels and 20 minutes to Antwerp. With some impressive infrastructure projects, Mechelen is preparing to put itself emphatically on the map in the next few years for both residential developments, offices and retail.

W

Greet Geypen Alderman for Spatial Planning, Housing, Urban Regeneration, Real Estate Policy, Youth & Family, Monument Preservation and Agriculture.: “This optimisation of access makes Mechelen more attractive as a residential centre than ever before. We already have 82,000 inhabitants, and are expecting a substantial population rise.

The new residential properties which will be built must offer a balanced mix of upper- and midrange dwellings, as Mechelen essentially already has a sufficient supply in the lower-range housing category.”

© Euro Immo Star

ork in Mechelen’s Station district is in full swing and is intended to improve the station’s accessibility and divert through traffic around the city. Behind the new station building, an underground car park with capacity for 2,000 cars is being completed. In addition, a ‘tangent’ is being created – a link road with two lanes in each direction which will bring traffic leaving the E19 at the Mechelen-Zuid exit to within just one minute from the Station district and provide direct access to the car park.

In the first phase, to be completed by summer 2016, the improvement of transport is central.

Master plan for the development of Mechelen Station District The Mechelen Station District will undergo a complete metamorphosis over the next ten years. The threephase master plan provides firstly for major infrastructure works to make the station more accessible, direct through traffic pass more smoothly around the city and make the surrounding neighbourhoods more attractive. Behind the new station building, an underground car park with capacity for 2,000 cars is being completed. In addition, a ‘tangent’ is being created – a link road with two lanes in each direction which will bring traffic leaving the E19 at the Mechelen-Zuid exit to within just one minute from the Station district and provide direct access to the car park.Mid-2012 the Diabolo connection linking by train Mechelen and Brussels airport in Zaventem in just 8 minutes has been inaugurated.

The first phase of the Mechelen Station District project is entirely focused on improving mobility and should be completed by summer 2016. In 2015, construction will start on a new station designed by Salvatore Bono, an Italian living in Belgium who is strongly committed to sustainability. His design was inspired by the steel arch bridges that are located on the train line in the direction of Brussels directly after the existing station. The new platforms will be 280 m long. An important part of the master plan for the Station District is the development of the Ragheno plan, located between Leuven canal and Leuvense Steenweg. The headquarters of De Lijn and the Flanders Red Cross are already based here.The centre of this district – 73,000m² – has been earmarked for SME’s and the area close to the station will be an office zone. In a similar manner to the area around the station in Hasselt, there are several office blocks on the drawing board, with Euro Immo Star acting as project developer.

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Economic flourishing In addition to the infrastructure work at the station, priority is being given to the creation of a long shopping axis from the station via the Bruul – the city’s traditional shopping centre – as far as the Grote Markt. The attractiveness of this axis can be increased still further by the construction of an underground car park on Kardinaal Mercierplein. Mechelen is already bucking the national trend by increasing its visitor numbers: both shoppers and tourists are making their way there with growing frequency.

Turning to the Mechelen office market, Greet Geypen has

noted a lot of interest in Mechelen Noord, where new businesses are making enquiries and existing users are looking for expansion opportunities.

Obviously, the development of the Mechelen Station district represents an additional source of supply here. Mechelen wants to attract company headquarters, and is focusing on climate-neutral developments. More hotels are also being built, with a project right in the city centre and near the station.

Finally, Greet Geypen also refers to the construction of a new regional hospital under the Emmaüs Group on the R6 ringroad around Mechelen.

This will lead to the centralisation of a number of campuses of the Sint-Maarten general hospital.

“

Mechelen will continue to focus on its public land, because we know that this has a snowball effect, encouraging both property owners and developers to undertake upgrade projects.

“

New residential areas and regeneration Building land is virtually impossible to find, which is why a new Spatial Implementation Plan has been devised, featuring three large residential areas: ‘Papenhof’ in the Nekkerspoel district with plots of 6 to 7 ares (under development), ‘Stuivenberg’ on the Leuven Canal and ‘Spreeuwenhoek’ in the Planckendael Estate, where there are plans for mixed construction of single-family dwellings and apartments – some 1,000 units in all. In the station area an ‘eco’ district will be created which is as large as Mechelen city centre. “It will be a climate-neutral district,” stresses Greet Geypen.

In addition to the development of new residential areas, work is being done to regenerate and redefine certain areas in the city. This is particularly true of Winketkaai, where high-quality residential projects are being attracted and the Comet factory site on Koningin Astridlaan is being converted into an area of housing, offices and services which may extend over 20 hectares.

Greet Geypen: “With our new residential policy we are encouraging innovative architecture. The idea is to reform the building service and seek to introduce some flexibility into the planning application assessment process, which is still too rigorous.

At the same time we spare no effort to preserve Mechelen’s value as an historic city with more than 300 protected monuments. We are also considering entering into consultation with the church authorities with a view to deconsecrating some churches which are no longer used and converting them by means of private or PPP initiatives.”

interview by Eduard CODDÉ n

Greet Geypen, Alderman for Spatial Planning, Housing, Urban Regeneration, Real Estate Policy & Monument Preservation.

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TOWN PLANNING I Mons I

➋ ➌ ➍ ➍

➊

A magnificent station an d The city of Mons is developing as it prepares to be ‘European Capital of Culture’ in 2015.

To its rich history which in particular includes the Belfry, the Ste.-Waudru cathedral and the Grand’Place, Mons is now adding a promising future.

L

ocated outside of the historic city, the extension to Mons (a ‘Eurogare’ project) will be linked to its heritage by a brand new railway station designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, whose magnificent station in Liège is already highly appreciated. But the station is only the hub.

A new 6,500 m² congress centre, designed by the architect Daniel Libeskind, which includes three auditoriums (with 500, 200 and 100 seats) and a number of meeting rooms and offices, stands out like a modern ship, a monument in wood, aluminium and glass. As soon as mid-2014, the congress centre will enable Mons to become more intensively a ‘centre for business tourism’. It is located alongside the first of Mons’ new developments, the 30,000 m² ‘Grands Prés’ shopping centre, and close to the rear entrance to the station. Just between the station and

the conference centre is to be a new 4-star hotel, offering 200 rooms on a ground area of 4,000 m².

New district Along with theses infrastructure constructions, the overall plan for Mons includes a technology-oriented business park and a substantial amount of housing.

The business park will comprise three identical buildings of ground floor plus three upper floors configuration. Each of these will measure 60 metres by 15 metres, giving a total floor area of 10,800 m².

The housing, which fits in with the desire of Mons and other cities to systematically create ‘mixed use’ districts, will be set within a wooded and very green open area, close to the station, the hotel and conference centre. Six buildings are to be constructed, providing apartments of three, four and five rooms.

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➎

➎ ➎

Masterplan © Eurogare / 3D general view Eurogare © Studio Milo

➎

➎

➎

➍

➍

➊ With its pedestrian bridge that overarches the railway tracks and is lined with shops and services for the passengers, the station forms a link between the heart of Mons and the Grand Prés site. ➋ The conference centre will provide Mons with the multi- functional infrastructure necessary to attract business tourism ➌ The 4-star hotel with a capacity of 200 rooms ➍ The technological park and offices formed by three buildings, each of them having a surface area of 3,600 m2 ➎ Housings, some buildings with inner courtyard

Image Eurogare – Architect Daniel Libeskind

n d a whole new district

Established on the Grand Prés side and opening to the vast esplanade which covers the underground car park, the new conference centre forms a counterpoint to the new station.

The three larger, square-shaped buildings will have three upper floors and total some 33,000 m², each building featuring a central courtyard. The three smaller rectangular buildings will add an extra 10,800 m² of residential accommodation. The complex will be complemented by an underground car park.

Heating for all of the new constructions – station, congress centre, offices, hotel, and the residential accommodation, will use geo-thermal techniques for heating. This green energy source is permanently available.

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The plans for rehabilitating the Val Benoît site are scheduled to comprise several phases starting with putting the Civil Engineering building to new use. The building will become a ‘Company Zone’ with finished offices, storage zones, unfinished areas able to be turned into areas for SME’s with light production activities.

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© Baumans-Deffet – rendering QuickIt

Town Planning I LIeGE I

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Val Benoît, rehabilitation of the former university site While it may be Guillemins and the Calatrava station which are currently attracting the attention of real estate professionals in the Liège region, the Val Benoît site is also worthy of a pause. The former university site, home to the faculties of science and applied science of the University of Liège is the subject of a vast conversion programme.

V

al Benoît is a complex of modernist architectural style located on the banks of the Meuse between the Calatrava station in the Guillemins district and the stadium of the local football club, Standard de Liège. Constructed between 1930 and 1965 by the University of Liège, the majority of the site has been abandoned since 2005, despite certain of the buildings having been put to other uses. The Walloon agency for promoting employment – the Forem – in fact occupies the Mathematics Institute and the old abbey of Val Benoît, both of which have recently been renovated. Another occupant to have set up alongside the Forem is the French community conservatory, converted by the Higher College of Actors of the Royal Liège Conservatory (ESACT).

But in the opinion of the decision-makers of the SPI (the Liège province economic development agency), the former university merits being totally redefined. The interest of this 8-hectare site lies in its undeniable architectural quality and its strategic geographic location: located at an entrance point to the city, just an hour from Brussels, with immediate connections to the dense motorway network which links France, Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, close to the TGV station with its national and international services on the banks of the Meuse, on the route of the future Liège tram and a stone’s throw from Liège Airport.

Master plan The objective of the SPI is to re-lay out the entire site and transform several buildings (30,000 m² in time) into premises for businesses (workshops, offices, common services…), to be completed by around a hundred residential units. The SPI has mandated architectural and planning bureau Baumans-Deffet, temporarily associated with

155 liege val benoit.indd 33

several study bureaux (Dirix / BEL / MSA), in order to draw up a master plan for the whole of the site, in order to ensure harmonious integration of the various functions while taking into account the different developments and rehabilitations envisaged – to schedule the laying out of quality public areas and organise mobility within them.

The aim of the SPI is to make rapid progress.

Pierre-Yves Jeholet, Vice-President of the SPI delightedly announces, “rehabilitate an urban eyesore, expand our offering to companies and save sites in our peripheral business parks, which do not suit all companies. And we are aiming to create 1,250 jobs too!”

A first 12,500 m² phase The plans for rehabilitating the Val Benoît site is scheduled to comprise several phases starting with putting the Civil Engineering building to new use.

The building will become a ‘Company Zone’ with finished offices, storage zones, unfinished areas able to be turned into areas for SME’s with light production activities and enabling a high degree of flexibility in terms of use, areas for commercial use and services. The project for the Civil Engineering building has just been presented, along with the Master Plan. The administrative procedures will be set in motion at the same time with the permit request and the call for tenders for attributing works contracts taking place during 2013. Works should start in 2014 and the first companies may be able to install in 2015 with almost 12,500 m² available!

The SPI is not alone in being interested by Val Benoît. Another rehabilitation programme, closely related to that of the SPI, is also being undertaken.

This involves the rehabilitation of the former

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Town Planning I LIeGE I

been carried out on the site, but the reconstruction and the schedule envisaged by CFE-Moury for the installation of the planned 13,000 m² of offices is not yet known.

Bruno HODITTE n

© Baumans-Deffet – rendering QuickIt

© courtesy of SPI

Metallurgical Research Centre (CRM) which is now empty. Two permits have been granted: the first, dated October 21st 2003, deals with the demolition of the offices. The second adds modifications to certain elements of the project. It is dated 31st August 2004. Demolition works have

The Val Benoît Master Plan A project to rehabilitate a major site in Liège and which will include a substantial mix of uses.

1 New construction: housing - 7,500 m2 2 New construction: housing - 8,800 m2 3 New construction: housing & offices - 8,500 m2 4 New construction: housing - 9,000 m2 5 New construction: offices with parkings - 15,000 m2 6 Conversion by the SPI of the old Civil Engineering building to host business activities (workshops, offices, common services…) - 12,500 m2 7 Conversion by the SPI of the old Metallurgical Chemistry building to host business activities (workshops, offices, common services…) - 11,500 m2 8 The former Metallurgical Research Centre will be demolished by CFE-Moury and they will construct a new building with 13,000 m2 of office spaces.

9 The Forem occupies the former Mathematics Institute and the former abbey of Val Benoît 10 Building converted for the Higher College of Actors of the Royal Liège Conservatory (ESACT) 11 The Thermo-electrical Centre belongs to the Ulg (Liège University).

Cultural activities will be developed in this building.

12 The former building of the Institute of Mechanics, which belongs to the city of Liège, will be dedicated to education.

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town planning I Brussels European District I

Belview

Mixed use in the European district Allfin / BPI A2RC Architects / Jaspers-Eyers Architects 5,000 m² 282 units 1.800 m² 196 spaces

Belview is one of the projects which most reflects the thinking of the Brussels Region in terms of new urban developments. The philosophy is to bring a mixture of functions into districts which were previously extremely office-based. While the immediate surroundings of Belview are already residential in nature on one side, on the other side is that most ‘office ghetto’ of districts – the European district. It is precisely here that the Region is putting much of its development attention.

At the crossing of rue Belliard and rue van Maerlant street, Belview will offer around 5,000 m² of office space (modest in European district terms), but also 282 residential units and a number of shop units. located in 10 new buildings to be constructed along the rue Belliard, rue van Maerlant and chaussée d’Etterbeek. The project also has the advantage of being located alongside the largest green area in the district, the Leopold Park, and thus offers a genuinely attractive location within a few minutes walk of both the European Parliament and the European Commission, with the lively Place Jourdan just around the corner.

The main residential tower constructed on the site will face Leopold Park on one side and the Place Jean Rey on the other.

© A2RC Architects

Developers Architects Office space Residential Retail/services Parking

The 5,000 m2 of office space which are part of the ‘Belview’ project have been bought early this year by the German investor iii-Investments. The fact of buying a project which is not yet either built, or more importantly – let – signifies according to Cushman & Wakefield who advised the buyer a return of investor confidence in real estate assets.

© Jaspers-Eyers Architects

At the crossing of rue Belliard and rue van Maerlant, Belview will offer around 5,000 m² of office space

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© Ateliers Lion / A2RC ARCHITECTS

© Ateliers Lion / A2RC ARCHITECTS

town planning I BRUSSELS NORTH I

Office buildings located on Quai de Willebroek

UP-site

A new place to live, work and play Developer Architects Mixed-use project Offices

Shops

Delivery

Atenor Ateliers Yves Lion / A2RC ARCHITECTS Housing 50.000 m² 30.000 m² 1,650 m² 2012/2014

UP-site represents a major part of the rehabilitation of the canal area, giving back to Brussels a waterway and the option of waterside living, something which the European capital lost a long time ago when its river, the Senne, was covered over. The UP-site project occupies an area of 1.25 hectares along the Brussels canal between the Quai de Willebroek, Place des Armateurs and Quai des Péniches. In terms of the urban planning objectives of the Brussels Region, UP-site clearly ticks all the boxes. The ‘mixed use’ project consists of a 142-metre high residential tower (with its 42-storey the tallest tower in Belgium), a group of smaller-size apartment buildings, an extensive office complex, leisure and retail activity.The tower with its 251 apartments will house a set of exclusive on-demand services including a VIP concierge, swimming pool, spa & wellness centre, private cinema, restaurants, kids playroom, etc. A walkway along the banks of the canal will welcome shops and proximity services suited to the neighbourhood’s dynamic new outlook.

30.000 m2 of office space This ‘mixed use’ characteristic is a stated philosophy of Brussels for all new developments, and goes hand in hand with in-built mobility. Here too, UP-site scores. It is located in the center of the city no more than three hundred meters from North Station – the largest transport interchange and hub in Belgium. UP-site includes a complex of four office buildings (around 30.000 m²) located on Quai the Willebroeck. It constitutes a link between two office sub-districts – North District and Tour & Taxis – and all should be connected in the future by a new tram service to cross the canal. The offices are rapidly finding takers: contracts have already been signed : Ethias (7,150m²) for a building delivered in June 2012, Unizo for 6,300m² delivered in October 2012 and PMV, also for a 6,300m² building due to be delivered in June 2013. Around10,000 m² are still available.

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BRUSSELS GREENBIZZ

The missing link between Tivoli and Tour & Taxis Developers Architects Status Start of works Completition

Brussels Regional Development Agency (BRDA/SDRB) in partnership with - Brussels Entreprise Agency (ABE/BAO) Brussels Environment (IBGE/BIM) - Belgian Building Research Institute (CSTC/WTCB) Temporary association of architectural bureaux : Architectes associés - Setesco – Stockman-FTI – Peutz & Associés – Cenergie – Health & Safety Building 1 : Greenbizz 8.219 m2 : incubator for companies 2.827 m2 + production workshops 5.392 m2 Building 2 : production workshops 4.500 m2 mid-2013 2015/2016

Greenbizz is part of a large-scale redevelopment project called Tivoli in the city centre, which schedules the building of an eco-district of 450 residential units on a site of almost 4.5 hectares extending from the Rue Lefèvre to the Rue Tivoli and from the Rue de Molenbeek to the Rue Claessens in Laeken. This new publicly funded sustainable neighbourhood will include both housing and economic facilities, and responds to the desire of the public authorities to bring new life to urban areas through mixed function developments. The part of the site to be dedicated to businesses and totalling 12,900 m² will be located along the Rue Lefèvre and will act as a transition between the new residential district and the TIR centre close to Tour & Taxis, thus demonstrating that it is possible to develop a business project in an inhabited zone.

Incubator for companies and production workshops The project will comprise two buildings set around a new public plaza. One building with a floor area above ground of just over 8,000 m², will accommodate the Brussels

Greenbizz project which includes an incubator for companies with an environmental vocation, and production workshops. The other building, with a floor area of 4,500 m² above ground and adjacent to the first, will be used for production workshops (ground floor) and areas for the production of non-material goods (upper floors). The Greenbizz building is funded by the European fund FEDER (approximately 14.4 million Euros), while the other building is financed by a private investor.

© courtesy of BRDA

For better integration between the residential elements and the production units, the workshop roofs will be laid out as gardens and terraces, accessible to occupants. All car-parking is below ground.

© courtesy of BRDA

© Ateliers Lion / A2RC ARCHITECTS

MoRE on www.pRo-REalEStatE.BE/pRoJECtS

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town planning I Brussels Center I

Toison d’Or

Different projects to stimulate the district Le Toison d’Or Developer Architect Total retail

Residential Parking spaces Status

Prowinko / TD Immo invest UN Studio / Jaspers-Eyers Architects 12,800 m² 14,600 m² 326 Permit granted

The Toison d’Or shopping centre is set to occupy a ‘triple A’ prime location in Brussels. In between the Avenue Louise and the Chaussée d’Ixelles, and on a high street which already has two other shopping malls (one of which has just been totally renovated and attracted ‘Fnac’ as an anchor tenant).

Yet this space located between Rue des Chevaliers and Rue des Drapiers has been empty for years, and has been awaiting approval for this centre.

Now, Toison d’Or is now a stage nearer becoming reality, as the local commune has granted the permit. In keeping with the current desire of

Cond’Or Developer Architect Residential Parking spaces Status

Louis de Waele / Chantier SA Jaspers-Eyers Architects 9,705 m² - 79 apartments 50 Permit introduced

the authorities to ensure mixed use in all districts, the project is not only dedicated to retail, but includes a substantial degree of residential.

Two crèches also form part of the plan. The local councillor involved in granting the permit, Nathalie Gilson, recently revealed a further element in this ‘mixed use’ factor: “Eight of the apartments will be ceded to the commune, which will use them as ‘modest cost’ residential units. This amounts to 10% of the total residential units”. It is widely anticipated that the rehabilitation of this uptown district will lead to it rivalling the downtown Rue Neuve district as the capital’s top shopping destination.

Cond’Or Along with the Toison d’Or shopping centre development, a neighbouring project – named Cond’Or – will see the upper floors of Toison d’Or 17-21 converted into residential accommodation. The obsolete office building, which formerly housed the Brussels Public Transport company ‘STIB’ will see 79 apartments built, with a common lobby and 50 parking spaces.

The two projects on this busy shopping street will be undertaken at the same time.

© UNStudio, Jaspers_Eyers Architects

Le Toison d’Or

© UNStudio, Jaspers_Eyers Architects

Le Cond’Or

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More on www.pro-realestate.Be/proJeCts

Chambon New life for a major historical building Allfin Jaspers-Eyers Architects - A2RC Architects 11,500 m² 234 134 3,000 m² 2,400 m² 199 spaces Works started in march 2013 2015/2016

Forthcoming multi-functional complex The ‘Chambon’ is being renovated into a multi-functional complex, designed to be a miniature ‘district’ in itself. The rehabilitation of site will see the former 60,000 m² of offices which hosted up to 3,000 workers of the CGER banking institution, transformed into a ‘living district’ with apartments, student flats, a high quality hotel, traditional and loft-type offices and shopping and restaurant units. An interior garden designed by Wirtz, the renowned landscape architect, will occupy around a quarter of the space, enhancing the quality of living in the revamped complex. Allfin’s project director Jo Gielen speaks of making of Chambon a link between the Galeries de la Reine, the Place des Martyrs, the Grand’Place and the Place de le Monnaie.

© Allfin - Jaspers-Eyers Architects

© Allfin / Jaspers-Eyers Architects – A2RC Architects

Developer Architects Office space Apartments Student housing Hotel Retail Parking Status Completition

A new step in the rehabilitation of the former CGER bank headquarters in the historical centre of Brussels has begun. The ‘Chambon’ occupies the entire block, nearly one hectare, in front of the Radisson hotel and behind the Place de Brouckère. The CGER first occupied their new headquarters in 1893. The original building was partially the work of celebrated architect Paul Hankar but the name ‘Chambon’ refers to the architects Chambon, father and son, who worked later on extensions to the building from 1910 to 1918 and from 1947 to 1953.

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town planning I Brussels South I

Victor

A major pillar of Brussels Midi district regeneration Developers Architects Surface area Status

Atenor / BPI Atelier Christian de Portzamparc / Jaspers-Eyers Architects ±100,000 m² offices, residential, retail Urban en environmental permit introduced in December 2010 Permit expected in 2013, start of work to follow

The area around Brussels South Station has already seen the arrival of several new office buildings over the past few years, along with hotels and restaurants. Victor is designed to enhance all of this with its resolutely mixed use character. The project will total 100,000 m2 including offices, retail and residential space and combines a variety of volumes in order to integrate the existing Midi Tower into the overall aesthetics.

The scale of the project will definitely add urban life and friendliness to the Midi area, helping its revitalisation.

© Atenor Group

Four towers including a small shopping centre Victor project will be located between the rue Blérot, Place Horta, rue Bara and rue Paul-Henri Spaak. The four new towers of differing heights (6 to 37 floors) will deeply

change the urban skyline of this area. The French architectural firm Atelier Christian de Portzamparc has created a project that reconciles budgetary rigour and architectural quality.The South area has developed into an office sub-district in its own right as a result of the new constructions, and is home to the Midi Tower, which will remain the tallest tower block in Belgium, 2 metres taller than its future neighbour. The 3,500 m² of retail, restaurants and public space planned for the podium building of Victor will add to the shopping facilities already to be found inside the station. These are already sufficient to be considered as a mini shopping centre, and the totality of the new shopping facilities available will contribute to the attraction of the area which, in the past, has suffered from the same poor image which goes with the immediate surroundings railway stations in many European cities.

© Atenor Group

A specific ‘signposting’ technique runs through the whole of Victor, giving it a strong identity.

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MORE ON WWW.PRO-REALESTATE.BE/PROJECTS

City Docks

New life on Brussels South canal-side City Docks, a project of the real estate developer Atenor, is located in Anderlecht, on the banks of the Willebroek Canal and close to the Brussels Ring – E40 junction. While just outside of the city centre, City Docks is nevertheless relatively close to South Station with its national and international rail links. The project is fully in line with a dynamic of sustainable urban development and will soon become one of Atenor’s major mixed use urban projects. The master plan for City Docks includes a wide variety of functions: housing, offices, retail, school, nursery, sports centre, polyclinic and rest home, public areas and infrastructure.

© Atenor Group

© Atenor Group

Rehabilitation of a former industrial site The entire area has been taken into consideration in the new ‘PRAS démographique’ in progress, which studies the needs of the Brussels’ Region in terms of residential and urban industrial activities. With its strong urban planning approach, Atenor Group is pursuing a constructive and transparent dialogue with the local and regional authorities. One of the major objectives of both Atenor and the public authorities is to clean up and reconvert this 5-hectare area within a coherent urban planning allocation, in compliance with the future needs of a metropolis concerned with sustainable development.

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town planning I Brussels centre I

© SAQ / Jaspers-Eyers Architects / Archi 2000

The most iconic part of the Belair project is its ‘stacked slab’ tower for housing.

© SAQ / Jaspers-Eyers Architects / Archi 2000

The master plan for Belair aims to make sure all those players involved in the redevelopment of this emblematic site guarantee that it actively contributes to the regeneration of the city centre.

Belair

New life for the former ‘State administrative center’ Developers Architects

© SAQ / Jaspers-Eyers Architects / Archi 2000

The Federal Police has signed for taking up 68,000 m² of office space in the C, D, and F refurbished buildings.

Immobel / Breevast Jaspers-Eyers Architects / Archi 2000 / SAQ

The most central of the major district-wide refurbishment projects taking shape in Brussels is Belair. Belair aims to transform a site previously known for its uninspiring architecture into a new district for living and working. Owners of the former Cité Administrative, Immobel and Breevast, have mandated architectural bureau SAQ (Studio Arne Quinze) with conceiving the master plan for the whole ensemble. Jaspers-Eyers & Partners and Archi 2000 are mandated with realizing the project. The architects have designed an overall layout which enables access to the site from a number of points, emphasizing permeability and public spaces for the City and its inhabitants. This urban renovation project aims to connect the uptown and downtown districts, and involves the refurbishment of certain buildings on and around the Boulevard Pacheco/Rue Royale, immediately behind the Finance Tower. The location is just inside the city’s inner ring road at its north eastern tip, across the road from the Botanical Gardens and stretching to the ‘Congress Column’.

Mix of construction and rehabilitation of existing buildings The master plan schedules the construction of two new emblematic triangular buildings featuring ‘offset’ floors, as though they were slabs roughly stacked one on top of the other. This real estate development project schedules over 143,500 m² of construction or renovation. The development program aims to provide a highly human side to the area, integrating almost 50,000 m² of housing, of which a minimum of 30 % will be social or subsidised, public areas, 5,000 m² of retail space and a 120 room hotel. The offices development involves almost 80,000 m2 of which 68.000 m2 have already been taken up by the Federal Police.

In May 2012 the Brussels city authorities has adopted a new specific ground use plan (PPAS) for the site.

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I Machelen (Brussels Periphery north) I

Uplace

A one-stop destination experience for working, shopping and relaxing

Uplace is the ambitious 190,000 m2 real estate development of a shopping, working and leisure complex in the North of Brussels next to the Vilvoorde viaduct. It involves the rehabilitation of a 300-hectare brownfield site in the long neglected canal zone of Machelen, where were previously located industrial companies such as Renault, Franky and Bona Sabla. The project wishes to be anything but a traditional shopping centre, even if shopping is one of the core attractions of the whole project. Uplace intends to be a one-stop destination experience.

It intends to be a city within the city, in which shopping, working and entertainment are no longer built in isolation from each other but woven together in a single space. The site will accommodate more than 300 shops - a surface in total of 81,000 m2 - with a lot of recreational facilities such as restaurants and bars, a theatre/concert hall, a bowling alley, a spa and wellness centre, ... . A 180-room hotel is also being built. The ‘working’ district will offer 51,000 m2 of office space. The iconic 17 floor office tower will dominate the site with, on top, a spectacular rooftop restaurant offering a panoramic view. Additionally, four low-rise office blocks will be built at the edge of the complex near the Vilvoorde viaduct; two buildings in Woluwelaan and two in Nieuwbrugstraat.

© Jaspers-Eyers Architects

image courtesy of Uplace

Easy access is crucial The real estate developer UPlace has been in negotiations with the Flemish Government and the local authorities in Machelen to discuss the building of an entrance/exit from the ring road. The plan is to incorporate no less than 6,000 parking spaces on the site. A news bus and tram line will be developed by De Lijn. Even though, Uplace, has recently had its environmental permit suspended by the Council of State which believes that the granting of the environmental permit by the Flemish government last year was premature, and that many assurances concerning the transport infrastructure remain to be answered first.

Alongside this, a process seeking to permanently cancel the environmental permit for Uplace is still underway. The planned opening date for Uplace had been September 2016, but with works unable to start until these legal questions are resolved, it may be expected that this date will have to be put back. www.uplace.eu

image courtesy of Uplace

Uplace Benoy / Jaspers-Eyers Architects

image courtesy of Uplace

Developers Architects

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The new football stadium for AA Gent is a multipurpose project development which includes also the building of retail, offices and events infrastructure to make this location attractive every day of the year, rather than just drawing in the crowds on match day.

© courtesy of Ghelamco / Bontinck- Architecture and Engineering

© courtesy of Ghelamco / Bontinck- Architecture and Engineering

town planning I ghent I

ARTEVELDE STADIUM

Multipurpose project development for permanent attractiveness The site where the stadium is rapidly nearing completion was formerly occupied by the Wholesale Market, and has a road passing through it, the OttergemsesteenwegZuid. The City of Ghent granted a 99-year lease on the land in 2005. One of the strengths of this project is the site’s outstanding position and accessibility. It can be reached not just via the intersection of the E17 (Antwerp - Ghent - Kortrijk) and the E40 (Ostend - Brussels), but also by the R4 from both directions, thanks to the construction of a new roundabout. The infrastructure work associated with the site’s development also includes the building of a new bridge over the Ringvaart canal. In view of the stadium’s attractiveness as a destination, it will also be incorporated into Ghent’s public transport system.

Much more than a stadium On one side of the Ottergemsesteenweg-Zuid, the final touches are being put to the new football stadium for AA Gent, with a capacity of 20,000 seats and an optional extension for up to 25,000 spectators. On the first floor, there is a spacious lounge for 1,500 guests. On the second floor, an 11,000m² covered walkway passes all around the stadium, along which a wide range of bars and food stands will be operated. The stadium has been combined with a wide range of commercial

possibilities that make this location attractive every day of the year, rather than just drawing in the crowds on match day. Beneath the stadium and extending out towards the commercial premises situated opposite, 1,250 parking spaces have been provided. There will also be ample parking (400 spaces) available around the stadium.

Multipurpose project As well as the stadium itself, a hotel will also be built in the future, with an expected capacity of 230 rooms and an underground car park.On the land facing the stadium, commercial premises with 12,000m² of space were completed in 2012, adapted to the tenant’s specific requirements. This was the first project to be completed on the Artevelde Stadium site. In autumn 2012, a gigantic Brico Plan-It opened here. The building, with its sloping green roof, attractive façade and large windows, stands on a kind of pedestal which has underground parking within it. On this part of the site, adjoining the Ringvaart canal, two office blocks are currently being erected, each of which will be 10 storeys high. Arte Offices and Schelde Offices offer a combined total of 28,000 m² of office space: 15,000 m² and 13,000 m² respectively. The basic construction phase should be complete by the summer of 2013.

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MORE ON WWW.PRO-REALESTATE.BE/PROJECTS

THE ‘WAALSE KROOK’ DISTRICT

© Aranda Pigem Vialta Arquitectes / Coussée & Goris architecten

‘Smart city’ strategy Surrounding the new building will be attractive open spaces laid out with squares, low quays along the water with cycle and walking paths as well as two bridges for cyclists and pedestrians. The latter fits in perfectly with Ghent’s ‘smart city’ strategy, which was presented at the MIPIM and receives funding from the European Commission. The clean-up of the terrain is in full swing, and the first phase will be completed this year. As regards the construction of the new public library along the waterfront, 19 architectural teams submitted proposals. The winning team is an association between a Spanish architecture bureau RCR Aranda Pigem Vialta Arquitectes and the local Ghent Coussée & Goris architects. Adjacent to the new library, the former Winter circus will be renovated for a new use, a project that should be completed in 2015.

© Aranda Pigem Vialta Arquitectes / Coussée & Goris architecten

De Krook’ is a district in the heart of Ghent with a long and rich history of bustling activity. At the end of the eighteenth century, the area played a part in the rapid industrialisation of the city. The opening of the South Station made the spot one of the liveliest neighbourhoods of Ghent. Today the district is again the centre of enormous activity to rehabilitate this old district and give it a new future.

The work first of all involves the reconversion of an inner-city area covering 0.4 hectares. The main focus is a new build project that will house the new main public library with an auditorium and a restaurant. It will also include the Centre for New Media, a development of the University of Ghent (UGent) and the Institute for Broadband Technology (IBBT).

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Photo courtesy of Agstadsplanning Antwerpen

© SAQ / Jaspers-Eyers Architects / Archi 2000

town planning I Antwerp I

Eilandje

Harbour district revival The master plan for the Eilandje (‘Little’ Island) involves an area of some 172 hectares and is being implemented from South (city centre) to North (harbour and sea). In the southern area, private investments are primarily involved and the conversion to an urban area is largely complete. The policy for the Eilandje is to ‘keep the patina of the maritime past while completely redeveloping’. The master plan provides for development with 60% residential, 30% offices, commerce, hotels and restaurants, and 10% ‘culture’. This last aspect is being implemented to a significant degree in the Montevideo area which has been converted into the cultural top attraction of het Eilandje with the MAS (Museum Aan de Stroom, Museum on the River) and among other things the Red Star Line Museum which is set to open its doors in September this year. The master plan has been drafted by the Master Architect. Implementation is taking place under supervision of the municipal Town Planning organisation (Agstadsplanning Antwerpen).

Districts development In the Cadixwijk, located to the right of the Kattendijkdok/Oostkaai axis and above Londenstraat, upper- and mid-segment housing will be constructed, including

up to 400 low-cost housing units from the Antwerp housing society Woonhaven.

The proportion of offices will be 21%. The former customs building is being demolished to make way for offices, a supermarket, a Supervisory Council, and housing. A Cadixplein is also being laid out. Reconversion of the Cadixwijk will take place in blocks, and also completed by block. Because water occupies a great deal of the area in the Cadixwijk, water projects too are included, including 50 spots for houseboats and a floating swimming pool. The ‘Mexico-eiland’, the northernmost part of the Eilandje, will be the last to be developed. The 2030 – 2035 period is cited as the implementation period. This has largely to do with the slow expiration of the concessions for those companies currently still located there. A mixt of urban functions is being considered, with space for housing, offices, and companies, and recreational functions. The future allocation of the island consists of town-planning blocks, the extent of which, and the programme for which, are still to be specified by the city.

Agstadsplanning Antwerp > www.antwerpen.be/eilandje

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I Wallonia I

Mons new station district Holoffe & Vermeersch for Atenor

Located outside of the historic city, the extension to Mons will be linked to its heritage by a brand new railway station designed

by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. But the station is only the hub. A new 6,500 m² congress centre is set to be build alongside the first of Mons’ new developments, the 30,000 m² ‘Grands Prés’ shopping centre, and close to the rear entrance to the station. Just between the station and the conference centre is to be a new 4-star hotel, offering 200 rooms. The overall plan for Mons includes a technology-oriented business park and a substantial amount of housing.

Ateliers Jean Nouvel / MDW Architecture

Atenor Alongside these ‘Eurogare’ developments, Atenor is also adding to the enlargement of Mons with its own project. The company has acquired 7.2 hectares which will accommodate a mixed use complex comprising further housing, rest homes, offices and shops which will be designed by the architects Holoffe & Vermeersch (1st phase). Atenor is a specialist in large mixed use developments, with UP-site in Brussels canal zone well underway, and Victor project (close to the South Station) set to follow. In Mons, Atenor intends to provide a harmonious project in keeping with the city’s planning philosophy.

Hôtel de Police & Charleroi Danses Performing Arts Center

doc. Eriges

The objective of the new ‘Hôtel de Police’ project designed for Charleroi by the famous French architect Jean Nouvel in partnership with MDW Architects is to give the police a public and accessible image and to open the site out to the city. A conical, 75 meters 20-storey tower will be visible from various points of the city. This tower is set to be passive. Alongside it, the Charleroi Danses Art Centre (45,000 m²) will be connected to the tower by a vast open public esplanade. Last year, this real estate project was crowned with the ‘Best Futura Project’ 2012 MIPIM award.

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An eco-district in the making It was one of the strong points of the application of the city of Liège to organise the 2017 International Exhibition: the transformation of 90% of the pavilions constructed for the exhibition into an eco-district, made up of housing, services and offices. Liege saw its flame extinguished by Astana, the powerful capital of Kazakhstan. But the ecodistrict is still a reality.

The real estate investment in the pavilions (329 million Euros) was to be provided by the private sector, as was the money for transforming the site (159 million).

In view of the very short timescale, the call for tenders for this dual deal had already been launched before the announcement of the winning city. The call for tenders included two options. The first was in two successive phases: ‘exhibition’ followed by ‘eco-district’ and the second constituted a single ‘eco-district’ development phase.

Public call for tenders Two consortiums made up of developers and construction companies put themselves forward, and the competitive negotiation process with them – Green Gate and Neo Legia – is underway. Green Gate is made up of five partners: CFE, Kairos, Moury Construct, Besix and Thomas & Piron.

With regard to the Neo-Legia consortium, this brings together Matexi, Jan De Nul, Willemen, Nacarat and CIT Blaton. The developers of the Coronmeuse eco-district are delighted with the quality of the candidates and especially with the worldwide fame of the architectural bureaux which accompany each of them. The ‘Christian de Portzamparc’ bureau in the case of Green Gate’ and ‘Fosters and Partners’ for ‘Neo-Legia’ say a lot about the high planning levels the project is targeting.

© VenhoevenCS

Coronmeuse

© VenhoevenCS

© VenhoevenCS

town planning I LiEge I

The Liège Coronmeuse eco-district will still be created, even though the 2017 International Exhibition is not to take place in Liège.

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MORE ON WWW.PRO-REALESTATE.BE/PROJECTS

SERAING CITY CENTRE Revitalising a former industrial complex

A master plan with a rarely equalled level of ambition has been established for Seraing, the second most important city of the province of Liège. A dozen years ago a group of planners, architects and economists established a Master plan for the city of Seraing under the authority of Bernard Reichen. This French town planner specialises in the renovation of heritage complexes, particularly those from an industrial heritage. The plan, one of the most ambitious in Europe, covers 800 ha, embraces 320 projects and involves the whole of the part of Seraing located in the Meuse valley. Since the 19th century, these riverbanks have been given over to steelmaking, which has left a giant scar in the landscape and perturbed urban development.

Due to come into service this year, the new commune administrative centre is a passive building.

Diversified projects The master plan sets out the creation of channels of greenery from the upper part of the town and to structure the space with an urban boulevard running from east to west. It is also planned to create a northsouth axis by widening the Rue Cockerill to the south, so that it runs into the new urban boulevard. The new commune administrative centre is already being built on the Place Kuborn and is set to open this year. Still at the entrance to the city on the riverbank, the CMI company, owners of the Château de Seraing, has demolished an old hangar in order to build the ‘Orangery’ an office building with a park, opening out onto the city which will be completed this year. The modifications to the bank-side roadways will enable the Château to emerge from the ditch in which it currently appears to be buried. Just to the side, the themed Gastronomia (former Neocitta II) shopping centre will adjoin a new public park. To the west, on the Val St-Lambert, site, the future Cristal Park will be home to a mix of activities: housing, aquatic leisure activities, offices and a hotel.

The master plan explaining the post-industrial revitalisation of the city of Seraing can be downloaded at www.eriges.be/fr/ documents/24-master-plan-version-finale.aspx

doc. Eriges

doc. Eriges

See also www.eriges.be > Eriges is the autonomous communal authority in charge of putting the Seraing master plan into operation.

At either side of the river, the entrance to the city of Seraing will be profoundly altered, especially on the right bank.

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Offices I Liege Gradually catching up

Offices I Antwerp Poor performance partially due to the scarcity of modern office buildings

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Offices I Brussels A self-regulating market but facing many challenges

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FINANCE TOWER - Jasper-Eyers Architects for Fedimmo

GATEWAY – Jasper-Eyers Architects for Immobel & Codic

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Offices I Ghent Top rents in Ghent overtake those in Antwerp

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R Offices I Wallonia Building projects in the pipeline

JUST UNDER THE SKY - Art&Build /Quick it for Equilis

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REAL ESTATE MARKETS & PROJECTS

84 Retail I 2012-2013 Market trends

A mixed bag but weathering the storm

Retail I Brussels North Neo, Uplace and Just under the Sky projects are competing for shoppers

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Offices I Market Trends I Brussels

A self-regulating market b many challenges Despite a somewhat perturbed economic, social and political climate, transactions during 2012 on the Brussels office market can be described as satisfactory, although the investment level was disappointing. Take-up from companies and administrations was 11% up compared to 2011, vacancy is down but remains around the 10% mark, and ‘facevalue’ rents are, in general, stable.

T

Guibert de Crombrugghe, Managing Director - MRICS de Crombrugghe & Partners

Patrizia Tortolani, Economist - MRICS de Crombrugghe & Partners

ake-up(1) recorded during 2012 amounted to more than 400,000 m²(2), which is 11% more than the previous year. This result can be considered as positive even though it remains below the average of the last ten years (around 500,000 m²). The most significant deals were mostly transacted with the European institutions, which proved to be particularly active in 2012: the two principal deals involved the take-up by the European Parliament of 32,000 m² in Trebel and by the European Commission of 25,350 m² in New Orban.

As in 2011, transactions were mainly concentrated in the central business districts of Brussels (Centre, South, North, Louise and Leopold) which accounted for almost 53% of take-up, against 15% in the decentralised zone and 32% in the periphery, which thus gained in importance, moving up from 21% in 2011. A recovery in activity by the private sector was also observed. Since the beginning of the crisis, companies had been generally adopting a ‘wait and see’ attitude, but they proved to be less nervous in 2012 and accounted for 67% of take-up, 20% more than in 2011.

Face-value rents remain stable, but the incentives granted by owners (rent-free periods or rental reductions, participation in the tenant’s fitting-out works etc.) are still just as significant. Pressure on rents is less pronounced due to the recovery in demand and above all to the considerable reduction in the number of speculative projects allied to the unfavourable economic climate and to the difficulty in finding finance for construction or acquisition.

The impact of vacancy on rents and supply This trend is also reflected in vacancy levels(3) which have been gradually falling (to around 10% for the whole of the Brussels market), and particularly in the business districts, where it stands at around 6%. It still remains high in the decentralised zones, however, where it can reach 20%, despite a noticeable return of interest in certain zones, particularly around the airport. Vacancy also remains high for second level or poorly located buildings, which find it difficult

to attract occupiers. They do not respond to current market norms and expectations, which is pushing some owners to convert them to new uses.

The Office Observatory(4) calculates that between 1997 and 2011, some 542,000 m² of offices have been converted to other uses, of which 66% to residential. This represents an average of 36,000 m² per year over the past 15 years, not including 2012.

This trend has picked up speed since 2007, with the average between 2007 and 2011 practically doubling.

Investment While the level of take-up can be considered satisfactory in view of the current situation, results where investment in offices in Brussels is concerned, are more in the balance. The investment level of some € 317,500,000 represents a decrease of almost 40% compared to 2011.The Brussels market is characterised by a greater degree of diversification within investors’ portfolios. Offices are having to face up to increasing competition from other segments (retail, residential etc.) which represent an ever more interesting alternative for investment. For the first time for many years, the investment level in retail property has overtaken that in offices, with 42% of investment going into retail against 33% into offices.

Another noteworthy fact is that mega-deals of over € 50,000,000 principally took place for assets located outside of the capital, although Brussels still represents the principal investment hub with a 46% market share. Yields for good quality buildings with standard 3/6/9 lease contracts remain relatively stable at 6.35 to 6.50%. Much tighter yields (5.2 to 5.5%) are transacted where longer lease contracts are concerned.

Major factors impacting future market evolution The Brussels office market is facing numerous challenges. The regrouping of some State services which has been announced will cause it a reduction of 25 to 30% in the space occupied by civil servants, and the impact of the banking crisis implies a reduction of almost 30% in the space occupied by

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et but which is facing banking institutions: both of these are certain to have a medium term impact on vacancy levels.

Quality buildings, particularly those with good energy performance, remain the products sought by occupants and investors, but there are not many to be found. In parallel with this, owners are more and more often faced with having to make a choice where outmoded buildings are concerned, those which demonstrate substantial structural vacancy. Here, owners will have to opt for a change of use or a total renovation in order to attract occupants.

And finally, mobility problems remain a challenge for Brussels and the project of Environment Minister Evelyne Huytebroeck to remove 25,000 parking spaces (except for exemption) from office buildings

between now and 2022, probably represents another threat to the market, with the risk of decentralisation this move brings with it. Another argument which increases the competitive nature of regional cities, which clearly represent an alternative to Brussels in terms of mobility and cost.

Guibert de Crombrugghe Managing Director, MRICS Patrizia Tortolani, Economist, MRICS n

The area around the airport is attracting renewed interest and improved mobility is doubtless a factor in this. No less than seven out of the Top 20 letting transactions of 2012 occurred in the area, totaling a take-up of almost 59,000 m2 . The ‘Airport Plaza’ building itself has succeeded in attracting four major tenants for a total surface area of nearly 18,000 m2.

Offices Take-up - TOP 20 letting transactions in 2012

Building

m2

District

Tenant

GATEWAY

34,000

Periphery North

Deloitte

TREBEL

32,000

Leopold

European Parliament

NEW ORBAN

25,340

Leopold

European Commission

COVENT GARDEN

19,490

North

European Commission

BELAIR

12,000

Centre

Federal Police

PARC DE L’ALLIANCE

7,000

Periphery South

Braine l’Alleud commune

VERIDIS

6,530

Decentralised

Marsh insurance

CHAMP DE MARS

6,520

Leopold

Baloise insurance

PREMIUM 2

6,190

North

GO ! Onderwijs

AIRPORT PLAZA -RIO

5,760

Periphery North

Levi Strauss Belgium

AIRPORT PLAZA - MONTREAL

5,390

Periphery North

ING Life & Non-Life

SCIENCE/MONTOYER

5,170

Leopold

European Parliament

ARTS-LUX

4,850

Leopold

Dexia Asset management

PARC DE L’ALLIANCE

4,680

Periphery South

PSA Belux

WATERSIDE

4,380

North

Public Federal Service Justice

PEGASUS PARK- I

3,830

Periphery North

Clear2pay

AIRPORT PLAZA – GENEVA

3,620

Periphery North

Samsung Electronics Benelux

AIRPORT PLAZA – STOCKHOLM

3,160

Periphery North

Mc Square

CORPORATE VILLAGE

3,100

Periphery North

Pepsico

ARTS 56

2,920

Leopold

Australian Embassy

(1) Take-up: office space rented or bought (2) Source: Expertise News (3) Vacancy level: percentage of office space immediately available (4) Office Observatory: published by the SDRB (Brussels Regional Development Agency)

Sources : Jones Lang Lasalle – On.point - Brussels Office Market Report Q4 2012

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Offices I Market Trends I Brussels

Market Analysis and maj o Centre

underway or projected in this zone are for the most part total renovations.

One of the iconic projects of this district is without any doubt Bel Air (former State administrative complex). In May 2012 the city authorities adopted a new specific ground use plan (PPAS), which in particular decreased the density of the site. Almost 143,500 m² will thus be renovated or constructed, with 50,000 m2 of housing, of which a minimum of 30 % will be social or subsidised, offices amounting to 68,000 m2 (already taken up by the Federal Police), 16,500 m² of extra offices and services and a minimum of 5,000 m2 of shops.

The second major large scale project is Chambon which schedules the conversion of the old headquarters of the former CGER, a historic and prestigious complex located on the Rue Fossé aux Loups, into 234 apartments, 11,500 m² of offices, a luxury hotel, 135 student flats, 199 car parking spaces and some shops. This project perfectly illustrates the policy of reducing space occupied by the banks and should represent some 50,000 m².

The permit request has been lodged and has already received a favourable opinion from the consultation committee.

This district has the lowest vacancy rate in Brussels (after the district around the South Station), at around 5.5%, stable in comparison with 2011.

© Allfin - Jaspers-Eyers Architects & A2RC Architects

Allfin, the developer of the Chambon project – from the name of the architect of some of the original buildings – schedules the conversion of the old headquarters of the former CGER into a mixed use complex of offices, residential accommodation, shops and even a luxury hotel. This rehabilitation of the entire block will breathe new life into one of the historic districts of the centre of Brussels.

A sought after zone The central districts are those of the ‘pentagon’ taking in the whole of the zone contained within the inner ring road. They constitute the financial centre of the city and the country, through the presence of the Brussels stock exchange and the National Bank, which has attracted many other banks here over time. This zone is bounded by first rate shopping streets. Going beyond the presence of Central Station around which have developed numerous large scale projects over recent years, this zone has the advantage of excellent public transport networks, which represent an overriding criterion in selecting a location, particularly for the large institutions and public administrations. The principal occupants to be found here are Belgian financial groups, ministries and private companies.

As well as the good image of the district, it also possesses an excellent mix of functions and services.

This zone is gaining in importance, thanks in particular to numerous renovation and reconstruction projects for administrative and residential buildings, such as the De Ligne project (around 33,000 m²), the Treurenberg project (around10,000 m2) in the same district of the Rue Royale, the Regent 35 at the corner of Rue de la Loi and Boulevard du regent, and the former headquarters of Allianz Belgium on the Place de Brouckère (around 50,000 m²). Projects currently

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© Jones Lang Lasalle

aj or projects by business district

results 2012 : Market dashboard : 14,660,000 m² of offices KEY FIGURES

Pentagon

South

Leopold

North

Louise

Decentralised

Periphery

Stock

2,425,000

510,000

3,265,000

1,620,000

860,000

3,255,000

2,755,000

Percentage

16,5%

3,5%

22,3%

11,1%

5,9%

22,0%

18,8%

49,4%

22,9%

30,8%

18,7%

52,5%

14,9%

21,4%

Vacancy level**

5,5%

2,0%

7,0%

6,0%

12,5%

16,0%

20,0%

Prime rents*

235

200

290

190

210

185

165-125

Prime yields

6,25%

6,50%

6,25%

6,50%

6,50%

7,25%

7,50%

of total stock Proportion of second hand buildings

Strong and week points of the various districts of the Brussels Capital Region Advantageous fiscal regime

-

-

-

--

-

-

++

Acces by public transport

++

++

+

++

=

-

--

Quality of stock

=

++

+

+

-

=

+

Presence of facilities

++

++

++

++

++

+

+

Presence of green areas

-

--

-

-

=

+

++

++ Excellent

+ Good

= Average

- Bad

-- Very bad

* Prime rent : best rent obtained

** Vacancy level : % of office space immediately available

Sources: de Crombrugghe & Partners + Expertise News

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Offices I Market Trends I Brussels

South (Midi) District

The fourth WTC tower will be integrated into the base unit of the three other towers. The conception of the building includes the latest sustainable construction technologies, with in particular 1,230 m2 of photovoltaic panels located on the façade and 620 m2 on the roof. These qualities have been recognised with the ‘Exemplary Buildings’ label which was awarded by the Brussels Capital Region at the beginning of February.

Revitalisation of the district continues This district is located around the South Station, and has greatly developed over the past fifteen years. Its numerous new developments, combined with the arrival of the TGV and the complete refitting of the South Station, have turned it into an office zone in its own right. Its principal occupants are public administrations and service companies such as the SNCB, Infrabel, Smalls etc.

The South District is above all a lessors’ market.

Supply until now has been limited and demand more substantial. This is reflected by a very low vacancy rate which means that potential tenants for this district have little negotiating room.

The landmark project in this district is ‘Victor’, an Atenor Group and BPI development representing a total surface area of some 100,000 m². This project involves the construction of three office towers and a smaller residential tower on the ‘Lombard’ block (Rue Blérot, alongside the Midi Tower). A planning permit request has been lodged by the developer.

As well as the 100.000 m² of the Victor project, the SNCB is planning to construct 250.000 m² of offices over time, largely along the Avenue

Fonsny. The timing of the project has not yet been determined, as the priority of the SNCB is first of all to recondition all of the areas of the zone between the station and the inner ring road, with the Avenue Fonsny to the east and the Boulevard de l’Europe to the west. .

North District Large scale projects in the pipeline This district has become more and more frequented over the past 20 years, in particular due to the lack of available sites in Brussels. This is a modern district, located just outside the Pentagon, around the Boulevard Albert II, between the Avenue du Port and the North Station. This district benefits from a good network of public transport facilities.

Companies located in the North District are from various sectors, and generally have need of large amounts of office space. The public sector still represents a substantial proportion.

This district is continuing on its path because following Boréal (35,000 m²) the GDF-Suez towers (two towers with a total surface area of 75,000 m² developed by AG Real Estate), the Zenith tower (30,000 m²) which is still looking for tenants for some of its space, new large scale projects are also seeing light of day, including:

© Jasper Eyers-Architects

The UP-site project developed by Atenor, on a 1.2 hectare site located along the canal at the level of the Quai des Armateurs, and opposite the Tour & Taxis site. This project currently under construction schedules retailing (approx. 1,650 m²), offices approx. 29,600 m² of which buildings UP-38 and UP-36 of 7,000 m² and 6,200 m² respectively have already been sold to Ethias and PMV) and around 48,450 m² of housing, of which 36,100 m² in the 42-storey tower, the tallest in Brussels.

Silver Tower, a new 27 storey tower (almost 33,000 m2 of offices) set to overlook the current headquarters of AG Real Estate (Botanic Building).

The building permit has been granted and the developer, AG Real Estate Development, is expected to begin works as early as this year. This construction will contribute to the rehabilitation of a district located between the Place Rogier, the North Station and the Botanical Gardens, and especially the Saint Lazare Square and Boulevard Saint Lazare.

The WTC 4 tower. The master plan drawn up in the 60’s for the construction of the North District towers scheduled eight towers, including four for the World Trade Center (WTC). Three were built for the WTC, and the construction of the fourth is now being envisaged by developer Fedimmo.

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Some 29 storeys high, it is expected to provide will be applied to each of the blocks, implying an extension potential for certain buildings. almost 56,000 m² of offices.

Several large scale projects are under development in the district:

Brussels Europa. This occupies the site of the former Crowne Plaza located on the Rue de Loi and now demolished. This office project by developer Atenor represents around 47,000 m² of which 1,000 m² of retail space. Depending on the The redevelopment of the Tour & Taxis site, granting of permits, works should start in 2013 which schedules around 148,000 m² of offices, at the earliest. When this happens, the Belgacom telephone switchboard unit which currently although the timing is difficult to estimate. occupies the site, will have moved.

Leopold District

Trebel. Located at the corner of the Rue de Trèves and the Rue Belliard, this Atenor group project The centre of planning attention The Leopold District represents without any doubt consists of the demolition and reconstruction of the most important business district of the capital, with the Schuman roundabout and the Square de Meeûs as its nerve centres. This district is located to the east of the city centre and is spread around the Rue de le Loi and Rue Belliard, between the Boulevard du Régent and the Cinquantenaire Park. It has the advantage of an excellent network of public transport, and is in particular served by the Luxembourg and Schuman railway stations, enabling immediate connections with the entire national and international network, as well as with the TGV terminals. Many metro stations and bus lines also serve the district, with their axis on the Rue de la Loi. It is essentially the European institutions which occupy this district, along with the major national ministries, and certain Belgian and foreign company headquarters. The presence of the European Parliament and Council of Ministers only serves to strengthen its attraction.

Setting in motion the ‘Projet Urbain Loi‘ (PUL), which appeared in the ‘Moniteur’ in January 2011, will undoubtedly have a morphological effect on the district. With this project the regional authorities intend to make of this zone the major international and European employment hub of the region, as well as being a diversified residential area and a cultural, sports and leisure district accessible to all. The PUL extends over ten blocks located around the Rue de la Loi and is currently home to some 560,000 m² of offices.

The objective over time is to break up the ‘corridor effect’ represented by the Rue de la Loi, improve pedestrian flows, create green public areas, improve mobility and reduce the number of driving lanes on the Rue de la Loi and Rue Belliard. All new construction and renovation projects have to take account of new urban planning legislation, such as new building frontages, a mix of functions and the new surface area to ground area ratio of 8, which

The Brussels Europa tower will be one of the new constructions to integrate the principles set out by architect Christian De Portzamparc in the context of the overall plan known as Projet Urbain Loi, by combining a mixture of functions including offices, retail and housing.

© image ATENOR – Architects BURO II & ARCHI +I

The ‘Brussels Tower’ (former Belgacom TBR tower). This project, for which developer Immobel has been granted a permit, consists of renovating and extending the existing tower which was built in the 70’s. In total, the emblematic architecture of the Z-shaped building will provide over 60,000 m².

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Offices I Market Trends I Brussels

a new office building of some 32,500 m² which has received a BREEAM Excellent pre-evaluation.

In 2012 the European Parliament came to an agreement with the developer to acquire the project upon completion with a suspension clause, conditional upon a planning permit being granted.

Decentralised

A contrasted evolution caused by the diversity of districts This zone includes the other districts located within the 19 communes of Brussels. It is less homogenous and office buildings zones are concentrated along the major thoroughfares, such as the Chaussée de La Hulpe, Boulevard du Souverain, Boulevard de Black Pearl (former Euler Hermes headquarters) la Plaine, Boulevard du Triomphe and Boulevard by developer Immobel: the project consists of the de la Woluwe. It is essentially large international demolition/ reconstruction of an office building companies which choose to locate here. responding to current energy norms and with a surface area of around 12,000 m². Delivery is It can be observed that the districts which are well expected for the end of next year. served by public transport, such as the Chaussée de La Hulpe and the Boulevard du Souverain, We should also mention Juste Lipse II (60,000 m²), perform far better than those zones with a less new New Orban (24,500 m²) which will be developed public transport network, such as the occupied by the European Commission and Rue Colonel Bourg and Marcel Thiry, where a very Realex (45,000 m²), a project initiated by Leaselex high vacancy level is to be found. No project was (Europa Capital) with start of works scheduled for delivered in 2012 and few projects are scheduled for the medium term. Development activity 2014. is largely concentrated on projects to convert In time these projects are set to have a negative buildings to residential accommodation or rest effect on vacancy levels, which currently stand at homes, as has been the case for certain buildings in the Marcel Thiry district. This type of conversion around 7%. represents an interesting alternative in these more difficult districts.

Louise District

Inoccupation due to second generation buildings This district is located to the south of the inner ring road, essentially along the Avenue Louise, between the Porte Louise and the Cambre woods.

Access to this zone is less easy and the office buildings contained within it tend to be of older construction. Over the past few years the city has been orienting its policy towards converting office buildings into residential. This is a mixed environment which includes residential, offices, some high quality shops, hotels and restaurants.

It is largely small and medium private companies which have located here, along with law firms and consultants, attracted amongst others by the proximity of the law courts.

This zone is characterised by a high proportion (almost 52 %) of second generation buildings (more than 15 years old) which no longer meet current market norms, a factor which is expected to lead to numerous renovations or conversions to other uses in the future. This large proportion of outmoded buildings doubtless explains one of the highest vacancy levels of the central districts, approaching 12.5%. E-Lite, the renovation of the former Bayer building (around 7,000 m² of offices) by the real estate developer Pylos, is one of the only large scale projects in this district. It is set to be delivered at the end of this year and the Volkswagen group has already signed to take up almost 30 % of the building

The decrease in the number of speculative projects, along with conversion projects, has enabled the vacancy level to stand at 16 %, with, however, a wide diversity according to district. The largest project in this zone is without doubt the 200,000 m² project located on the Avenue du Bourget and destined for the new headquarters of NATO, which is set to move in 2014 if the programme remains on schedule.

Another sizeable project, on the Plaine des Manœuvres in Ixelles (VUB) involves Universalis Park by Immobel and Louis De Waele. The project is set to total 130,000 m² of which 65,000 m² of offices. The first phase should amount to 12,000 m² and is set to be programmed in the near future.

The Veridis project by Herpain in Auderghem is also worthy of mention. This involves a building of some 6,600 m² of low energy offices. Permits have been granted and end 2012 Marsh Insurance has signed to take up the building.

Because of the diversity of districts within it, rents in this zone vary greatly from one district to another. In certain areas, rents have even fallen below the € 100/m²/year mark.

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Ring and Periphery Renewed interest in the airport zone This zone, located outside of the Brussels Capital Region and which takes in those communes alongside the Ring (Machelen, Zaventem, Waterloo etc.), has grown considerably since the 80’s with the development of numerous office parks. This first took place around the airport at Zaventem (Keiberg, Airway Park, Airport Business Center, Ikaros, Airport Plaza, Astra Gardens, Pegasus, Corporate Village) which is a zone in its own right, and then extended towards more distant zones such as Waterloo, Braine l’Alleud, La Hulpe, Hoeilaert, etc. (Waterloo Office Park, Parc de l’Alliance, Collines de Wavre, and more recently Axis Parc, the Portes de l’Europe at Nivelles, along with the renovation and construction of the Watson Crick Hill Park at Louvain-La-Neuve). Occupants here are largely computer and technological companies The major attraction is to be found in the rental levels, more competitive than the city centre, coupled with a more advantageous fiscal policy.

Accessibility by car is good, although this has been less evident over recent years, due in particular to the substantial concentration of office parks in these zones and to a road network which is not totally suited to this. These parks are generally less well served by public transport, even though a genuine effort to improve the network is to be observed, especially around Zaventem.

This aspect has been particularly highlighted by the very recent decision of Deloitte to move into the ‘Gateway’ building under a long term lease.

This new development by Codic and Immobel schedules a profound renovation of former Zaventem terminal, along with the addition of an extra wing, and will offer around 34,000 m2. The start of works for the construction of this project has been announced for the beginning of 2014 with completion scheduled for 2016. Gateway represents the first stage of the development of the ‘Airport Village’ project which, following the example of what has been done around Schipol and Frankfurt airports, in particular plans for the gradual location of offices, meeting rooms and conference centres for a total surface area of 400,000 m2.

Guibert de Crombrugghe Managing Director, MRICS Patrizia Tortolani, Economist, MRICS n

More than 2,000 employees of Deloitte will soon occupy the former Zaventem terminal, transformed into around 34,000 m2 of offices. One of the major choice criteria was mobility and accessibility to the building, located within the airport terminal and connected to the station which, since a short time ago, with the Diabolo train line, directly connects to Antwerp and Mechelen without having to pass through Brussels.

© Jasper Eyers-Architects

This zone has performed fairly well as its market share in terms of take-up has increased from 22 % in 2011 to 32 % in 2012. The area around the airport is attracting renewed interest and improved mobility is doubtless a factor in this. Mobility has

in particular been improved by the new Diabolo train service, which since June 2012 has provided more rapid connections between the north of the country and Brussels National airport. A new tram project connecting the centre of Brussels to its regional boundary in the first instance, and to the airport at Zaventem later, is currently underway, as is the improvement to the Boulevard Leopold II through the creation of a road tunnel enabling motorists to reach the centre of Brussels or go on to the airport while avoiding local traffic.

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© Bernard De Keyzer

OFFICES I MARKET I brussels I

© Yvan Glavie

2

© Jean-Michel Byl

4

© Georges Dekinder

5

7 © Georges Dekinder

© Marc Detiffe

3

1

6

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Prime offices to let

NAME

ADDRESS

e LaSall

Lang

Jones

Cushm

CBRE

an & W akefie

ld

Here we present a selection of prime buildings located in Brussels and its periphery which have office space to let. This selection made end of April 2013 enlist properties having immediate availability for office space with a minimum of 5.000 m2 or more. The list is by no means exhaustive, and has been compiled from information supplied by the three letting agents, or agents, mentioned who advised us of their mandates.

Other ‘joint mandates’ from other agencies may be in place. For an updated information, please refer to these letting agents websites : • CBRE: www.cbre.be/be • Cushman & Wakefield: www.cushwake.be • Jones Lang LaSalle: www.joneslanglasalle.be

M2

CENTRE 1

•

Marquis

1 Rue du Marquis - 1000 Brussels

14,700 m2

Alhambra

20 Boulevard Jacqmain - 1000 Brussels

10,500 m

Pépinière

20 Rue de la pépinière - 1000 Brussels

5,500 m2

•

Avenue Marnix, 24 - 1000 Brussels

17,600 m2

•

2

•

2

EUROPEAN DISTRICT Marnix II

2

3

•

Merode (Court Saint Michel) 41 Avenue de Tervueren - 1040 Brussels

12,700 m

•

Arts 58

58 Avenue des Arts - 1000 Brussels

12,500 m2

•

•

Pericles

21-25 Rue de la Science - 1040 Brussels

8,600 m2

•

Da Vinci

95-107 Avenue de Cortenbergh - 1000 Brussels

7,600 m

Art Building

20 Avenue des Arts - 1000 Brussels

5,800 m

Bastion Tower

5 Place du champ de mars - 1050 Brussels

5,000 m2

Rogier Tower (ex-Dexia)

11 Place Rogier - 1210 Brussels

30,000 m2

Botanic Tower

1 Square Victoria Regina - 1000 Brussels

23,800 m

Zenith

37 Boulevard. du Roi Albert II -1030 Brussels

17,130 m2

North Plaza B

7 Boulevard du Roi Albert II -1210 Brussels

14,650 m2

•

•

Eolis

13-15 Square Sainctelette - 1000 Brussels

8,850 m

•

•

Arbre-Bénit

Rue de l’arbre bénit - 1050 Brussels

15,000 m2

Trio

110 Chaussée de Charleroi - 1060 Brussels

13,120 m2

•

•

Woluwe Office Garden

24-30 Boulevard de la Woluwe - 1932 Sint-Stevens Woluwe

23,000 m2

•

Woluwe Heights

110 Avenue des Communautés - 1200 Brussels

10,700 m2

•

Atlantis

584 Avenue Charles Quint - 1082 Brussels

11,850 m2

•

Plaine15

11-15 Boulevard De la Plaine - 1050 Brussels

7,500 m

•

Lavoisier

40 Rue de Koninck - 1080 Brussels

7,500 m

SDRB /BRDA

Hermann Debroux

52 Avenue Hermann Debroux - 1160 Brussels

5,700 m2

Espace Rolin

Boulevard Louis Schmidt - 1040 Brussels

5,600 m2

•

Marcel Thiry Corner

75-77 Avenue Marcel Thiry - 1200 Brussels

5,000 m2

•

Corporate Village

5 Da Vincilaan - 1831 Diegem

28,440 m2

•

Pegasus

6 De Kleetlaan - 1831 Diegem

17,000 m2

•

Telecomlaan 5-7

31 Telecomlaan - 1831 Diegem

11,600 m

•

Airport Plaza

Vuurberg - 1831 Diegem

10,000 m

•

Twin Squares

1 Culliganlaan - 1831 Diegem

9,700 m

•

•

•

2

•

2

•

NORTH DISTRICT 4

5

• •

2

2

•

•

LOUISE • •

DECENTRALISED

6

2

2

•

•

•

PERIPHERY NORTH

7

2

2

2

•

• •

• •

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OFFICEs I PROJECTS I BRUSSELS NORTH I

Jaspers-Eyers Architects for Fedimmo

WTC IV

Boulevard du Roi Albert II 24, 1000 Brussels Developer Architect Engineering Surface area Parking spaces Certification Status Completition

Fedimmo Jaspers- Eyers Architects Greisch bGroup / VK Engineering / Felgen Engineering 55,890 m² 211 car spaces + 282 bike spaces + 6 motor bike BREEAM Outstanding + Bâtiment Exemplaires 2012 Building permit introduced 2015/2016

The World Trade Center towers I, II, III and IV, North Galaxy, together with the Belgacom Towers, form the anchor crossroad of the Espace Nord, the high-rise business district of downtown Brussels. The area was first envisioned in the 1960’s within the framework of an urban master plan and the World Trade Center IV (WTC IV) is part of the original central eight-tower concept proposed in 1967. The 55,887 m² WTC IV will be built within an existing infrastructure and urban master plan. It will, however, introduce to the ensemble the most advanced techniques in terms of master planning, landscaping and sustainability. While the 29-storey 102-metre high WTC IV tower will have the same dimensions as the other seven towers already completed, the net office area will be higher. In addition to an array of sustainable techniques such as 1,230 m2 of photo-voltaic cells applied all along the façades with an additional 620 m2 located on the roof, hanging gardens and a central rooftop landscaped patio will be integrated within the 9-storey podium. In addition to providing more useable areas with particularly large 3,863 m² floor plates, the new low-rise wing will allow the high-rise project to form a more coherent urban ensemble together with the lower buildings already completed nearby or scheduled to be built in the coming years.

UP-site

Place des Armateurs & Quai de Willebroeck, 1000 Brussels Willebroeck. The offices are rapidly finding takers: contracts have already been signed : Ethias (7,150m²) for a building delivered in June 2012, Unizo for 6,300m² delivered in October 2012 and PMV, also for a 6,300m² building due to be delivered in June 2013.

Around10,000 m² are still available. UP-site is located in the center of the city no more than three hundred meters from North Station – the largest transport interchange and hub in Belgium.

Ateliers Lion / A2RC ARCHITECTS for Atenor Group

UP-site represents a major part of the rehabilitation of the canal area, giving back to Brussels a waterway and the option of waterside living. The UP-site project occupies an area of 1.25 hectares The ‘mixed use’ project consists of a 142-metre high residential tower (with its 42-storey the tallest tower in Belgium), a group of smallersize apartment buildings, an extensive office complex, leisure and retail activity. UP-site includes a complex of four office buildings (around 30.000 m²) located on Quai the

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Studio Milo for AG Real Estate

MORE ON WWW.PRO-REALEsTATE.BE/PROJECTs

SILVER TOWER

Place Saint Lazare, 1210 Brussels Developer Architects Surface area Status

AG Real Estate Accarain-Bouillot Atelier d’Architecture de Genval 33,000 m² start the building possibly in 2013 ( to be confirmed)

Studio Milo for AG Real Estate

Located in the North District and close to the city centre (Place Rogier, Rue Neuve, City 2 shopping centre), with direct access to the North railway station, the Silver Tower is set to represent a new landmark in Brussels. Some 33,000 m² of offices will be spread over 27 floors. The building is designed to respond to the high environmental norms demanded for ‘BREEAM’ certification, and therefore to obtain a ‘Very Good’ or even ‘Excellent’ rating. Silver Tower will contribute to the rehabilitation of this part of Brussels. The intention for this area is to re-establish on the Boulevard St.-Lazare a genuine link between the city centre, the North district and the rest of the commune of St.-Josse. The authorities wish to breathe new, human life into the area which is so close to many of the city’s most popular attractions – including the Botanical Gardens.

New lighting and signposting will form part of the plan, along with cultural and residential installations and shops. Just alongside the Boulevard St.-Lazare, the Place Rogier is already receiving a similar treatment, giving this focal point of the city the image it deserves.

BRUSSELS TOWER

1 Boulevard du Roi Albert II, 1000 Brussels Developer Architect Structural engineer Surface area Status

Immobel / KBC Real Estate Jaspers- Eyers Architects VK engineering 63,400 m² Building permit delivered

Jaspers-Eyers Architects for Immobel

Within the rehabilitation projects of the area around the Boulevard Saint Lazare, this is a possible vision of the reshaped Boulevard Saint Lazare at the foot of the future Silver Tower in the North District of Brussels.

This building originally dating from the 70’s – the former TBR Building occupied by the telecom operator Belgacom until 2009. The development will involve a heavy refurbishment of the existing structure with the construction of new additional surface. The outstanding architecture of the building will be in the form of a Z-shaped glazed tower.

With the ‘Silver Tower ’project from AG Real Estate at the nearby place Saint Lazare and on the same boulevard, the WTC 4 project from Fedimmo, the Brussels Tower represents one of the last possible real estate developments in the North District.

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OFFICEs I PROJECTS I EUROPEAN DISTRICT I

BRUSSELS EUROPA

Chaussée d’Etterbeek and the Rue de la Loi, 1000 Brussels Developer Masterplan Architects Surface area Status

Atenor Christian de Portzamparc BURO II & ARCHI +I 47,000 m² permit introduced in December 2012 The Atenor project involves 47,000 m², this surface area being spread across the floors of a 114 metre high tower, with a ground area covering half a hectare. Brussels Europa is characterised by two breaks at different levels of its elevation, architectural devices which should be pleasing to the eye. Brussels Europa will also be an example of the principle of mixed urban functions (employment, housing and shops) and responds to the demands of sustainable development and of a compact, dense city.

Assar architects for Leaselex

Architects BURO II & ARCHI +I for Atenor

At the beginning of February real estate developer Atenor unveiled the first full views of its project for Brussels Europa, to be located in the very heart of the European district.

In 2005 Atenor acquired the Crowne Plaza Brussels Europa hotel, located in the heart of the European district. The objective was to convert the building into a quality mixed real estate project, once the hotel activity ceased in December 2011. The project is now becoming a reality, within an evolving legislative framework.

REALEX

Rue de la Loi 101, 1000 Brussels Developer Masterplan Architect Surface area Structural engineer Delivery

Leaselex Christian de Portzamparc Assar Architects 45,000 m² Greisch start of work to be announced

Described as possibly one of the last major development in the Leopold (European) district of Brussels, this real estate development project consists of a plot located at Rue de la Loi 99-105.

Assar Architects has designed for Realex a facade which is in complete contrast with the overall monotonous character of rue de la Loi. Real estate developer Leaselex has been granted a planning permit which allows for substantial office space above ground and a large basement area. In keeping with the ‘mixed use’ philosophy of Brussels for this district, Realex will also have conference facilities, shops and residential accommodation. In addition to its high architectural quality, the building will be state of the art in terms of both technology and sustainability.

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MORE ON WWW.PRO-REALEsTATE.BE/PROJECTs

BLACK PEARL

15 Rue Montoyer, 1000 Brussels Developer Architect Stability and General technics Special technics Surface area

Parking Delivery

Immobel Art & Build Bagon TPF group VK Engineering 11,500 m² + vast archives area in basement -2 (3,000 m2) 55 spaces End 2014

COBELFROI

ADE-Marc Stryckman for Coblefroi

© Gabari / Art & Build for Immobel

Located in the Brussels CBD in the European district, the 8-storey Black Pearl has been designed to meet all of the requirements of companies, associations and other bodies wishing to meet their strategic, financial and social objectives. The philosophy behind the architecture is to break away from the traditional ‘concrete blocks’ of Brussels European district. Black Pearl features a contrasting architectural style in both colour and form, juxtaposing the black tint of the masonry with large, glazed bright areas. Even the car-park entrance is designed to blend with this attractive architecture, and to give the driver the feeling of entering into the building, not just descending out of sight below it. Features of the building include an extremely high level input of natural daylight, peripheral office areas with central service zones, a ‘duplex’ treatment of the floors for added airiness, informal areas for human communication, intelligent reactive lighting and intelligent, flexible temperature regulation.

These elements have led to Black Pearl being named as winner in the ‘Brussels Exemplary Buildings 2012’ scheme and to BREEAM ‘Excellent’ certification.

Rue Belliard 222-228 /Rue Froissart 79-93, 1000 Brussels Developer Architect Surface area Parking Status

Cobelfroi SA ADE-Marc Stryckman & Partners 10,350 m² 46 spaces under construction

Cobelfoi is a mixed use project located just behind the European Commission’s main building in the heart of the European district. The project is set to include offices, residential accommodation and retail. The configuration of the new building will see retail units and offices at the lower levels and apartments above. This location benefits from proximity to the Place Jourdan, with its shops, restaurants and hotel, and to Leopold Park, leading up to the European Parliament. The building will be labelled with the BREEAM environmental certification providing in the future the required energy performance levels.

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OFFICEs I PROJECTS I BRUSSELS CENTRE I

DE LIGNE

Rue de la Banque 7, 1000 Brussels HF Estate Management Gmbh Jaspers-Eyers Architects VK engineering 33,000 m² offices + 6,500 m2 polyvalent surface 199 spaces Permit delivered Jones Lang LaSalle

Jaspers- Eyers & Architects

Developer Architects Service Engineer Surface area

Parking Status Real estate broker

ASSAR Architects for Axa belgium

This project involves the renovation of an historical building at de corner of the rue de Ligne and the rue De la Montagne, and a modern office building of the 1970’s with accompanying underground parking facility mixed use areas, archives and technical rooms. The building is located just behind the main St Michel and Gudule Cathedral, in the historic heart of Brussels just above the Grand Place, with easy access by public transport including the nearby Central railway station. The renovation will enable the building to meet contemporary comfort requirements, technical standards and environmental legislation. Three underground floors can be dedicated to facility services like a company canteen, conference center, archives, copy centre …

Treurenberg Owner and developer Architect Surface Parking spaces Start of works Completion Real estate broker

AXA Belgium ASSAR Architects 9,800 m2 59 August 2013 June 2015 Jones Lang LaSalle

The 8-storey Treurenberg office project is located in the historical business district of Brussels, a few steps from the Central Railways Station and a block away from the Royal Park. The 9,800 m2 project , developed by AXA Belgium and designed by ASSAR Architect, is the result of a design competition for the reconstruction of the site. Sustainability is a focus with as objective to be a net zero energy project. The building is certified excellent under the BREEAM standards. Triple-glazing and 1,134 m2 photovoltaic cells are only a couple of energy efficient and sustainable features. Original Brussels city walls hidden for decades behind the existing obsolete project will be restored and incorporated into the overall Treurenberg design concept and those essential heritage elements could then be seen by the public from the street when the project will be completed.

ASSAR Architects for Axa belgium

Corner of Rue Treurenberg and Place de Louvain, 1000 Brussels

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CHAMbON

Rue du fossé aux loups, Rue d’argent, Rue des boîteux, Rue Montagne aux herbes potagères, 1000 Brussels Developer Architects Office space Parking Status Completition Real estate broker Carmen Building

Allfin Jaspers-Eyers Architects – A2RC Architects 11,500 m² 199 spaces Start of work march 2013 2015/2016 Jones Lang LaSalle

Jaspers-Eyers Architects – A2RC architects for Allfin

MORE ON WWW.PRO-REALEsTATE.BE/PROJECTs

A new step in the rehabilitation of the former CGER bank headquarters in the historical centre of Brussels has begun. The ‘Chambon’ occupies the entire block, nearly one hectare, in front of the Radisson hotel and behind the Place de Brouckère. The ‘Chambon’ is being renovated into a multi-functional complex, designed to be a miniature ‘district’ in itself. The rehabilitation of site will see the former 60,000 m² of offices which hosted up to 3,000 workers of the CGER banking institution, transformed into a ‘living district’ with apartments, student flats, a high quality hotel, traditional and loft-type offices and shopping and restaurant units.

© Archi 2000

rEGENT 35

Boulevard du Régent 35 /Rue de la Loi 13, 1000 Brussels Developer Architect Surface area Parking Delivery

Cimmoregent Archi 2000 7,315 m² 37 spaces Q4 - 2014

© Archi 2000

Regent 35 is a project involving the demolition of a 19th century townhouse, which will then be replaced by a modern office building of ground floor plus five upper floors and two recessed floors configuration.

There will be a total surface area above ground of 7,315 m2. Regent 35 occupies a prime location on the corner of the Rue de la Loi and Boulevard du Régent, less than 100 metres from the Royal Park and the Belgian parliament. This location is at the junction of the European/Leopold district and the city centre.

The objectives of the developer revolve around optimal flexibility and efficiency, workspace comfort, energy economy, the office/circulation routes ratio, along with pleasant and efficient car park.

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OFFICEs I PROJECTS I BRUSSELS CENTRE I

© Renerding Detrois for AG Real Estate

CENTRE 58

Rue de l’Evêque, 1000 Brussel Developer Architect Surface area

AG Real Estate Bruno Albert 30,000 m²

© Renerding Detrois for AG Real Estate

Centre 58 is set to respond to a call for tenders by the City of Brussels for the establishment of a new administrative complex. The building will be ‘exemplary’ within the context of the city’s environmental construction philosophy. Along with the 30,000 m² of offices with 110 parking spaces will be 4,500 m² of residential accommodation and a further 46 parking spaces for these apartments. Centre 58 will be developed speculatively by AG Real Estate if the City should decide not to proceed.

E LITE

143 Avenue Louise,1050 Brussels

© Jaspers- Eyers Architects for Pylos

Developer Architect Surface area Parking Delivery

Pylos Jaspers-Eyers Architects 7.000 m2 offices 66 spaces Q4 2013

© Jaspers- Eyers Architects for Pylos

The development will transform the former Bayer HQ on the prestigious Avenue Louise, into a new office development combining low energy technologies with contemporary architecture. The project will be BREEAM and Valideo certified, both obtaining a global ‘very good’ level. E-Lite will offer improved accessibility, alternative mobility facilities, accessible terraces and patios, natural light for all offices, high efficiency energetic concepts and improved flexibility. These qualities convinced the Volkswagen Group Services, in an early stage, to sign up for circa 30% of the total surface. More recently the real estate broker Knight Frank signed to move into E-lite building on January 1st next year. The firm has also been mandated with management of the building.

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2013

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20.03.2013 04/05/1315:37:55 08:17

Offices I Market Trends I ANTWERP

Poor performance partially due to the scarcity of modern office buildings In Belgium, Antwerp is the second largest office market after Brussels. It represents around 10% of total Belgian office stock, some 1.900.000 m² excluding Mechelen. Despite its reduced size compared to Brussels and other large European cities, the Antwerp market offers considerable advantages, such as the presence of one of Europe’s most important ports, excellent national and international means of transport (particularly to the Netherlands and Germany), a well-developed logistics network, and a good balance between different economic sectors (industry, offices and retail). But Antwerp suffers from mobility issues and a scarcity of high quality buildings.

Guibert de Crombrugghe, Managing Director - MRICS de Crombrugghe & Partners

Patrizia Tortolani, Economist - MRICS de Crombrugghe & Partners

W

hile other regional markets showed themselves very active in 2012, take up in Antwerp was around 25% lower than the previous year, closing with a total volume of 104,000 m² (excl. Mechelen). This is mainly due to the negative economic context.

But, not only to this. Mobility problems and the scarcity of modern office buildings responding to the current needs of occupiers also explain the poor performance of the Antwerp office market in 2012. This scarcity of quality product can engender a vicious circle producing a negative impact on market dynamism. Many companies postponed their decision to move because they couldn’t find a suitable product and developers are waiting for occupiers before launching new projects, especially as banks are still not readily granting finance.

with an 18-year duration from 2015 (building delivery year).

Take-up mostly in the Centre Corporate users were the most active in 2012, preferring central locations, as the Centre represented about 60 % of the take up, against some 20 % for the Ring and the Periphery. Take up in new buildings or pre-lets represented a share of more than 40 % of the total take up in Antwerp, which confirms the high demand for new buildings. The largest transaction in 2012 was the letting by Electrabel of 11,000 m² in the build-to-suit project by Kairos, Kievit II, in the centre of Antwerp. Electrabel signed for usufruct

By contrast with the Brussels market, Antwerp does not really have a strong international appeal.

Business revolves around regional activity, with the port as a major driver. Companies working in the secondary and tertiary sectors find it important to locate their regional or provincial headquarters in this area. Since 2008, the ‘Antwerp Headquarters’ task force, a publicprivate partnership between the city of Antwerp and the private sector, has been aiming to attract enterprises and headquarters of international companies from the Benelux. In a preliminary

Despite the very limited number of speculative projects in 2012, the vacancy level remains high and is currently located at around 11 %, one of the higher levels in Flanders. This is largely structural vacancy in second hand buildings where thorough renovation is not being seen.

In 2012, only a few projects were delivered, such as the Helsmoortel III (7,500 m²) in Berchem and the redevelopment of the Vivium tower on Desguinlei (14,250 m²). Development activity and the new projects pipeline will remain very low in the coming years, with the only major projects known to date being the X-Antwerp (48,000 m²), and City link 2 & 3 at the Posthofbrugstraat (27,000 m²).

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version of the explanatory note of the Antwerp 2012 guideline, the city estimated that 600,000 to 781,000 m² new offices will be needed over the next decade in order to satisfy demand.

Within this context, the city is willing to follow a new planning policy for future offices with the focus on encouraging the development of hubs in headquarters zones (which will mainly be concentrated around the port, Central and Berchem station and, to the west of the city, the other side of the Schelde) and limiting office projects of over 1,500 m² in other zones.

This note is quite ambitious, but represents the first step towards an active and strategic promotion to stimulate and strengthen the Antwerp office buildings market.

The Diamond district: this zone is essentially concentrated around the Central Station where all of the diamond business (cutters and traders) can be found. Offices here are mostly small in size and their popularity depends on the input of natural daylight from the north, essential in this domain where light plays an overriding role.

The development of X-Antwerpen, a mixed-use project of IRET development taking place at the former Berchem X postal sorting depot, located alongside Antwerp-Berchem railway station near the ‘Binnensingel’ and the Antwerp ring road, fits into the new city planning policy for future offices with the focus on encouraging the development of hubs in headquaters zones such as Berchem station.

© Image IRET Development

The south of the city: office zones can be found mainly around the three main axes: the ‘Leien’ (Amerikalei, Britselei, Frankrijklei and Italielei), Mechelsesteenweg and Plantin & Moretuslei. This area is very popular with large administrations as well as with companies from the banking sector, most notably because of its central location, offering excellent visibility along the city’s main thoroughfares, because of the well-developed Focus on the office market by district infrastructure (shops, hotels, restaurants etc.) and because of the substantial amount of public City Centre car parking facilities. Finally, the public transport This area occupies the whole zone contained network is good, with Central Station connecting to the national and international railway networks. inside the inner ring road and extends to the edge of the port zone in the north. Three Due to the large proportion of second hand principal zones can be identified: buildings, almost half of vacancy is concentrated The zone which extends to the north of the in this area.

Meir: little sought-after due to a lack of modern buildings and of visibility.

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Offices I Market Trends I ANTWERP

The business districts of Antwerp

© Jones Lang LaSalle

The business districts on the map represent the classification used by Jones Lang La Salle

The market is geographically divided into 4 main zones: Port, Centre, Singel (Ring zone) and Periphery. With a stock of some 1,900,000 m² excluding Mechelen, Antwerp is the second largest office market in Belgium with 10 % of the total national market.

Vacancy currently stands at around 11 %, Prime rents by zones are as follows: • Port: €125 /m²/year • City centre €145 /m²/year • Ring: €140 /m²/year • Periphery (excl. Mechelen): €125 /m²/year

Port Port activity, which has never stopped growing in importance, is without any doubt the driver behind the City’s economic activity. Many production companies, followed by distribution companies, have set up over time around the port. This zone represents around 10% of total stock and can be divided into two sub-zones: Old Port The Old Port district extends parallel to the Schelde, to the north of Antwerp’s Market Square, up to and around the Bonaparte and Willem docks.

A small core of prestigious maritime companies is

still to be found in this zone, a result of the port activity which was carried out here before it moved northwards with the modernisation of the Port of Antwerp. This zone benefits from a good road network which enables easy access to East Flanders via the Waasland tunnel, and to the city centre.

The district is characterised by a mix of buildings, bringing together the oldest and more modern office buildings.

In this area is het ”Eilandje” to be found. The city wants to convert this city area with a remarkably rich history into a dynamic waterfront neighbourhood. Many things have already been

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realized since the approval of the Master Plan Eilandje (2002). The redevelopment of the partial area Oude Dokken (‘Old Docks’) is nearly completed.

The Cadix area has been turned into a new sustainable residential area by the water and the Montevideo area has been converted into the cultural top attraction of het Eilandje.

New Port The New Port has mostly grown up over the past 20 years and is mainly situated along the Noorderlaan.

Most buildings in this zone are in need of total renovation. Companies located in this zone, with activities often directly connected to port activity, also benefit from access to the Netherlands via the A12 (Antwerp-Roosendaal) and A1 (Antwerp-Breda) motorways located just a few hundred metres from the Noorderlaan.

The ‘Singel’ (or Ring) This zone extends along the city’s ring road and both sides of the Singel and Binnensingel. Most new office projects can be found in this area. The scarcity of modern large-scale buildings (the average being around 3,500 m²) in the centre has encouraged some companies to look to the Ring or Periphery, which have seen the largest development activity over recent years. The Ring zone offers a number of overriding advantages in terms of a location choice and most of the new developments are concentrated here: The development of the Nieuw-Zuid zone is being studied in this part of the city. This 30 ha. zone is bordered by the Singel, the Ring, the quaysides and the new Law Courts. A whole new district is being planned, through a public-private partnership, including housing, offices, shops, leisure activities and public service infrastructure. In 2011, private partners reached a cooperation agreement with the AG Stadsplanning confirming their commitment to finance part of the infrastructure costs. A further 1 to 2 years will be necessary before the project is fully underway.

once 60 % is rented. It will be one of the first projects in Antwerp that will aim to get a ‘very good’ label from BREEAM. X-Antwerpen (located near the Antwerp-Berchem station) is an urban renewal project with a balanced mix of mainly office and school buildings, complemented by retail and leisure. The Masterplan, which was developed in close cooperation with the city of Antwerp, includes the development of 115,000 m² of above ground space (of which 48,000 m² of office space) which is set to be available beginning of 2015.

The Onyx Building (+-12,000 m²), which s nearly completed, is a very modern office project situated on the Antwerp Singel, near the exits of the ring road and the E19 motorway.

Periphery The Periphery, which accounts for some 30% of stock, covers all of the communes located around Antwerp, essentially to the south and west of the city, along the 2 motorways leading to Brussels (E19 / A12), and to a lesser extent to Liège and Eindhoven (A13 / E313 and A21 / E34 respectively). Ease of access half way along the Antwerp-Brussels motorways, together with the proximity of Brussels Airport, constitute the main advantages of this zone.

Many business parks have grown up here over the past few decades, of which some of the most noteworthy are Delta Business Park (approx. 6,000 m²) located at Kontich (Satenrozen, 1) and Naviga Business Park (approx. 11,000 m²) at Zwijndrecht (Nieuweweg 1). It is also along these axes that important industrial and logistics parks have been developed.

Guibert de Crombrugghe Managing Director, MRICS Patrizia Tortolani, Economist, MRICS n

The development of the 30 ha Nieuw-Zuid zone is being planned, through a public-private partnership.

It will include housing, offices, shops, leisure activities and public service infrastructure.

© Image AGstadsplanning Antwerp

City Link 2 & 3 by real estate developer Willemen consisting of two office buildings with a total area of 27,000m². The project is expected to be completed

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OFFICES I MARKET TRENDS I Mechelen I

An alternative between Brussels and Antwerp With an estimated office stock of some 450.000 m², Mechelen has become a market in its own right. It comprises 3 zones (north and south industrial zones and the centre). These areas benefit from very good access to the motorway E19 (Amsterdam - Paris) and from the central railway station giving a good access to Brussels (Diabolo line) and Antwerp.

Patrizia Tortolani, Economist - MRICS de Crombrugghe & Partners

The York Tower real estate project to be built on the Blarenberglaan, along the E19 by real estate developer Uplace

Take-up increasing Take-up was particularly good in 2012 with 29,000 m², nearly double that of the previous year, and far above the ten year annual average of around 15,000 m². Most of the lettings occurred in the Mechelen Campus, or in the Intercity Business Park, both located in the north of the city. But this good performance is mainly accounted for by the pre-letting by Sanoma of 12,000 m² in the Zuidpoort development.

Mechelen is proving to be very attractive for large corporate users. During the last three years, firms such as Sanoma, Alken-Maes, and Kraft Foods have chosen this location to house their activities.

They were probably attracted by its advantageous position on the economic Antwerp - Brussels axis, while avoiding their mobility issues. Mechelen also offers a young workforce and relatively low rents in comparison with other Flemish cities. Prime rent remains stable at €135 /m²/year, while average rents vary between 80 and €120 /m²/year.

All these factors contribute to the success of this market.

New developments for the immediate future are limited, since only two developments are currently expected: • Zuidpoort (Stationstraat) The site is opposite Mechelen central station and is 3 km from the E19. The development consists of four buildings totaling 22,000 m² of offices of high standing, with underground car parks. The offices are part of a renewed and reviving city area with apartments, shops, and restaurant facilities set around a central green area. Two phases of this project have already been delivered. Where the remainder is concerned, Sanoma has already pre-let 12,000 m², which are under construction and are scheduled to be delivered this year.

Around 1,500 m² high-quality offices are still available to be rented in units from 500 m² and a new construction consisting of 6,700 m² of offices and café/restaurant units is still available.

• York Tower (Blarenberglaan, along the E19) An 8-storey building is to be built by real estate developer Uplace. This building will have a total surface area of 6,395 m² of which 5,400 m² of offices. Construction will begin once a contract with an occupant has been signed, and is set to last 18 months.

Patrizia TORTOLANI Economist - MRICS n

Image Uplace – Jaspers-Eyers Architects

M

echelen is a relatively young market with office buildings initially only present in the city centre. Over the past 20 years more specific office buildings have begun to be located alongside the industrial zones. These can be seen as an alternative to the mobility problems found in Brussels or Antwerp. This city has expanded greatly over the last decade and this is continuing.

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03/05/13 15:45

Offices I Market Trends I GHENT

Top rents in Ghent over ta With a total stock of 1.4 million m², the Ghent office market represents the second office market in Flanders and the third in Belgium in terms of existing stock. 2012 was an exceptional vintage, confirming the renewed interest for this regional market.

D

Pascal Vanhumbeeck Consultant de Crombrugghe & Partners

espite an unfavourable economic context, it can be stated that the Ghent office market performed relatively well in 2012.

Take up recorded in 2012 rises to around 37,000 m², which is double the volume of previous year. This can be considered as positive even if it remains below the average of the last 10 years (± 45,000 m² / year). Ghent represented a share of more or less 11% in the total take up in Flanders, which confirms its second position after Antwerp in terms of office markets in Flanders.

Transactions mainly took place in the Centre, representing a share of almost 50 % of the take up, followed by the South district (30%) and the East with 20%. The vacancy rate remains at a low level (approx. 4.7%), in comparison with other cities and below the 6 % generally admitted as sign of a well-balanced market.

Although take up was dominated by corporates in 2012, the most important deals were essentially concluded with the Building Authorities (among which the lease of 9,500 m² in a building under construction in the city centre intended to accommodate the State archives). Only 10 % of the number of transactions (7 deals out of the 70) involved surface areas above 2,000 m². Deals are generally concluded for smaller areas. Top rents and medium rents increased from €145 /m²/year to €155/m²/ year and from €110/m²/y to €116/ m²/year respectively. For the first time during the last 5 years, top rents in Ghent now exceed those in Antwerp. Future developments, however, risk generating a downward pressure on rental values.

Investment record at 110 million Euros In terms of investment, the largest transaction of the year occurred in Ghent. The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) acquired the multitenant Zuiderpoort office building ( ± 65,000 m²) for an investment price estimated at around €110,000,000. This transaction shows that the international investors are happy to seize investment opportunities with a large premium in decentralized markets. Last year, mega deals of more than €50,000,000 were particularly concluded outside the Brussels Capital region, although Brussels always represents the main

offices investments pole with a share of 46 %.

This gain in interest coupled with a low vacancy rate and the need for new offices space is inciting the city to encourage new office developments and to invest huge amounts in new projects and in marketing campaigns to attract more regional and national companies. Ghent wishes to play an important economic role both in Flanders and at international level, in particular by emphasizing its strengths (presence of the university, the knowhow industry and the port).

Pipeline of new real estate developments Current planned offices projects will lead to a stock increase of more than 15% during the next decade, or more than 250,000 m². Fear of oversupply, however, should not be exaggerated as only a limited number of developments are speculative and developers prefer to wait for signed lease agreements before starting construction works.

If, to the current available areas, we add planned projects and compare these with historic take-up, we get the theoretical number of years that will be necessary to absorb this volume. The current and future supply represents about 315,000 m² (around 65,000 m² vacancy + 250,000 m² of future developments). Considering an average take-up of about 45,000 m²/year, it will take almost 315,000m²/ 45,000 m² = 7 years before the market absorbs the supply.

As future developments are planned within a 10-year time frame, the office market still shows no risk of oversupply and an extension potential.

One of the most emblematic projects of the city is the KBC Artevelde Tower (formerly named MG-Tower). This 24 floor high office tower, with an area of 23,500 m² office space, is now completed and accommodates the activities of KBC which were formerly spread over several buildings in and around Ghent. This new building of the de Paepe Group is situated at the St-Denijs-Westrem exit of the E40, and forms the entry of The Loop development zone, which will become a completely new city district, with 552,500 m² of offices, retail, leisure, and residential accommodations

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er take those in Antwerp planned there. Around 155,000 m² of office space (including the Artevelde Tower) will be developed in this zone. Besides the new office building (7,500 m²) used as a centralized location for the field organizations of the VMM and delivered last year, the new office development named ‘Take-Off’ has been started and will total some 33,000 m² of office space, of which 3,350 m² are under construction and have been already sold to Planet. The Loop zone is one of the headquarter zones defined in the marketing plan of the city which is investing in the development of scientific research parks, business plots and office space.

office buildings (around 18,000 m²), and public amenities such as schools, a sports hall and a public library. The project will last approximately 10 to 15 years.

Pascal Van Humbeeck Consultant de Crombrugghe & Partners ■

The ‘Artevelde’ stadium, located in the south of Ghent at the intersection of the E17 and E40 motorways and the R4 ring road, is a multifunctional modern project consisting of a 20,000-seater football stadium (with business seats, skyboxes, restaurants and other catering facilities, 14,000 m² of office space and 9,000 m² of retail space), a 150 room, three star hotel for longer stays, 1,500 underground parking spaces.

Opposite the new multifunctional Artevelde stadium, the project also includes the construction of two ten-floor office buildings of 13,645m² & 15,010 m² and 12,000 m² of retail already let to Brico-Plan it. Marketing of this office project named ‘Dakar’ began in 2012. Construction works on this multifunctional project started years ago but due to various problems, the football stadium is only to be delivered by June 2013.

The Oude Dokken. The town of Ghent in collaboration with AG SOB (a city development firm) intends to renew the complete area around the Oude Dokken in order to create 1,300 to 1,500 new housing units, leisure and green areas,

© Photo Tom d’Haenens / Jaspers-Eyers Architects

Main projects currently in progress The redevelopment of the area around Ghent St. Peter’s railway station where a total development of 82,000 m² is planned along the Fabiolalaan.

The Flemish authorities decided in September 2010 to construct a new Flemish Administrative Centre in this zone with an area of 36,000 m².

They intend to put the office building into use in the second half of 2013.

Now completed, the 24 floor KBC Artevelde Tower (formerly named MGTower) accommodates the activities of KBC which were formerly spread over several buildings in and around Ghent.

This new building forms the entry of The Loop development district.

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Offices I Market Trends I LIeGE

Gradually catching up 2012 was a relatively good year for the Liege office market. Despite a low level of new quality office space, the office market performed well and recorded take up figures of around 42,000 m², which is four times higher than take up volume of the previous year.

W

ith its office stock of some 485,000 m², Liege is the largest city in the Walloon region. Around 70% of the office stock is located downtown, mainly along large avenues, such as Boulevard de la Sauvenière and Boulevard d’Avroy. Approximately 40 % of the stock involves second-hand buildings.

Other developments are under study, such as that by property developer Buelens which has applied for a permit for a 7-storey building with a total area of 10.000 m² in the Cadran area. The building is set to be located against the blind wall of the Academy

© Jaspers-Eyers Architects

The 27 floors Finance Tower being (52,700 m²) developed by Fedimmo on the Rue du Paradis will be leased by the Belgian State Buildings Agency to host staff from the Public Federal Finance department. An esplanade is set to see light of day between the Guillemins station and the banks of the Meuse, where the Finance Tower will be constructed.

Take-up four times higher In 2012, take up reached a record level closing with a volume of 42,000 m², which is far above figures for the previous year (around 11,000 m²). This confirms the strong demand from occupiers despite the lack of supply of modern quality offices. New office buildings find occupiers easily as confirmed by the recent lettings recorded in new buildings such as the B50 and the Oh! Offices House. The first of these, which is a recently delivered office building located in the Liege Airport Business Park offering 6.500 m² offices space, is almost fully let (95%) to companies such as Honeywell, Sowaer, DTZ, Chamber of Commerce of Liege-Verviers-Namur.

The second will be let to PWC under a 15-year lease agreement. The project is located in Rocourt, and will extend to 3,600 m² of ultra-modern sustainable office spaces. Construction works have started and the office building is scheduled for delivery this year.

New office developments on the way The main project is scheduled around the Guillemins station where the local authorities plan to create approximately 100,000 m² offices, including the construction of the Befimmo finance tower of 52,700 m² located on Rue du Paradis, which has now received approval from the Minister of Urban Planning. A further appeal has since been introduced by the SNCB and residents with the Council of State, which should come to a decision around September.

In the same district, the SNCB-Holding has presented its project at the Rue du Plan Incliné, consisting of the demolition of the former ABX warehouse and the current car park on its own land (approx. 20,000 m²) and the construction of a building representing a total gross area of 65.500 m² (net offices area = 48,000 m²) with 1,240 parking spaces. The impact study on the environment, prior to the lodging of a building permit, is underway.

Timing still remains uncertain.

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The B-50 new office building located in the Liege Airport Business Park (± 6,500 m²) is almost fully let (95%).

of Arts, on the heights of the Place Saint-Lambert.

As well as the large urban project around the Guillemins station, the city aims to revitalize certain areas, such as the redevelopment of the Val Benoît site, which was previously a university campus of 8 ha., now dedicated to technologies and economic activities. The real estate project aims mainly at reconverting existing buildings, completed by new constructions. The space will thus be reserved for economic activities (25,000 to 30,000 m²). But the site will also accommodate public utilities (17,000 to 21,000 m²) (including premises already occupied by Forem) as well as some 100 residential units (11,000 to 20,000 m²) and office space (7,000 to 20,000 m²).

The other project involves the Seraing Master Plan. On the southern outskirts of Liège, the town of Seraing has established a master-plan covering an area of 800 hectares and involving a total renewal of the former industrial backbone of the town (CMI Cockerill, ArcelorMittal) including the creation of a leisure centre, green areas, housing, retail, a new administrative centre and the largest themed commercial centre in Europe. The whole project will take several years. A new multi-modal public transport station is also part of the plan.

The Cristal Park project also forms part of this urban revitalization, whose aim is to restore the Val Saint Lambert site to its former stature. Cristal Park is planned around a retail village, which will focus on household and leisure goods (60,000 m2 GLA), and a leisure centre with indoor ski-slope, a

water park, restaurants, cafés and outdoor leisure activities (26.000 m2). There will be four residential developments (16, 24, 39 and 50 building plots), a Business Park of ten office buildings (16,000 m2), a 120-room three stars hotel and the new crystal glassworks. Developer, Pierre Grivegnée, hopes that the first permits will be granted by mid-2013 and that the whole project will be delivered in 2016, except for the housing and the Business Park, which will be built in phases according to demand.

New developments will not be sufficient to meet the demand The creation of new office space in Liège is on-going but it will take several years before all developments come onto the market and before supply meet demand from current occupiers.

Despite the numerous assets of the city (new TGV station, Liège Airport, central location and good motorway accessibility), average rents in Liege remain very reasonable compared with Brussels and vary between €100 /m²/year and €130/m²/year for new and prime space and between €80 and 95/m²/year for second-hand buildings. Prime rents remained stable at €130 in 2012. This level was recorded for the Forem’s 1,200 m² letting in the Ilot Saint Michel.

Patrizia Tortolani, Economist, MRICS n

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OFFICEs I PROJECTS I BRABANT WALLON I

Les Portes de l’Europe

Based on the success with its Axis Business Park in Mont Saint-Guibert, the real estate developer Global Construct intends to build ten office buildings with a total surface area of 20.000 m2 in the business park located north of Nivelles city, around 25 km south of Brussels, and with immediate access onto the main E19 ParisBrussels-Amsterdam motorway. The complex is set to be built in different phases.

It will accommodate offices, laboratories and workshops of SME’s. The high-tech buildings are designed to be highly flexible, and a service centre with a restaurant, shop, business centre etc. is scheduled to form part of the complex.

Collines de Wavre (phase VI) Avenue Leonard de Vinci, 1300 Wavre Developer Architect Structural engineer Landscaping Surface area Delivery

Codic Assar, GS Architecture VK Engineering JNC International 10,200 m² 2015

photo Marc Detiffe

Global Construct DSW Architects 20,000 m² permit in request

Rendering ASSAR Architects

Developer Architect Surface area Status

Rendering DSW architects

Nivelles North

The Collines de Wavre business park has been an unqualified success ever since developer Codic started it around 17 years ago. Now in its sixth phase, it has benefited from its location in the green southern periphery of Brussels, and represents one of a handful of business parks in this particular region. It is also directly on the E411 Brussels-Namur-Luxembourg motorway, and a minute’s drive from the shops of Wavre centre. A rail link via Ottignies is also close by. The sixth phase comprises three buildings of more or less 3,400 m2 each and designed to achieve BREEAM ‘very good’ environmental certification. Throughout the development of this business park, Codic has always paid great attention to landscaping, and the sixth phase will follow the same philosophy.

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aXisParC Developers Architects Surface area (total) New buildings to be delivered in 2013

Photo DSW Architects

Rue Fond Cattelain 2, 1435 Mont-Saint-Guibert Global Construct Immobilière des Bruyères DSW Architects 80,000 m² 10,000 m2

Axisparc forms part of the development of this part of the southern periphery of Brussels into a science-based business area. Axisparc offers surface areas from 50 to 1,000 m², suitable for occupation by small workshops, laboratories and offices. Other units will offer larger surface areas (up to 2,500 m²) in a zone more dedicated to business.

Along with the buildings themselves, a service centre is provided, offering restaurants and cafes, conference rooms and smaller ‘service’ offices. Axisparc currently comprises 80,000 m² of built area. The third phase of construction of three new buildings with a total surface of 10,000 m2 is set to be completed in 2013.

Rue Granbonpré 11, 1348 Louvain-La-Neuve

Rendering Jaspers-Eyers Architects

Developer Architect Total surface area New building T Parking Delivery

Pylos Jaspers-Eyers Architects 50.000 m2 offices 4.000 m2 offices 40 spaces Q4 2013

Located in northern Wallonia – a dynamic area with huge development potential – Watson & Crick Hill Park is an integral part of the University of Louvain campus (UCL), on the territory of Louvain-la-Neuve / Mont-Saint-Guibert. The office park benefits from easy car access, being located next to exit 9 on the E411 motorway connecting Brussels and Luxemburg, and only a 20 minute drive from Brussels Airport.

In a first phase, now completed, 20.000 m2 of offices, laboratories and mixed use area have already been refurbished and are now fully let, mainly to Biotech and technology companies. Phase 2 of the project consists of 20.000 m2 of offices, composed of separate buildings of ± 4.000 m2. Building ‘T’ is already in the construction stage. The qualitative work environment of this building combines overall efficiency and low occupancy cost and will obtain Breeam ‘Very Good’ certification.

Rendering Jaspers-Eyers Architects

Watson & CriCK hiLL ParK

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OFFICEs I PROJECTS I NAMUR I

Atradius Developer Architect Structural engineer Service engineer Landscape Offices surface area Status

Eaglestone DDS & Partners Architects Asbcis / Van Wetter Marcq & Roba JNC international 20,000 m2 Permit to be introduced

On a site of 30,240 m2, the first office building is set to accommodate credit insurer Atradius. Totalling around 5,500 m², it will form part of a new sustainable district to be built by developer Eaglestone. In time it is planned to have some 20,000 m² of office space and 12,000 m² of apartments and houses, with the possibility of a hotel. The development has been designed to attract BREEAM ‘very good’ certification, and features include triple glazing and motorised sun blinds. This location and the planned offices should benefit from the increasing regionalisation taking place within Belgium’s political landscape, as Namur is home to the Walloon government.

DDS & Partners Architects

Avenue Prince de Liège 74/78, 5100 Jambes

Rendering Atelier de l’Arbre d’Or

L’Arc

Boulevard Cauchy, 5000 Namur Kairos / Thomas & Piron Atelier de l’Arbre d’Or 14,600 m² Permit in request

This building of some 14,600 m² gets its name from its gently curved form. Located in the centre of an administrative district within the capital of the Walloon region, L’Arc consists of three buildings able to operate either individually or as a group. Each of the units is autonomous in terms of access and technical equipment. All of the Walloon ministerial offices including that of the Minister-President are close by. It is located close to many public transport lines, and to the ‘Ravel’ cycle route, with the E411 Brussels-Luxembourg motorway just a few minutes away. L’Arc has been designed from the outset to respond to very high demands in terms of comfort and energy efficiency, and benefits from BREEAM ‘Very Good’ certification. This achievement recognises the environmentally-friendly nature of the building and of its construction.

Amongst the technical features of L’Arc are low energy lifts, air conditioning via cold beams, ventilation with energy recuperation, low luminance lighting with automatic dimming and presence detectors.

Rendering Atelier de l’Arbre d’Or

Developers Architects Surface area Delivery

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Rendering Baumans-Deffet architects

© Baumans-Deffet – rendering QuickIt

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VAL BENOÎt

Quai banning, 4000 Liège Developer Master plan Surface area First Phase Status

SPI (Liège province economic development agency) Baumans-Deffet, temporarily associated with several 30,000 m2 12,500 m2 permit in request

Val Benoît is a complex of modernist architectural style located on the banks of the Meuse, constructed between 1930 and 1965 by the University of Liège. The majority of the site has been abandoned since 2005, despite certain of the buildings having been put to other uses. The objective of the SPI (Liège province economic development agency) is to re-lay out the 8-hectare site and transform several buildings (30,000 m² in time) into premises for businesses (workshops, offices, common services…), to be completed by around a hundred residential units. The plans for rehabilitating the Val Benoît site is scheduled to comprise several phases starting with putting the Civil Engineering building to new use. The building will

become a ‘Company Zone’ with finished offices, storage zones, unfinished areas able to be turned into areas for SME’s with light production activities and enabling a high degree of flexibility in terms of use, areas for commercial use and services.

The project for the Civil Engineering building has just been presented, along with the Master Plan. The administrative procedures will be set in motion at the same time with the permit request and the call for tenders for attributing works contracts taking place during 2013. Works should start in 2014 and the first companies may be able to install in 2015 with almost 12,500 m² available.

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RETAIL I Market Trends I

A mixed bag but weat h The Belgian retail market continues to perform well, despite the economic crisis. In 2012, more than 300,000 m² of space found takers, a very similar figure to the previous year.

CBRE reports that over half of this space was in peripheral locations and shopping centres, with high streets and city centres somewhat stagnating.

T

Patrick Tacq, Joint Head of Retail Agency, CBRE

his take up stagnation in the city centre is partially due to the fact that there is a traditional ‘city centre’ culture in the country, and once retailers have found good units, they do not easily move. For the same reason, retailer expansion plans are concentrated in these out-of-town zones. Some of the less wellknown shopping centres such as Les Dauphins (Mouscron), Les Portes de Charleroi Sud and Crescend’eau in Verviers are much in demand.

One of Belgium’s leading retail park developers, Redevco, has also been creating demand by renovating some of its centres following the departure of French supermarket chain Carrefour from certain of these. On the consumer side, peripheral parks do well because public transport is not the preferred mode: in retailing the car is still king (a factor which also negatively affects city centre shopping).

Looking at the country’s two major cities, Brussels and Antwerp, CBRE points out that Brussels suffers from its fragmented landscape (19 communes) and from the very limited purchasing power of parts of the city centre. However, Brussels has a number of shopping centres, while Antwerp can only claim one worthy of the name. Yet another differentiating factor is that Brussels is very much ‘all week’ however, while Antwerp relies more on weekends (and the influx of Dutch shoppers).

Where international retailers are concerned, the healthy performance and the relative stability of national purchasing power is still attractive, but the wave of new entrants has slowed down. The year 2012 saw Calzedonia and Orchestra come into Belgium, although as CBRE points out, the latter was via the takeover of Prémaman. Of the major international retailers already here, H&M, Zara, Hünkemöller, Veritas and C&A are continuing to expand and opened new outlets in 2012. Albert Heijn, which came into Belgium in 2011, opened six new shops during the past year and has already signed for a further ten.

Retailers optimistic Retailer expectations for this year are generally that turnover will be stable or rise. However, all segments of retailing confirm that consumers are feeling the economic crisis, with ‘sports & leisure’ (very much a ‘non-essential’ purchase) feeling this the most. Yet in all segments (except sports & leisure) a majority of retailers questioned in the CBRE survey expect to expand. The proportion is as high as 89% in food, as ‘corner supermarkets’ continue to proliferate, replacing the traditional ‘corner shops’. In the ‘fashion and personal care and the ‘household’ segments, CBRE’s Patrick Tacq points out that consumers are looking for a good price/quality ratio. This is what is leading to the expansion of chains such as Zara and Ikea. Online shopping has not made the breakthrough some predicted.

Investment destination An investors’ survey by CBRE has found that the interest in retail extends to this market segment too. Some investors are prepared to pay high prices (yields as low as 4% to 4.75%) for prime retail property, whereas prime offices are changing hands between 5% and 6%. One of the reasons for the high prices is that the availability of prime product is limited, as CBRE’s Gaëtan Clermont points out, with very few opportunities of over 10 million Euros coming to market. And when they do, buyer competition is therefore fierce. Some 28% of all real estate investment in Belgium during 2012 came into retail (around 600 million Euros) but this percentage is forecast by CBRE to fall this year as the recently snubbed office segment comes back into favour.

And 2013…

Patrick Tack concludes : “I think that retailers are going to tough it out this year. Those which have their act together will prevail. We are seeing a lot of retailer which are very active and taking advantage of the current situation, they are confident and bullish. So I don’t share the general negative feelings.”

Tim HARRUP n

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© DDS & Partners Architects

at hering the storm

Top ten prime high street rents City Street

Antwerp Meir Brussels Rue Neuve/Goulet Louise Gent Veldstraat Bruges Steenstraat Hasselt Hoogstraat Liège Vinave d’Ile Leuven Diestsestraat Namur Rue d’Ange/Fer Knokke Lippens/Kustlaan Ostend Adolf Buyl/Kapellestraat

2011 prime €/m2/year

2012 prime €/m2/year

1,800 1,850 1,500 1,100 1,100 1,100 800 950 700 800

1,850 1,850 1,525 1,200 1,150 1,150 1,100 1,100 1,000 950

2011 prime €/m2/year

2012 prime €/m2/year

1,600 1,600 1,400 950 800 850 700 850 750 600 550

1,600 1,600 1,400 1,000 950 950 900 850 700 650 600

Top ten prime shopping centre rents City Street

Brussels Woluwe Antwerp Wijnegem Brussels City 2 St. Niklaas Waasland Liège Belle-Ile Louvain-la-Neuve L’esplanade Mons Les Grands Prés Brussels Westland Kortrijk K in Kortrijk Charleroi Ville 2 Liège Médiacité

Rive Gauche will be a flagship of Charleroi city centre urban regeneration. Within three years, Rive Gauche the new shopping center of downtown Charleroi could appear in the Top Belgian shopping centres ranking.

Rive Gauche is a major town planning project developed by St. Lambert promotion and designed by DDS & Partners Architects, based around the Place Albert 1er and extending to the Quai de Brabant and Place Emile Buisset. It features a major shopping centre, housing and a hotel. The total built area of Rive Gauche will extend to 110,000 m², including the 650 parking spaces. The location close to the River Sambre also represents an access point to the city from the railway station just across the river. Walking through the centre of the complex will also enable pedestrians to move from the ‘lower town’ of Charleroi to the ‘upper town’. A permit request is to be lodged in June of this year, and if all goes according to schedule, works could start at the end of the year and be completed by mid-2016.

There have been some substantial movements in retail prime rents over the past year.

With thanks to Walter Goossens of Jones Lang LaSalle for providing us with the figures and ranking.

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RETAIL I Brussels North I

© Art&Build /Quick it for Equilis

Neo, Uplace and Just u are competing for sho p

The public call for tenders for Neo in order to find private partners involves the construction of the 72,000 m² shopping centre with a further 9,000 m² of café and restaurant facilities, along with 500 to 575 residential units also set to be built on the Heyzel plateau.

© Image KCAP

Uplace Machelen intends to be a one-stop destination experience.

The project intends to develop a city within the city, in which shopping, working and entertainment are no longer built in isolation from each other but woven together in a single space.

Image courtesy of Uplace

The ‘Just under the sky’ shopping center project is located alongside the canal to the north west of Brussels centre, near the Van Praet bridge.

Developed on the 4 hectare former industrial site of Godin factory, it is part of the entire ‘Canalside’ redevelopment project. Up to 60,000 m² of retail space is scheduled by developer Equilis along with 1,650 parking spaces.

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t under the Sky o ppers The landscape where the proposed new shopping centres to the north of Brussels are concerned is not getting any less complicated. A debate has been raging for months (years?) as to whether the Neo mega-project on the Heysel plateau or Uplace in nearby Machelen should be preferred, or whether there is room for both, neither or even something else… And even the smaller-sized Just under the Sky shopping centre has not been free of controversy.

N

eo and Uplace are fiercely defended by their developers, and there has recently been some evolution in both. Uplace, which appeared to be closer to becoming a reality, has recently had its environmental permit suspended by the Council of State. Without going into too many details, the Council of State believes that the granting of the environmental permit by the Flemish government last year was premature, and that many assurances concerning the transport infrastructure remain to be answered first.

Alongside this, a process seeking to permanently cancel the environmental permit for Uplace is still underway. The planned opening date for Uplace had been September 2016, but with works unable to start until these legal questions are resolved, it may be expected that this date will have to be put back.

becoming a shining example of urban planning conception. One of the specific factors within the context of Neo, which will affect the shopping centre as much as the other functions, is that it is a private initiative subject to directional guidance from a public authority.

Just under the sky The third participant in the competition to relieve consumers in the north of the capital of their money is ‘Just Under the Sky’. This development by Equilis is the only one within the urban area of Brussels.

It is located close to the rapidly developing canal on the edge of the city near Laeken. Its 35,600 m² are all devoted to shopping and leisure, a contrast with the other two sites which both include offices and housing. This project has recently received the go-ahead for its socio-economic permit, having also been embroiled in a debate as to its usefulness/ Neo necessity. Works may be able to start in the early Close by at Neo, however, following very long part of this year. months when nothing at all appeared to be happening, the Brussels Region and City have now It is widely agreed that Brussels is lacking in designated the three candidates for the construction shopping centre space when compared to other of this multi-purpose complex. They are Unibail- major cities, and this is partially due to the strong Rodamco/CFE/Besix, Hammerson/Soficom/Codic desire to retain the traditional city centre high and Klépierre/AG Real Estate/Wereldhave. The street shops. It is this desire, defended by certain dialogue process is set to take another year or organisations such as Unizo, which has led to more, following which the winning candidate will the long-running sagas surrounding these three be named. The Brussels-Capital Region has set a developments. ‘Just Under the Sky’ is likely to win demanding objective for this project, whose overall the race in terms of timing, but the evolution of the master-plan has been drawn up by Netherlands- other two is set to drag on for quite a lot longer yet. based bureau KCAP. It has to combine its anchorage in a historical urban fabric with at the same time Tim HARRUP n

Some provisional facts and figures

Location

Total surface area (all functions)

Retail

Developer

Neo Uplace Just Under the Sky

68 hectares 190,000 m² 35,600 m²

72,000 m² 82,000 m² 35,600 m²

Brussels Region Uplace Equilis

Heysel plateau Machelen Brussels North

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90

99

Understanding the new reality in real estate development and investment Interview with Serge Fautré, Head of AG Real Estate

Letting and investment: real values are key and not always obvious Interview with Vincent Gérin and Cédric Liénart de Jeude, managing partners of Anixton

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Integrating the concept of the ‘New Way of Work’ into a turnkey office offering Interview with Luc Feyaerts, Chief Operating Officer of Intervest Offices & Warehouses

Public-Private-Partnership: DBFM/O structures under pressure Interview with Steven Van Garsse, Manager Flemish PPP Knowledge Centre

03/05/13 17:22

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INVESTMENT, PROPERTY, BUILDINGS & WORKPLACE MANAGEMENT

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2010

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300.indd 7

2011

2013

2012

2%

10%

11%

10%

3%

17%

10%

13%

11%

36%

27%

28%

20%

36%

52%

49%

58%

■ OFFICES

■ RETAIL

■ INDUSTIAL & LOGISTICS

6%

■ RESIDENTIAL

■ ELDERLY HOMES

Expected investment allocation for 2013 Conclusions of the CBRE annual Investor Survey Belgium

104

Sustainable buildings The compulsory passive standard in 2015 what will it mean?

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REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT I MARKET TRENDS I

Understanding the new r At the head of AG Real Estate and with a long background at Cofinimmo, Serge Fautré is well placed to comment on the Belgian real estate market. His views are forthright, realistic and cover the whole spectrum of the real estate industry.

T

he real estate sector has traditionally been seen as a safe haven for investors and others.

It is quite clear that even though the sector is still more reliable than many others, the dynamics within it have changed, buffeted by sub-prime, the economic crisis, the Eurozone debt… Serge Fautré is well aware of all this.

How do you see the Belgian real estate market at the moment and in the immediate future, especially where offices are concerned?

Serge Fautré: Well in fact it is perhaps not most obvious to talk about offices first. It is offices which are of course the most visible, and which people talk of regularly, but it might be better to start with residential or retail. There is not just ‘a real estate market’ but a number of segments. I could make a sort of resume and say that a number of different forces are impacting the market. The first is very positive – the decrease in interest rates. It should be remembered that short term interest rates, while they may not actually be negative, are very close to zero. This means that several institutions which have to invest, pension funds and insurance companies in particular, are looking for yields, and in certain segments of real estate they find yields they can’t find on the bond markets or on the stock exchange.

This is also because in many cases the regulators are imposing a major risk reduction. The stock market is clearly not a favourite of regulators and hence it is being deserted by investors. Another favourable force, especially in the Brussels area, is the expected demographic growth. There are forecasts for an extra 20,000 inhabitants for Brussels over the next few years, so this should have an impact on real estate in the widest sense.

Then there is another element which raises questions. What is the future of the European institutions? Will they come out of the crisis strengthened or weakened? If it is stronger then for Brussels this will mean more ‘European’ work.

I have one more positive force to talk about – a degree of re-balancing. Certain players have tended to transform the real estate market into a speculative market. “The real estate market has to be liquid”, they say. Why? Is it necessary for a market to be as

liquid as a bond market in order to exist? Not as much as some say. And the liquidity of this market has had the effect of persuading people to buy and sell year after year. I call that a speculative market and one which has pushed developers into constructing buildings which are not absolutely necessary under the pretext that there are buyers for them. At one time there were numerous buyers, but then it all melted away and so the market is in the process of re-balancing itself. There is less speculation, leading to a market which is less liquid, but which is much healthier.

You have mentioned a number of positive forces – what are the negative ones?

Serge Fautré: I think there are three. A particularly weak level of economic growth and a lack of decisionmaking. On top of this there is de-leveraging and a reduction of indebtedness. I believe this is negative in the short term because it creates risk. But in the medium term I think it is indeed better to see the real estate market sustained with less debt. So in fact there is good and bad news in this, but those who come out of it as winners will be those who understand how the market works, those who are well informed and those who react without losing their heads.

Other segments than offices ?

Tell us about these.

Serge Fautré: Well the offices market is not seen in a good light at the moment because it is a segment which everyone believed to be risk-free. This is the segment in which most speculation has always taken place. It is now suffering because speculators are not getting the returns they expected and because it cannot be denied that overbuilding has taken place.This is the segment in which there may be the greatest gap between quality assets and those of lower quality. But what is a quality asset? One which is well let, whereas a lower quality asset is one which is empty…

In retail it is a reality that building permits have been granted with much more parcimony. People complain about the ten or fifteen years needed to obtain a permit for a shopping centre, but in reality this has protected the market. The number of new shopping centres over the recent past has been

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w reality in real estate

“

The office real estate market is in the process of rebalancing itself.

There is less speculation, leading to a market which is less liquid, but which is much healthier.

© Bernard De Keyzer

And residential?

Serge Fautré: Where residential is concerned, demographic growth and a trend for households to come back into urban areas again, mean that in the cities such as Brussels, the market is doing well.

Some people complain that there is no longer 10% growth! Let’s remain prudent. Real estate has to yield returns, but what sort of return? A return estimated somewhere between bond yields and equity yields– at least for the case of classic real estate, real estate which is managed in a responsible way. Bonds are at almost zero percent, maybe I’m being a bit excessive there – Belgian government bonds are at 2.2%. On the stock market the risk taken should produce returns of maybe 6 to 8%. So real estate should provide a return of around 5%, which is more or less the case.

In retail, AG Real estate has recently renovated the Anspach Gallery in the centre of Brussels and the Monnaie Centre alongside it is set to follow. Do you have other ambitions in retail too…?

Serge Fautré: We would very much like the Monnaie Centre to follow and we are working hard on this. If we had been able to we would already have started to renovate this centre. Going further, we bought the Westland Shopping Centre at the beginning of 2012, and we expect to modernize it soon. We also own part of the Woluwe Shopping Centre and we manage the real estate certificates which own the rest of it. It is also necessary to ensure that this centre responds to the norms of the 21st century, and I would add that in all of the retail assets we own we will ensure they are kept up to these latest norms.

This will also be true for City 2 right in the centre of Brussels, which will also be modernised. All of this, along with other reasons, is because maintaining means investing and because the retailers who are our clients demand it. And we can’t ignore the fact that sooner or later there will be more competition in and around Brussels, whether it is Neo, Uplace, Just Under the Sky. But I want to make it clear: whether these new centres finally become reality or not, we will maintain our assets. The various associations which look after city districts – such as the Avenue Louise – also want to make sure their territories are in the best possible shape.

“

extremely low: I can point to the Grands Prés at Mons, the Esplanade at Louvain-la-Neuve, Médiacité in Liège, the Blue Tower in Bruges… But there has not been an excessive amount of construction. And these are not mega-shopping centres. So the balance between supply and demand means that shopping centres fare rather well. It is also a fact hat we are in a country where purchasing power has been well protected by economic policies, so even if we have not seen enormous growth in the turnover of shopping centres, neither have we seen any major crisis. So we have a quite healthy retail sector.

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REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT I MARKET TRENDS I

© Bernard De Keyzer

Tell us about another segment very much in the news – retirement homes.

Serge Fautré: This is a niche market which has attracted a certain number of entrepreneur-operators and also a certain number of operators who own their buildings. This is a sector which has been the subject of an enormous amount of publicity and visibility in the press and all the media. But let’s remain cautious, because in Belgium this sector has become extremely competitive. I think that in this field as in others you have to be creative, to ‘think out of the box’, not act in a way which pushes prices too high, and especially not create a bubble driven by the media. At AG we are involved in this market, although not with a very big portfolio – less than 100 million Euros at the moment, which is not yet a critical size. Our challenge, I repeat again, is to be creative in this segment. We will try and get off of the beaten track. This is also true for another niche segment – student flats. We are not investors because this is a sector which has been understood and controlled by others for many years, and again capacity to finance operations in the same way that we have to avoid the stampeding of interest pushing American institutional investors have been doing for 25 years. We have the capacity to participate in prices up to unreasonable levels. bond issues, by subscribing to long term financing required by long term borrowers. We are in a How are your principal subsidiaries position to be complementary to the banking sector positioned with respect to AG Real which has access to shorter term sourcing funds.

Estate?

Serge Fautré: our main subsidiary operating The banks can finance short term construction, for autonomously is Interparking which is a multi- example, whereas we, via our life insurance activities, national in its own right, employing 1,900 persons. have the ability to invest the money entrusted to us This is a company which turns in operating profits by our insurance clients, in longer term products. of over 100 million Euros and is therefore an Real estate financing whether via corporate bonds or important company. Today it benefits from a proven financing of specific assets, these are natural avenues strategy. Interparking operates in nine countries, for us. Public private partnerships represent another some of which perform better than others, some opportunity for us to increase real estate- related have higher margins than others. This means that in long term financing assets on our balance sheet, and the current uncertain and difficult economic climate we are currently involved in a PPP which is building Interparking is holding its own. This spreading of 165 schools in the Flemish region of Belgium risk operates within the countries as well – we are in ‘Scholen van Morgen’ with the Flemish government.

We have other projects to participate in PPP’s and very large cities and in smaller ones.

We have another, smaller subsidiary consisting of also in fixed income projects. around a hundred people – Devimo. This company should benefit from the creativity of its new CEO And real estate projects?

Pierre-Yves Bolus who has demonstrated his ability Serge Fautré: Where real estate projects are in other spheres. Devimo manages shopping centres concerned, the Silver Tower is the most obvious for a number of owners and so this creativity will one yet to come, and we are also going to renovate be a real advantage. It is Devimo which talks to the ‘Centre 58’, but it is clear that we are not in an clients and in real estate as in other professions the economic situation in which we are going to launch added value, the value, comes from clients. People many speculative projects. We have a great deal of tend to forget this, but I have always had this central experience in the Build-to-Suit market and we are philosophy that it is important in real estate to keep launching a project for PricewaterhouseCoopers in Luxembourg, non-speculative of course. very close contact with clients.

“

Retirement homes market is a sector which has been the subject of an enormous amount of publicity and visibility in the press and all the media. But let’s remain cautious, because in Belgium this sector has become extremely competitive.

Do you have any other large projects you can talk about?

Serge Fautré: None which I am able to reveal at the moment. But what I can say is that we will continue to diversify our activities. One area for diversification is towards credit – not banking credit, but using our

We are going to continue with a number of projects converting older office buildings into residential, and with other projects in the various segments I have talked of.

Interview by Tim HARRUP n

“

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03/05/13 15:46

INVESTMENT I PROPERTY & WORKPLACE MANAGEMENT I

Integrating the concept o f a turnkey office offering As a real estate developer offering offices for rental by companies, Intervest Offices & Warehouses has been increasingly confronted by various demands over the recent past.

These demands, from potential tenants, are for assistance in laying out the offices: from space planning to the implementation of the concept of ‘New Way of Work’, not forgetting finding suitable office furniture. This provides an opportunity to develop these services in their own right and to highlight them in order to attract potential tenants with turnkey solutions.

“I

n Mechelen, Intervest Offices & Warehouses has 21 office buildings across three sites, representing a total surface area of over 100,000 m²”, explains Luc Feyaerts, Chief Operating Officer. “With RE:flex, located at Mechelen North on the Mechelen Campus site, the intention was to move away from the traditional concept of office rental, to emphasise a certain number of turnkey solutions and to respond to several concrete demands expressed by tenants”.

Extension of the service offering “While RE:flex was born of an idea aiming to create a showroom displaying different finishing levels for office layout within a turnkey solutions offering, the concept also fulfils a certain number of other functions. And it has never been the intention to create a ‘static’ showroom”. With RE:flex, Intervest is thus taking account of the recent trend towards the ‘New Way of Work’. It was also important to respond to the requirements of a certain number of tenants with various demands of a temporary nature. Tenants regularly need meeting facilities, occasionally look to organise seminars, and from time to time ask for somewhere to hold a reception. For most tenants, it is not financially viable to integrate these facilities into the office space rented. With RE:flex, Intervest has been able to provide all of these functions.

Intervest Offices & Warehouses The enterprise is a public property investment fund under Belgian law. Shares are quoted on the NYSE Euronext Brussels. Intervest Offices & Warehouses specialises in placements in quality office buildings and in logistics space, strategically located outside of city centres. Intervest’s real estate portfolio was made up, on December 2012, of 61% of offices and 39% of logistics buildings, with an occupancy level of 86%. On the Intervest site at Mechelen Campus, RE:flex is designed as an innovative office concept which takes total account of the latest requirements in terms of flexibility and efficient collaboration. www.intervestoffices.be - www.reflexhub.be

Turnkey office layout The RE:flex layout concept has been created by Tinne Maes, Interior Architect & Designer at Intervest. As an architect she can, when requested by a potential or existing tenant, take charge of an integral approach where office layout is concerned. This includes space planning, the concept, the selection of furniture, along with coordination of the execution phase. It is as a response to the desire of clients to see what they might expect, that the idea of a showroom arose. A showroom which would enable the possibilities on offer to be visualised. Tinne Maes: “It is embarrassing

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o f the ‘New World of Work’ into

For the layout, one link in the chain was indeed missing – the office furniture. So Intervest started working closely with Steelcase, its principal partner in this project. Steelcase invests greatly in research in the field of the work environment with an analysis of the activities themselves and of the workplace layout, but always with the user at the centre of the reflections. Intervest and Steelcase were on the same wavelength when it came to the idea of developing a ‘living showroom’ with a surface area of 730 m². The design team was heavily involved in developing the concept. An ingenious balance between pragmatism and family life was a priority, with a clear desire to distance itself from the often ‘clinical’ nature of work environments designed for flexible working and/or co-working. Going further, a maximum of ‘activity based’ workstation types had to be brought together in a single area without this looking like a jigsaw puzzle. A possible increase in sound nuisance caused by these various forms of collaborative working and by the users, represented an additional challenge. And on top of this, particular attention was paid to environmentally-friendly equipment choices: economic lighting (LED, T5 economic lamps), Cradle-to-Cradle floor coverings (Desso), acoustic partitioning created from recycled materials (BuzziSpace etc.).

Practical experience Luc Feyaerts: “We are convinced that the function of the classic office will disappear in time, at least partially. Companies will always need space, but no longer in the same way. It will no longer be a question of the simple renting of office space. Facility Management is getting closer to the renter/owner of the building. We offer a total accommodation service”. The expansion of Mechelen Campus also enables RE:flex to benefit from various extra services on site, such as a restaurant, child minding, a small IT shop, a fitness centre… Luc Feyaerts again: “The user experiences a quality technological workspace environment allied to a welcoming ‘lounge’ atmosphere. A pleasant workspace environment has a motivating and inspiring effect”.

Eduard CODDé n

“

We are convinced that the function of the classic office will disappear in time, at least partially.

Companies will always need space, but no longer in the same way.

“

to always have to knock on tenants’ doors in order to use their office layouts as examples. But a classic-style showroom is very static and of little value, so we had to come up with another approach”.

Luc Feyaerts, Chief Operating Officer, Intervest Offices & Warehouses

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REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT I PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP I

DBFM structures under pressure Over the last two to three years, the impact of the financial and economic crisis has been clearly felt on the real estate market. A slowdown has occurred, and the development of both individual buildings and larger sites or zones has become more difficult. The pressure that real estate projects are facing is partially due to the increased difficulty in obtaining financing. This is a vicious circle, as diminished sales opportunities reduce the willingness of banks to provide finance. The problems on the financial markets are also putting DBFM structures under pressure.

T

he public-private partnership (PPP) is a form of collaboration between a public body and one or more private companies in order to construct a building or infrastructure project. Both precisely defined construction projects and larger-scale zonal development are eligible for PPPs, in which the running of the project is based not around its content but around the desired output. For the public partner, focusing on output means in concrete terms the use of the property which is to be constructed.

There is more than just the completion of a project at issue. The partnership relates to the full or partial operation of the asset over the long term. The private party contributes its experience in order to find the best possible solution for the realisation of the construction project. The public and commercial partners each retain their own identity and areas of responsibility. Collaboration is of key importance, and should be based on a clear allocation of tasks and risks. Before a project is started, a risk matrix is always drawn up, with the aim of allocating the risks to whichever party is best placed to assume them.

Since the focus is on output, as many aspects as possible are brought into the PPP arrangement.

The most popular contract form is still DBFM: Design, Build, Finance & Maintain. The extended form called DBFMO – Design, Build, Finance, Maintain & Operate (‘soft services’, the classic facility services) – goes even further, but is rarely encountered. Both the DBFM and DBFMO contract forms take account of the total cost and financing of the construction or renovation and maintenance of building installations. The DBFMO contract comprehensively covers the operation of a building over the planned period of use (25 or 30 years).

Slowdown, but not standstill The problems on the financial markets are also putting DBFM structures under pressure.

Contractors are finding it hard to obtain funding from the banks, especially as the periods of time to be covered by the financing are 20 to 30 years.

A term of 6, 7 or 8 years is still just about feasible, but beyond that time refinancing is required, and the banking sector is extremely unforthcoming where this is concerned. Steven Van Garsse, manager of the the Flemish PPP Knowledge Centre: “Banks want guarantees and are looking more critically at project proposals, there are fewer banks that you can turn to, and each bank is also lending less. For the financing of a project you therefore have to go to a number of institutions.”

Even so, PPPs have certainly not ground to a halt. It is simply that more creativity is needed to secure the financing: a more pragmatic approach is necessary.

PPP and sustainability go hand in hand Ensuring sustainability is a criterion that is built into virtually every PPP project. In fact, it is unavoidable in order to win a project. “By 2019, new public buildings in Flanders will have to comply with the ‘nearly zero emission’ standard, or in other words be energy-neutral,” stresses Steven Van Garsse. “The Flemish PPP Knowledge Centre wants to go even further if possible, developing new forms of PPP in order to meet this requirement more effectively in the future.” PPP obliges the partners to engage in ‘lifecycle’ thinking and hence to innovate, which is definitely necessary to be able to respond to the ‘nearly zero emission’ standard. Working on the output specifications which are inherent to PPPs gives rise to enormous opportunities.

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Successful PPP achievements Over the past two years, a number of PPP projects have entered the availability phase, including the Diabolo project for the high-speed rail link to the airport, student housing in Ghent, and tram depots for De Lijn. Steven Van Garsse: “These projects prove that PPP works. They have been completed within the set period and in line with the defined budget. They are large-scale and usually far from straightforward projects that have been completed successfully.”

Flanders has been working with the PPP formula for ten years now. Brussels has put its first PPP project on the market, and is now considering setting up its own knowledge centre. In Wallonia, efforts are being made to build up PPP expertise at the ‘Cellule Financière’. At federal level, there is a concerted focus on PPP, one highlight being the construction of new prisons using the DBFM formula.

Eduard Coddé n

The role of the Flemish PPP Knowledge Centre The Flemish PPP Knowledge Centre has developed a model contract with a number of other partners based on consultation with the banking sector, engineering research firms, contractors and other parties who play a role within PPP. The challenge lay in producing a model contract that was capable of weathering the crisis.” It is a simplified DBFM formula or ‘mini-DBFM’ – a greatly truncated contract form with adapted risk allocation.

There are built-in mechanisms for making bank finance more flexible, so that smaller PPP projects with an investment value of between 7 and 50 million Euros should have more of a chance.

“The Flemish PPP Knowledge Centre is also looking at pension funds and insurance companies as possible financiers in addition to the banks,” continues Steven Van Garsse.

“Precisely because the DBFM formula includes a long-term commitment, it may be attractive to other financiers.” It is important to broaden out the market, so that PPP can Steven Van Garsse, Manager Flemish PPP Knowledge Centre Academic Director, Executive Master’s Programme in Public Management at the Antwerp Management School

continue to play its role. The Flemish PPP Knowledge Centre is working hard to open up all the financial options and in this way to eliminate or at least mitigate the difficulties on the market. For instance, one idea being mooted is that the government could partly assume or offset the risk of an increase in the interest rate charged if refinancing is arranged with a bank after a period of seven years.

PPPs in Flanders > www.vlaanderen.be/pps

Schuttershof : PPP for 20 million Eur for a new complex of 110 care apartments The social services department of the Flemish town of Schoten (OCMW Schoten) concluded a DBM contract with a private company to build a complex of 110 care apartments along with a 1,000 m² service centre and an underground car park.

There are also six short-stay bedrooms and a daycare centre where up to twelve senior citizens can be provided with meals from breakfast time to the evening. The private partner in this operation did receive thirty year rights to the land. This partner constructed the complex and will maintain it for this period of thirty years. The social services department has leased the property for the first fifteen years and will rent it for the second period of fifteen years. At the end of the thirty year period, the social services department will become full owners of the building. Prior to that, during the lease portion of the contract, they will have an option to buy corresponding to 50% of the total figure. One of the unique aspects of this finance package is that future occupants of 70 of the apartments will be able to purchase obligations from the social services department. They will then be guaranteed life-long occupancy of their apartment, and will pay only for maintenance of the common areas, insurance etc. The other apartments will remain in social services ownership.s www.vlaanderen.be/pps www.ocmwschoten.be

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Investment I Property for sale I

E-LITE

City Link 7 Rue de la chapelle - L- 1325 Luxembourg Developer Architect Surface Parking Delivery Tenants

Pylos Jaspers-Eyers Architects 3.800 m2 offices 31 spaces Q4 2013 Bank Hapoalim 800 m2 on the 2nd floor

City Link will transform the old Axa building on Rue de la Chapelle to a new and modern energy efficient A-class building, accredited with the BREEAM certificate with the “very good” notation. City Link will offer luxury office spaces on 5 floors and an architectural ground floor lobby. The offices provide a lot of daylight through its large window panels giving a very luminous working area. The building is within walking distance of the central town where you can find restaurants, bars, shops and the Hamilius bus

station. The proximity of the route d’Arlons gives access to the nearest freeway entrance in just a couple of minutes. Two underground parking levels are at the disposal of the employees. This high-end office building will provide rooftop terraces for lunch and break time on floors 3, 4 and 5 (roof top). This adds another feature to the building and its convenience. The project will be delivered at the end of 2013, and will perfectly reflect your company’s image.

E-LITE 143 Avenue Louise,1050 Brussels Developer

Architect

Surface Parking

Delivery

Tenants

Pylos Jaspers-Eyers Architects 7.000 m2 offices 66 spaces Q4 2013 Volkswagen Group Services - 2.000m²

The development will transform the former Bayer HQ on the Avenue Louise, into a new office development combining low energy technologies with prestigious architecture. The project will be BREEAM and Valideo certified, both obtaining a global ‘very good’ level. E-Lite will offer improved accessibility,

Contact City Link : Yann-Alexandre Tytgadt, Project Director

yann.tytgadt@pylos.lu - +352 (27) 62 09 35 Contact E-LITE : Jurgen Trappeniers, Project Director

jurgen.trappeniers@pylos.be - +32 2 534 88 81

Property to Let Pylos def.indd 2

alternative mobility facilities, accessible terraces and patios, natural light for all offices, high efficiency energetic concepts and sustainability.

Pylos Benelux Brugmannlaan 16 - 1060 Brussels Tel: +32 2 534 88 81 - Fax: +32 2 534 88 79 www.pylos.be

03/05/13 17:48

LETTING & INVESTMENT I MARKET TRENDS I

Perspectives for 2013 : real values are key, and not always obvious The investment market has been changing in nature over recent times. A combination of the economic and Euro crises, and a market which has self-regulated (some would say over-regulated) have pushed investors into new segments. We take a look with Anixton and CBRE at what has been happening in 2012, and what we may expect for the whole of 2013.

Vincent Gérin: We are seeing a transformation within the market, this cannot be denied. There is a change in the pure investment market, where normally you find a well-let building and sell it to a client, because the right product is getting very hard to come across. This is because tenants are no longer ready to commit to long terms. Even traditional tenants such as the Belgian Buildings Agency (Régie des Bâtiments) announce that they are looking to commit for a maximum of nine years, no longer eighteen years. So the investment market is somewhat disrupted at the moment, because on the one hand we have the tenants and on the other the large institutional owners, owners who are looking for security even if this is expensive.

But tenants are very unsure about the future, not knowing if they are going to have to move or go out of business, and are looking for very short term leases. So it seems to me that this disrupted market is beginning to shift in emphasis towards development.

We are facing an ageing of the building stock in Brussels. Within the context of a dossier carried out for the RTBF – whose building is forty years old – we undertook a survey into all the buildings constructed during this pivotal period of the end of the 60’s and the early 70’s, and we saw that with the exception of the Astro Tower and a few other buildings they have all undergone substantial renovation or been demolished and rebuilt. This really was the time when large office buildings began to make their appearance, and so we are

now arriving at the beginning of a new cycle where the buildings which were built at the end of the 70’s are in need of total renovation. I should add at this point that I am personally against the type of moratorium on new office building which was proposed a few years ago because if we introduce this type of moratorium we prevent ourselves from having new office stock in Brussels. And it should be remembered that rental levels are currently very low compared to other capitals, and low rents mean low resale prices – which in turn put the brakes on high quality architecture, both technically and visually. So I think it is a good thing that the investment market is moving in this direction of development and total renovations, including a change of use. The demand for housing in Brussels is high and is going to get higher, and it seems that the city limits – or the region’s limits – are not going to change. But even so, there is still demand from the European Institutions and others, which means renovation has to be part of the answer.

It is calculated that there are between 1 million and 1.5 million square metres of office space available. What is your opinion on this, and on the impact on re-conversion as a solution?

Cédric Liénart de Jeude: Firstly we have to remember that even if there is a huge difference between the CBD and the periphery, part of this periphery does belong to Brussels. And to complicate things more, the ‘Brussels periphery’ is in competition with the periphery falling within the other regions. But it is true to say that there has been too much development, too many projects, and there are huge reserves of stock which are empty.

This does not allow prices around Brussels to rise – and the most successful areas are still the central districts, especially around the stations. We are in a

“

Vincent Gérin, We are now arriving at the beginning of a new cycle where the buildings which were built at the end of the 70’s are in need of total renovation.

“

A

nixton is very active in the Brussels real estate market, with a number of innovative approaches. We asked managing partners Vincent Gérin and Cédric Liénart de Jeude to explain how they see the market evolving, its players and its opportunities

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LETTING & INVESTMENT I MARKET TRENDS I

“

Cédric Liénart de Jeude, Tenants still have the impression that they are prisoners of their lease contracts, which is not the case.

They always had the impression that they had to accept a 3-6-9 lease, but now they are seeing that the market is poor and that they can renegotiate !

period of overall budgetary restriction, and this is why the rental market is so sluggish. But one aspect of all this is that these buildings on the periphery nevertheless exist, and so developers are looking at re-conversion of other buildings to new uses.

But the greatest demand for housing is in districts such as Molenbeek and Schaerbeek and others, while the projects developed are more centred on districts where the people have the means to pay.

And developers of course are looking to make margins, to add value to the parcels they buy. If all the new residential development is targeted at districts with high financial potential, this is not going to solve the problem.

How do you see the evolution of the re-conversion of office buildings to other uses?

Cédric Liénart de Jeude: There is a question of market education to be answered. Our capital is different from others – our apartments are bigger, for example, even if the trend is for them to decrease in size, and the price per square metre, even if it sometimes seems to be very expensive, is very cheap compared to other capital cities. So if we see an apartment at 3,000 Euros per square metre, which is not bad for Brussels, when you take away the renovation costs and everything else, there isn’t much money left to buy the building which is to be renovated. We have calculated – and so have others – that selling a building for more than one thousand Euros per square metre in order to renovate it to apartments is not viable. Some owners do not seem to understand why their building, worth three times as much just a few years ago when it was fully let, is worth so little now.’ It’s still there’, they argue… They do not realise that 50% of the value of the building is made up of the value of the tenant.

Another problem is that buildings are sometimes in the company’s books at 2004 prices… For all of these reasons we are now also seeing developers interested in and buying quite small buildings to transform, and the communes are usually in agreement because it adds mixed use.

“

Is all this a question of market equilibrium?

Vincent Gérin: Yes, some time ago there was crying demand for offices, so all these buildings on the periphery went up one after the other. Now there is huge vacancy, as we said. There are also numerous projects ready to go, but they will never see light of day. More mixed use and more balance is required, but it has to be achieved district by district, not all in one go. Take a district like Keiberg for example: you could probably buy almost anything you wanted to there, but it cannot hope to become ‘mixed’ until it has a railway station or RER stop or something else.

What about old people’s rest homes?

Vincent Gérin: There is so much hype about these that if investors don’t go into them they are considered out of touch. But they will only go into homes with an operator who has a 27 year lease.

But just consider it – with indexation the lease in 27 years will be double what it is now or even higher, so the operator is going to disappear earlier.

For me this is a false 27 years… especially when there will be a newer building just next door….

The best investment opportunities are in top location retail. There is practically no vacancy at all.

And student flats will always be an opportunity – demand is twice as high as supply. But I do think that there needs to be some regularisation by the authorities where the rents for student flats are concerned. Some very large developers are already getting involved in this segment.

The new offices pipeline is spectacularly low, at least until the end of 2014.

Do you believe that it is now time to start speculative development again?

Vincent Gérin: Yes, I think that there are certain projects which should be developed, but again I think that the location is important. Alongside a station quite clearly, but in more decentralised locations I personally wouldn’t take the risk. But there is another category: owners of the very top locations are not willing to sell, so developers are looking at buildings which might not be absolutely in the top locations, but which have tenants for another three or four years. They see that they are paying a bit more, but they have three or four years of rental income, and three or four years to lodge their permit requests etc. for the renovation. This middle ground can be attractive for investors and developers alike.

Regarding your ‘Stay or Move’ service offering. What are the current trends?

Cédric Liénart de Jeude: There are many people now asking themselves this question. And there is a real problem of education of the market. Tenants still have the impression that they are prisoners of their lease contracts, which is not the case – an office lease is not subject to Belgian law, it is not like a residential lease. In an office lease you can do more or less what you like. Tenants always had the impression that they had to accept a 3-6-9 lease, but now they are seeing that the market is poor and that they can renegotiate. But the real question they have to ask themselves is ‘do I really want to move, or should I renegotiate?’ So the trend, seen in terms of those who stay and those who move, is roughly 50-50. This is because even if moving seems very attractive, and the rent is lower, it is a reality that the first year you have to put a lot of money on the table. Paying for a removal is quite expensive.

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So if owners are sufficiently imaginative, they may be able to say to themselves that what they should be offering is perhaps not a very low rental, but a fully fitted ready to use building. This seems to us to be better than offering a tenant the option to move to a new building with a rental level 20% less, but for which he will have to spend a lot of money during the first year. Paying for a move almost means going to the bank… So we try to educate owners in this direction. And tenants are advised to ask for what they really need: instead of saying ‘we need 4,000 square metres’, say ‘we are looking for 29 individual offices on one floor with 10 meeting rooms and a cafeteria, because we are a law firm…and we don’t want any on-costs the first year, but everything in the rental price’.

have a lot of choice as they want to respond to calls for tender by the Agency. All this is very advantageous for the Agency of course, because it only has to issue one global call for tender, not one for the building, one for the partitioning, one for the carpets…. And because the owner has supplied the partitioning to the Agency’s specification, this partitioning has to remain in perfect condition throughout the length of the lease period – which means the owner has to make sure it is of sufficiently high quality. Otherwise he might have to change it every three years. It is not quite the same for other large tenants, corporates for example. They prefer to do the fit-out themselves, to their company’s image, and they have the means to do this. interview by Tim HARRUP n

Vincent Gérin: And it should be remembered that in different economic circumstances, the image of the company and other factors might have a more important role to play, but at the moment, it is largely about reducing costs. I would use the Belgian Buildings Agency as an example here: they are now issuing calls for tender with the initial moving-in costs included. So they take buildings for which they have already provided a space planning and a very detailed specification. This might include detailing that partitioning should be of such or such a colour, and acoustic insulation of a particular level. How this is achieved or with which supplier does not concern them.

Building owners can accept this or not, but they don’t

Anixton is very active in the Brussels real estate market, with a number of innovative approaches. We asked managing partners Vincent Gérin and Cédric Liénart de Jeude to explain how they see the letting and investment market evolving and its opportunities.

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FA2013 pub ceremony OK_uk:BEN

2/05/13

16:37

Page 1

Facility Management is celebrated at REALTY The ceremony to hand over the prizes in the ‘Facility Awards 2013’ will take place May 28th at Tour & Taxis, within the context of the REALTY exhibition.

From the seven finalists selected by the jury, the three best projects will be crowned with a Facility Management Oscar.

The audience present will directly cast its ‘public prize’ vote to elect the ‘FM Project of the Year’.

These votes will be added to the on-line votes already registered on www.facility-awards.be/le-public-vote and www.facility-awards.be/het-publiek-stemt The evening will be hosted c and presented by the dynami ity acil Z-F of presenter (Kanaal Z television), Evelien Van Walleghem

Discover the 7 competing projects on www.facility-awards.be

Join us for this prestigious evening. Registration via www.ifma.be The Facility Awards are organised annually by IFMA with the support of numerous partners.

Corporate Sponsors

Untitled-9 102

Event Partner

Media Partners

Related associations

IFMA Office Hosting

04/05/13 08:19

INVESTMENT I MARKET TRENDS I

With the help of the annual CBRE Investor Survey, which questions leading national and international investors active in Belgium, we are able to take a look at some of the figures for 2012, and at what these market-makers expect to see in 2013.

T

he survey reveals that 1.69 billion Euros was invested in real estate in the country in 2012, a figure which compares to almost 5 billion just before the crisis and almost 3 billion in 2008 itself. The traditional number one segment – offices in Brussels – was little in evidence last year, accounting for only 290 million Euros, or around 17% of the total. This is the lowest percentage of the industry total for at least the past eight years, and in pre-crisis times Brussels offices were up around the 50% mark.

From 2008 onwards, retail has been a preferred destination, and last year this segment drew in 595 million Euros, more than a third of the total and easily the best performing segment. The popularity (or perhaps ‘profitability’ is a more accurate word) of the retail segment is amply demonstrated by the prices at which prime shop assets are changing hands. Yields as low as 4.25% have been recorded in the country’s two major retail high street markets – Brussels and Antwerp. Again, the comparison with the office segment is relevant: here, a very good price would still be in the region of a yield of 5%.

Turning to other real estate segments, some 265 million Euros was invested in regional office markets during 2012, not far short of Brussels and at almost 16% of the total. The semi-industrial and logistics segment contributed 141 million Euros to the 2012 results (around 8%). This segment was hampered, the CBRE survey believes, by a weak occupational market. Prime yields here are around 6.5%.

More opportunities Looking forward to this year, two thirds of the 50 largest investors surveyed expect to be net buyers during 2013. The investors indicate they have a total of 4.5 billion Euros ready to invest. At the beginning of 2012 they had 3.4 billion, which translated into 1.69 billion actually placed in Belgian real estate – exactly half of the potential figure. It could be that

more than half of the available funds will actually materialise into deals this year, however, as 80% of the investors said they expected to come across more opportunities in 2013. And these opportunities may well be in the traditional office sector once again.

While retail and old people’s rest homes have been attracting the attention and money over recent times, the investors indicate that in 2013 they wish to allocate 58% of their available funds into offices.

If 58% of the funds actually spent in 2012 (not 58% of the stated availability), had been placed in this segment, then Brussels and regional offices together would have amounted to 980 million Euros. The total figure only amounted to 555 million Euros. If offices are to be the 2013 winners, the loser, CBRE’s survey reveals, is set to be retail. The recent surge in interest will decrease from the 28% seen in 2012 to more like 20%. It is true that prime retail space is hard to come by in Belgium, which may have an impact on these forecast figures too. Another factor not to be forgotten, as illustrated by the findings involving prime yields cited above, is that retail is the most expensive real estate segment in Belgium.

So where else will investors be putting the rest of their money this year? Some 11% of allocated funds will go into semi-industrial and logistics space. A further 6% will be placed in homes for the elderly, and 2% in classic housing. The ‘rest homes’ phenomenon has indeed been growing since 2006, and in 2012 some 270 million Euros was placed here in 2012. This figure is so close to that for ‘Brussels offices’ as to indicate that the rest homes segment is no longer an ‘alternative asset class’, but is claiming a permanent place. And anyone who has had the experience of trying to find a room for an elderly relative will know (as the CBRE survey also confirms) that these residential assets are often 100% occupied.

Tim HARRUP ■

Expected investment allocation in 2013 With a prospective investment market share of 58 % offices would be the 2013 winners, the loser, CBRE’s survey revealed, is set to be retail with a prospective market share of 20 %.

Those estimations are based on CBRE annual Investor Survey Belgium done during the month of December 2012 /January 2013.

50 of the largest national and international investors did participate to the survey.

Download the full survey report on www.cbre.be/be_en/research

2010

2011

2013

2012

2%

10%

11%

10%

3%

17%

10%

13%

11%

36%

27%

28%

20%

36%

52%

49%

58%

■ OFFICES

■ RETAIL

■ INDUSTIAL & LOGISTICS

6%

■ RESIDENTIAL

■ ELDERLY HOMES

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Property & Building Management I Sustainability I

The compulsory passive s The last of the three BuildGreen conferences of 2012 looked at the important question of how the Brussels legislation making the passive standard compulsory from 2015 would impact the market in concrete terms. Nathalie Saverys and Kathleen Iweins - the founders of BuildGreen - once again managed to attract top quality, relevant speakers to address the delegates.

N In Brussels European district, the ‘Trebel’ project developed by Atenor Group benefits from a large ground area making a geo-thermal treatment perfectly possible. Along with complex work on the elaborate façade, this would mean that Trebel building would be passive.

reminded the audience that buildings, not transport as popularly believed, are the highest emitter of CO2. And at European level, the EU wants to achieve energy independence and further develop renewable energies. Stating that Brussels is looking for long term results from buildings, people and transport, Grégoire Clerfayt also said that sustainability involved looking at the whole lifecycle of the building, not just its energy use during the operational phase. The passive norm requires a Speaking for the Brussels Environment Agency number of techniques, including thick insulation, a (IBGE) Grégoire Clerfayt, who has led most of the high degree of air tightness, controlled ventilation, discussions between the region and the industry limited energy used for heating and cooling. He believed there are no particular constraints on the architecture, although price considerations for the technical equipment could be an issue. Grégoire Clerfayt also praised the progress made in Brussels, pointing out that there are 180 exemplary buildings and four passive tower projects in the pipeline.

Amongst those who had opted for the passive standard, he was able to produce a long list of both private and public companies and other bodies.

And it isn’t only offices and housing: schools and even a mosque are included in the building types so far labelled ‘exemplary’. To add a touch of realism to the 2015 date, Grégoire Clerfayt finished by saying that this would mean the first buildings to obtain permits under the new legislation would be delivered in 2017 or 2018. athalie Saverys herself set the scene, pointing out that from 2015 Brussels would become the first region in Europe to make the passive standard compulsory for all new buildings and total renovations. She said that there had already been a decrease of 18% in energy use between 2004 and 2010, despite a substantial increase in population. This is why Brussels is one of the top three green cities in Europe.

© ATENOR – Jaspers-Eyers Architects

The financial question From the point of view of a major agent and consultant, Pierre-Paul Verelst of Jones Lang LaSalle looked at the difficulty of having so many different ‘green’ labels in so many different countries. This simply leads to complexity and opacity, he said. A summary of what some of the major developers and investors in Belgium are doing when it comes to green certification, showed some divergence. However, if a consensus could be found among many of them (he cited such names as Cofinimmo, Befimmo, AG, Immobel, Atenor and others) it would be that the general (though not universal) trend is to aim for BREEAM ‘Very Good’ or ‘Excellent’ certification in new constructions and total renovations. PierrePaul Verelst did point out another possible element of confusion, however, saying that neither of these labels equated to ‘passive’. In Belgium, the relatively new Valideo certification, he explained, 104 BELGIUM REAL ESTATE SHOWCASE 2013

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images : Bernard De Keyzer

e standard – what will it mean?

Grégoire Clerfayt Brussels Environment Agency (IBGE) “The first buildings to obtain permits under the new legislation will be delivered in 2017 or 2018”

Stéphan Sonneville CEO, Atenor Group “At some point in the future non-passive buildings will not be in favour”

has the advantage not enjoyed by all labels, of being BREEAM compatible. While only around 3% of the existing office stock of a little over 13 million square metres in Brussels has a label, he showed that more than half of the new deliveries expected in 2013 will have one. Amongst flagship ‘green’ buildings he mentioned Black Pearl, Up-site and Louise 120 (a passive renovation).

From the position of dealing with owners, investors and tenants, Jones Lang LaSalle has identified that all believe that opting for green buildings is good for their image, but tenants also expect to make long term energy savings while investors are not so sure whether the level of savings justifies the extra cost.

On the same subject, the question has to be asked as to whether, if the financial returns cannot be proved, banks will finance the construction of such buildings…

The technical issues Stéphan Sonneville, CEO of Atenor group, admitted that he had at first been sceptical about the whole topic, but had changed his mind after discussions with others, including the authorities which he praised for having pushed the agenda. His company, he said, had seen how this situation was developing and had taken the time to modify the way it worked in all departments, in order to be ready.

This included construction, marketing and others.

Stéphan Sonneville said that from a developer’s perspective, areas which required attention in

Antoine Crahay, representing Minister Evelyne Huytebroek, “We wish to make Brussels a sustainable city and the compulsory passive standard is one brick to make this happen”

the design and construction phases in order to be passive were façades, lighting, air tightness. He also emphasised the role of geo-thermal techniques, and used Atenor projects to illustrate this. The ‘Trebel’ project (Brussels European district), for example, benefits from a large ground area, making a geothermal treatment perfectly possible. Along with complex work on the elaborate façade, this would mean that Trebel would be passive.

The ‘Victor’ project at Brussels South Station is also set to be passive, although using geo-thermal techniques is difficult because of the metro etc…

He pointed out that Atenor had originally aimed for a BREEAM certification for Victor, but that the investment made had led to it becoming passive.

Brussels Europa cannot make use of geo-thermals, so techniques such as photo-voltaic panels, night chilling etc. would be used. This will be a challenge for Atenor, but they hope to succeed. City Docks, he assured the delegates, will be passive whatever the evolution of the PRAS (ground use legislation) imposes.

On the question of whether there are already too many offices in Brussels: “There aren’t too many offices, there are too many old and obsolete offices”.

Finally, Stéphan Sonneville, who had also called for quicker permit time-scales, pointed out the developer’s role, which he described as a link in the chain, a link enabling the politicians’ policies to be put into practice. Speaking of the on-cost of all this BelGIUM REAL ESTATE SHOWCASE 2013 105

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Property & Building Management I Sustainability I

(Trebel will require an extra € 50-100 per square metre for example), Stéphan Sonneville simply said “The price is the price”, and that at some point in the future non-passive buildings would not be in favour…

Brussels Environment Minister Evelyne Huytebroek is having a passive building constructed of 16,000 m² on the site of Tour & Taxis. The building has been designed by the architecture bureau CEPEZED and it is set to be the largest passive building in Europe.

A touch of reality Another link in the chain is of course represented by the architects. Pierre Blondel spoke on their behalf, and made a point about the role of the passive norm.

Emphasising that everyone needs to be more aware of the environment and the future, he said that ‘passive’ is a means to the desired end of protecting the environment, it is not a goal in itself. And he had a word of reprimand for some of his colleagues who, he said, tended to say that they were ‘producers of sustainability’ before they said they were architects.

This is not what we are, he said, we are architects, we produce good, usable buildings and employ passive techniques as a way of doing this. But it is true that architects have to respond to the demand for ‘green’, he said, “and we are, very fast”. At this point Pierre Blondel gave another warning, that of reacting so fast that errors are made. The last time architects had to react so quickly to a situation was in the 60’s, he said, when there was such a huge demand for urban housing… Pierre Blondel also wanted to inject a degree of reality into the whole issue. If we went to extremes, we would have to ban detached (four façade) houses, which are energy inefficient in themselves and usually require transport energy to be used to get into the city as well. But no-one is suggesting we do that, he reassured delegates. He also raised the question of maintenance costs, and admitted that we simply do

not yet have any experience of this, so we will largely have to wait and see. It should be added at this stage that the questions at the end of the conference were principally on the subject of maintenance, clearly an issue which concerns (potential) users of these buildings.

Answering the doubts Antoine Crahay was representing Brussels Environment Minister Evelyne Huytebroek, whose department is responsible for imposing the passive standard. The ministry itself is having a passive building constructed on the site of Tour & Taxis just outside Brussels city centre, a 16,000 m² building set to be the largest passive building in Europe.

So he tackled the question of how the occupants – in the case of the ministry there are going to be 600 people moving in – perceived the switch to passive, and what their concerns are. He had had to answer the questions (also alluded to by other speakers) of whether being in a passive building meant it was too hot in summer and too cold in winter… Can the personnel control their working environments, can they open the windows. Antoine Crahay showed a series of short film clips showing people who lived or worked in passive buildings around Europe. Amongst amusing sequences was one man who opened the window of his passive building and then sat down and said “let’s wait and see if anything happens…” – which of course, it didn’t. The outcome of all these clips was that living or working in a passive building is very much like living or working in a traditional building, nothing out of the ordinary, and even the maintenance costs are about the same.

Moving on to the subject of Brussels’ policy in this domain, Antoine Crahay said that the desire was to make Brussels a sustainable city, and the compulsory passive standard is one brick to make this happen.

He also made reference to the ‘district contracts’ all over the city, which involve changes in behaviour. The ministry is moving into a passive building both to be exemplary, and to show that even in the city itself, this is possible and desirable. He pointed out some of the technical features of the building, such as the atrium being used to ventilate and remove heat, and the fact that there are no false ceilings or floors, which would mean a slightly different way of working in terms of equipment.

Tim HARRUP n

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property & building management I PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP I

DFMO contracts: the demand for completeness Several years ago, facility services provider Facilicom Nederland achieved prominence by being the only party to enter a bid for a PPP project for the construction of a new tax office in Doetinchem. We asked Claudine Decorte, general manager of Facilicom Facility Solutions Belgium, about her experiences of PPP.

Assessing the overall picture Actually, the outsourcing market in Belgium is not displaying any pronounced upward trend, or at

any rate is not growing the way it has often been expected to. PPPs in our sectors haven’t affected that. “The recent prisons PPP will have a positive impact on the market, though,” expects Claudine Decorte. “It involves building management, catering, washrooms and associated logistics, cleaning, window-cleaning, and finally monitoring and maintaining the buildings, all within a multiyear contract with a 7/7 operational commitment.”

Advantages and hints to participate in DBFMO contracten Another positive is the term of the ‘operate’ section when this is included in the PPP contracts. This is at least five years, and is often extendable, or may even have a 25-year term right from the start.

Specifications are also being put out to tender more effectively: some thought has clearly gone into this at the Belgian Buildings Agency. One negative point about PPP contracts is that they assume the ability to look ahead 25 years. “That also implies taking decisions that will affect other people at a time when you yourself are no longer around, for instance because you have retired,” Claudine Decorte points out. Maintain and Operate still do not figure enough in PPP tenders.

Claudine Decorte: “PPP contracts are containing increasing numbers of ever stricter clauses and SLAs with associated penalties, making it hard to enter a bid. In the Netherlands, we hear from our colleagues that a partnership is often set up between service-providers to spread the risks.”

PPPs are coupled with time-consuming and financially onerous research work, while the compensation for participating is still disproportionately low if one is not awarded the contract. That deters many and makes PPPs less attractive.

Claudine Decorte, general manager Facilicom Facility Solutions Belgium

“

Maintain and Operate still do not figure enough in PPP tenders.

“

“A

t Facilicom we are only interested when there’s at least a DBFM contract at issue, and our preference is for DBFMO contracts that include the operational side of things,” begins Claudine Decorte. There also needs to be an emphasis on so-called soft services, our core business, and their management. “These represent commitments over a period of 25 years or more, making them very difficult to assess, so this is not a flourishing market right now.

Maintenance is gradually being requested more frequently within PPPs, but the primary focus is on building engineering, which is less a part of our business.”

Experience has taught that projects must be neither too large nor too small, in order to strike an economically responsible balance between the investment in research and development and the expected return if the project is actually secured.

Anyone responding to PPP calls for tenders is in fact heading down a blind path, because the chances of success for the eventual contract are unknown.

Claudine Decorte: “A great majority of building firms are interested in the construction phase, but they don’t want be the owner of buildings.

Facilicom isn’t interested in being an owner either.

Maintenance accounts for around 20% of the operating costs, but the actual interest lies for us in the ‘operate’ cost, and this is being left out. Over the past two years there have been hardly any PPP tenders for DBFMO contracts. We have sometimes seen ‘operate’ and ‘soft services’ appearing in the tender as an option, but ultimately being dropped.

Anyone who takes the trouble of bidding is going to get into difficulties.”

Interview by Eduard Coddé n

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R Identify the partners and suppliers who meet your needs through consulting their company profile

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R

REAL ESTATE NETWORK Finding the right partner, adviser or supplier can be highly valuable to your performance in your investment, real estate development projects, properties, buildings, workplaces en facilities management.

In this section you will find profiles of companies and persons who can assist you in these areas.

More than 650 companies are enlisted with their coordinates in the online directory of Pro-Realestate.be. They are classified according to their field of activities. At the end of this section you will find a selection of these companies.

Connect to www.pro-realestate.be/network for the full listing and their coordinates.

→→

COMPANY PROFILES 111

AG REAL ESTATE

113

ADMOS DESIGN & BUILD

115

AREMIS

117

ATENOR GROUP

119

BELGIAN BUILDINGS AGENCY

(REGIE DER GEBOUWEN / REGIE DES BATIMENTS)

121

CBRE GLOBAL INVESTORS

122

LOGISTIC ORGANISATION GROUP (L.O.G.)

123

CAMELOT (PROTECTION IMMOBILIERE / VASTGOEDBESCHERMING)

125

GLOBAL - WORKPLACE CONSULTING, DESIGN & PROJECT MANAGEMENT

127

BRUSSELS REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY (SDRB / GOMB)

128

400.indd 109

VK ARCHITECTS & ENGINEERS

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AG Real Estate, a 100 % subsidiary of AG Insurance, is the most important and polyvalent real estate group in Belgium. The company offers a wide range of real estate services to its clients, its partners and the cities in which it has a presence.

Active in 3 specific areas, it has a € 5.5 billion portfolio value: - DEVELOPMENT (800.000 m2, 40 projects in development) - INVESTMENT (€ 4 billion assets under management) - CAR PARK MANAGEMENT (290.000 spaces in 9 countries) Silver Tower, AG Real Estate shall develop the first passive tower of Brussels

AG Real Estate offices

BUILDING THE FUTURE TOGETHER

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COMPANY PROFILE

AG REAL ESTATE NV/SA Boulevard Saint Lazare 4-10 - BE-1210 Bruxelles TEL 0032 02 609 68 00 FAX 0032 02 609 68 10 info@agrealestate.eu www.agrealestate.eu

Contact Mathonet Véronique Chief HR & Communication Officer veronique.mathonet@agrealestate.eu

Structure Management

With a EUR 5,5 billion diversified portfolio, AG Real Estate is the largest real estate group in Belgium.

As the real estate subsidiary of the leading Belgian insurance group AG Insurance, AG Real Estate benefits from financial strength to support its core activities: Development, Asset Management, Real Estate Finance and Public Car Park Management.

Serge Fautré Chief Executive Officer

Alain De Coster Chief Development Officer

Marc Van Begin Chief Financial Officer

Xavier Pierlet Chief Investment Officer

In Development, AG Real Estate has a strong track record with completed developments of more than 2 million m² of office, residential and retail space in Belgium, France and Luxembourg. The current Development pipeline of 40 projects covers 800,000 m². Its activities are centred on four major strategic lines: Urban Redevelopment projects, Sustainable Communities projects, Turnkey projects and Public and Private Partnership projects.

AG Real Estate is engaged in several PPP projects. The most important is the project “Scholen van Morgen” which is responsible for the design, building, financing and maintenance of 200 school buildings in the Flemish Region of Belgium.

AG Real Estate is active both as an equity investor as well as a debt investor across the entire risk spectrum.

The Public Car Park Management activity is carried out under the brand Interparking, operating in 9 countries and 350 cities with more than 290,000 parking spaces.

Interparking, with almost 2,000 employees, welcomes 85 million customers a year to its car parks and has become one of the major players in the industry in Europe. Its portfolio includes car parks in city centres, airports, train stations, hospitals, commercial, business and tourist centres. As a key player in the field of mobility, it contributes to enhancing the traffic flow and stimulating the interoperability of different means of transport. Thanks to continuous efforts to reduce its environmental footprint, Interparking’s operations in multiple countries are now CO2 neutral.

AG Real Estate is keen to discuss new partnerships to leverage its real estate know-how and financial strength together with local players. AG Real estate aims at ‘Building the future together’.

AG Real Estate employs some 250 professionals.

AG Real Estate is also one of the leading real estate Asset Managers in Belgium with a portfolio under management of EUR 3,5 billion for the account of AG Insurance and EUR 0.5 billion for the account of third parties. This portfolio is invested in direct and indirect real estate, mostly but not exclusively in Europe, and in all asset classes.

Roland Cracco Chief Executive Officer Interparking

Laurent Stalens Chief Legal Officer

Company Number of staff: 250

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DESIGN & BUILD

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company profile

ADMOS BVBA/SPRL Chaussée de Bruxelles, 22 - BE-1310 La Hulpe TEL 0032 (0)2 634 30 10 FAX 0032 (0)2 634 30 19 contact@admos.be www.admos.be

Contact Anthony ShaikH - Christophe Erkens Associate Partners TEL +32 (0)2 634 30 10 info@admos.be

Structure Management

Anthony ShaikH Associate Partner

Introduction

Services

A mastermind in the creation of state-of-the-art workplace environments

Admos offers a ‘turnkey’ solution which combines a number of services including: • real estate consultancy • conception of working environments • design & build • project management • move management

Thanks to its experience in office space management, Admos offers companies a total real estate service, from analysing needs, through searching for suitable premises, to studying and carrying out the installation process.

The collective expertise which is to be found in its team enables Admos to respond to aesthetic demands and technical requirements, both necessary for a successful, original, high performing and quality workspace.

Christophe Erkens Associate Partner

Company Number of staff : 15 Year of foundation : 2011

Admos specialises in the conception and design of workspaces, integrating the principles of the New World of Work, in accordance with the desires of its clients and the identity of their companies.

Our strength: a single point of contact, a result, a price and a guaranteed time-scale.

References - clients AC NIELSEN - ANTARGAZ - ASD - BOEHRINGER INGELHEIM - BULL - CLEAR2PAY - DECHERT LLP EOS - EXQUANDO - GOOGLE - GUNNEBO IMERYS - INGERSOLL RAND - PARTENA PROJECTIVE - SCANSOURCE - SWIFT - TOTAL TOYOTA BOSHOKU - VW BANK - ...

Independence, creativity and professionalism are our major advantages.

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30% UP TO

%

€

OCCUPANCY COSTS

70 %

UP TO

CARBON FOOTPRINT

THE OSE FORMULA DEVELOPED BY AREMIS OPERATES ACROSS 3 AXES WHERE THE O STANDS FOR THE WORKSPACE OCCUPANCY RATIO, THE S

FOR SPACE MANAGEMENT AND

THE E

FOR THE BUILDINGS ENERGY PERFORMANCE

Through the combined optimization of those 3 elements, AREMIS helps its clients reinforce the control on their corporate real estate. In this way, the AREMIS “OSE” approach can help you reduce your occupancy costs by up to 30% and your carbon footprint by up to 70%!

Contact us and discover how our experts and solutions can help you.

Avenue Charles Schallerlaan 54 - 1160 Brussels - info@aremis.com - www.aremis.com

BELGIUM - FRANCE - LUXEMBURG - SWITZERLAND

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COMPANY PROFILE

AREMIS NV/SA Avenue Charles Schallerlaan 54 - BE-1160 Brussels TEL 0032 (0)2 775 95 12 FAX 0032 (0)2 775 95 14 info@aremis.com www.aremis.com

Contact Xavier Orts TEL 0032 (0)2 775 95 12 x.orts@aremis.com

Structure Management

Introduction AREMIS is helping organizations to optimize the sustainable managament of • their buildings • their work environment • their services to occupants This represents: • the 1st environmental footprint driver • the 2nd cost after salaries • a major driver for productivity and welness at work

Xavier Orts Managing Director

Réginald Thomas Management Services Director

AREMIS Group was created in July 2010 in the scope of a management buy-out in Belgium, France, Luxembourg and Switzerland. The experts and solutions deployed by AREMIS currently manage more than 34 million sqm.

Thanks to its international network, AREMIS is able to support organizations on local and global scale.

Services

Axel Tasiaux Sales Director

Bart D’heer Major Accounts Director

International Luxembourg, France, Switzerland

Company Number of staff 2013: 96 Year of foundation: 2010

Turnover 2009: 7 700 000 € 2010: 7 800 000 € 2011: 8 200 000 € 2012: 10 200 000 €

Management Services As a human resources developer and provider, AREMIS selects, develops and insources expert profiles to complement your building, facilities and real estate management resources. Our consultants and experts can notably complement your teams to: • Develop strategic space plans • Lease contract Management • Manage building projects • Implement energy performance improvement programs • Manage sites and buildings • Internal move coordination and space planning • Convert, create and maintain accurate drawing libraries • Update and process data to provide key performance indicators and management dashboards Information Systems AREMIS delivers integrated solutions based on software expertise and best practices to optimize the costs and quality of the work environment and to reduce the environmental footprint of large organizations. These solutions will notably help you to achieve the following goals: • Real estate and occupancy costs optimization • Environmental footprint reduction • Increase in efficiency and credibility of your FM and RE departments • Shorten decision process and enhanced level of services

The AREMIS team is by far the most experienced in continental Europe and offers a strong combination of expert profiles: FM & RE process specialists, IT engineers and project managers, web and database experts, application consultants, CAD engineers. We deploy solutions that are supporting and embedded in daily operations to deliver intuitive decision dashboard that support your decisions with reliable data and indicators. These solutions will notably help you to achieve the following goals: • Portfolio inventory and lease administration • Environmental footprint calculation • Strategic space forecasting • Space planning and move management • Employee Portal - Service Desk administration • Maintenance Monitoring and Cabling • Condition Assessment • Resources Reservations (meeting rooms, shared desk, etc.)

Consulting Services The AREMIS consultants have a practical experience in facilities and real estate management to support you in the following domains: • Define information system requirements, deployment plans and budgets • Manage information system deployments • Define or streamline processes and workflows • Define and map performance indicators and dashboards • Diagnose energy performance issues • Optimize printers and copiers policy and costs • Manage on-site building measurement campaigns

References - clients Some companies who trusted us : 3M, AGC Glass Unlimited, Agfa, AXA, Bayer, Belfius, BMW, BNP PARIBAS Fortis, B-post, Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Brussels Airport, Clinique St-Pierre, Cofely Services, Communauté Française Wallonie-Bruxelles, Consilium, Corelio, Delhaize, European Commission Luxembourg, European Investment Bank, European Patent Office, European Space Agency, Eurostation, FOREM, Generali, GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals, IATA, IBM, KBC Bank, KBC Real Estate, Kiabi, Linklaters, Ministère des Finances à Luxembourg, Nestlé, OIL, Philip Morris International, Police d’Evere/Politie van Evere, Région Bruxelles Capitale/Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest, Réseau Ferré de France, RTBF, RTL, SABCA, Sanofi, SD Worx, SITA, SNCB/NMBS, Sodexo, SPF Sécurité sociale/FOD Sociale Zekerheid, Société Générale Bank & Trust, TOTAL, Tractebel, UBS, UCB, UEFA, UNIL, Université Catholique de Louvain, Veolia, ...

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Warm up to city living. UP-site, the new “place-to-live”.

A unique concept in Belgium

A growing neighbourhood

Customised apartment

Breathtaking views

Exclusive services

45% energy savings

Contemporary and refined, UP-site is in the process of becoming the emblematic reflection of a new city-life, stylish, chic and active.

With its 140 m tall residential tower and its range of exclusive services, Brussels no longer has anything to envy to any other city.

Following the example of the major capitals of Europe, the Canal district is experiencing an exceptional metamorphosis: trendy shops and restaurants, avant-garde cultural sites, new parks, optimised multimodal mobility.

From the trendy pied-àterre to the exceptional penthouse or the family apartment, each living space opens onto a magnificent terrace. The flexibility of the spaces and the finishes allow you to choose the style and the budget most appropriate for you.

With its residential tower, the highest in the capital, UP-site offers you the most beautiful views of Brussels. Whether from your apartment or from your terrace, you will enjoy the ambient peace while benefitting from a stunning panorama.

On top of the comfort of your apartment you will benefit from exclusive, easily accessible services.

From the concierge to the spa, the well-being centre, the lounge-bar, the restaurant, the skydeck, and the private cinema, you will enjoy all the advantages of urban life.

The apartments of the UP-site tower offer substantial energy savings (-45%) in comparison with standard Brussels residential units.

A sustainable building, friendly atmosphere, green spaces, and soft mobility are all parameters that will influence your choice...

WWW.UP-SITE.BE

VISIT OUR UP-LOUNGE www.concerto.be

CALL 0800 -14 940 TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT.

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COMPANY PROFILE

ATENOR GROUP NV/SA Avenue Reine Astrid 92 - BE-1310 La Hulpe TEL 0032 (0)2 387 22 99 FAX 0032 (0)2 387 23 16 info@atenor.be - www.atenor.be

UP-site

Contact Sandrine JACOBS for Happybizz sprl Communication Director TEL 0032 (0)2 387 22 99 - jacobs@atenor.be

Port du Bon Dieu

Structure Management

City Docks

Stéphan Sonneville s.a.

Managing Director

Olivier Ralet (for Olivier Ralet BDM sprl) Executive Officer

UP-site

Introduction ATENOR GROUP is a real estate development company listed on NYSE Euronext Brussels.

Its mission is to provide suitable answers to new requirements created by changes in urban and professional life through its urban planning and architectural approach (mobility, respect for the environment, urban densification, safety…)

Laurent Collier (for Strat Up sprl) Executive Officer

Sidney D. Bens Chief Financial Officer

William Lerinckx (for Probatimmo bvba) Executive Officer

Sandrine Jacobs (for Happybizz sprl) Communication Director

Hans Vandendael (for Hans Vandendael bvba) Legal Director

Plant/International ATENOR Group Romania - ATENOR Group Hungary ATENOR Group Luxembourg

Company Number of staff : 36

Turnover 2009 : 35.490.000 € - 2010 : 10.944.000 € 2011 : 36.456.000 € - 2012 : 45.943.000 €

Atenor 2013.indd 117

ATENOR GROUP invests in large scale real estate projects which meet very strict requirements in terms location, mixed use, diversification, technical quality, economic efficiency, and sustainable development.

Environmental responsibility Respect for the environment and sustainable development The Group proposes real estate projects which fall under a continuous progress of sustainable development: use of environmentally-friendly materials, energy drawn from the natural elements at hand (water, wind, sun)...

Social responsibility An increased functional diversity for more userfriendliness A user-friendliness factor, functional diversity makes it possible for city dwellers to experience the city differently. Well integrated into the urban fabric, it engenders a sociological diversity and supports inter-generational contact. From a macro-economic point of view, it also makes it possible to reduce intra-urban travel (mobility/ pollution) and to ensure a dynamics for the city beyond office hours.

Urban density as the basis even for the existence of a city For many town planners, increased urban density counts as one of the most relevant solutions for mitigating the problems with which large cities are confronted. A well considered increase in density thus acts in favour of a better quality of life.

Public spaces conducting a private space/public space dialog More than an open air meeting space, public space is a link between private life and public life. An essential and incontrovertible link that contributes to the success of the renovation of a district.

Architecture with a meaningful direction For Atenor Group, architectural quality fashions an urban landscape and encourages everyone to respect their city, to live there, to work there and to stay there.

Economic responsibility Attentive to its financial stability and future growth, ATENOR GROUP endeavours to create value by the implementation of a clear and largely diffused strategy.

The Group intends to offer to shareholders a regular return on capital.

Social and cultural responsibilities Sensitive to the promotion of art, architecture and education, the company therefore supports various projects.

References - Properties & Real Estate Development REAL ESTATE PORTFOLIO The projects in the portfolio representing about 650,000 m² are : UP-site (Brussels, Belgium - 80,000 m²) l Port du Bon Dieu (Namur, Belgium - 20,580 m²) l Hermes Business Campus (Bucharest, Romania - 78,200 m²) l Vaci Greens (Budapest, Hungary - phase 1: 57,800 m²) l Victor (Brussels, Belgium - ±120,000 m²) l Brussels Europa (Brussels, Belgium) l Trebel (Brussels, Belgium 29,500 m²) l Les Brasseries de Neudorf (Luxembourg 11,400 m²) l City Docks (Brussels, Belgium - 125,000 m²) Le Quartier de la Nouvelle Gare (Mons, Belgium) l Les Anciennes Sucreries (Ath, Belgium - ±20,000 m²) l South City Hotel (Brussels, Belgium - 2,760 m²).

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© Philippe SAMYN and PARTNERS architects & engineers, LEAD and DESIGN PARTNER. Philippe Samyn and Partners architects & engineers, Studio Valle Progettazioni architects, Buro Happold Limited engineers.

© Architectenbureau Van Acker / Partners

© A.M. 4à4 T.H.V.

The Belgian Buildings Agency Gulden Vlieslaan - Avenue de la Toison d’Or 87 box 2 B-1060 Brussels - Belgium Phone: +32(0)2 541 70 66 - Fax: +32(0)2 541 70 70

www.buildingsagency.be

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Buildings Agency

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COMPANY PROFILE

BELGIAN BUILDINGS AGENCY (Regie der Gebouwen Régie des Bâtiments) Avenue de la Toison d’Or 87 b 2 - BE-1060 Brussels TEL 0032 (0)2 541 65 11 FAX 0032 (0)2 541 65 10 infodesk@buildingsagency.be www.buildingsagency.be

Contact Laurent Vrijdaghs - C.E.O. TEL 0032 (0)2 541 70 76 laurent.vrijdaghs@buildingsagency.be

Structure Management

Introduction The Belgian Buildings Agency The real estate expert of the federal state Founded in 1971 as a semi-independent governmental organization, the Belgian Buildings Agency provides qualitative office accommodation for federal public servants and manages the national architectural heritage.

Integrity, professionalism, team spirit and responsibility are its core values.

Laurent Vrijdaghs C.E.O.

Marie-Caroline Pardon Director-general Clients

Dirk Van Geystelen Director-general Strategy and real estate

Paul De Ceuster Director-general Operational

Roger Vermeulen Managing director Staff

Brussels (HQ), Antwerp, Hasselt, Leuven, Ghent, Bruges, Namur, Liège, Arlon, Mons, Nivelles

Company Number of staff: Around 1100 Year of foundation : 1971

BBA 2013.indd 119

The Agency manages about 7,9 million m² in real estate, devided over some 1 400 buildings. About 930 of the buildings are owned by the Federal state (about 4.9 million m²), 459 buildings are rented (about 2.9 million m²).

For the federal public servants, the Agency either rents office blocks of high quality, or it operates as a property developer. When renting offices, the needs of the clients are carefully analysed. For newly constructed buildings, particular attention is paid to the global architectural quality of the building plans. This quality is assessed, among other things, in terms of functionality, expected operating lifetime, aesthetical quality, urban integration within the existing environment, construction costs, maintenance costs and sustainable energy consumption.

The federal heritage includes several buildings of immense architectural and historic interest, such as the site of the Cinquantenaire with the Cinquantenaire Museum, Autoworld and the Royal Museum of the Army and Military History. This patrimony is administered by the Belgian Buildings Agency, which guards over the preservation of these monuments and unique buildings, which refer to Belgium’s rich past and culture.

The Agency has been developing its conservation and restoration know-how for many years. Every year, the Agency restores several valuable buildings and monuments to their former glory. The opera house La Monnaie, the Palace of the Academies, the Musical Instruments Museum, the Belgian Royal Museums of Fine Arts, the Halle Gate, the Japanese Tower, the Chinese Pavilion and the Centre for Fine Arts are just a few examples of this commitment.

The Agency is also responsible for the various commitments of the Belgian state to provide office

accommodation for international organizations such as the European Schools (European Commission) or the Council of the European Union.

The realization of each project is always the result of a successful collaboration between the different partners.

Quality service and a specific and unique expertise in the fields of construction, restoration and real estate management make the Belgian Buildings Agency the real estate expert of the Federal State.

Services •

•

• •

Civil & Structural Engineering : stability, concrete and steel studies, infrastructure, special construction procedures, VRD, etc.

Engineering : Hvac, electricity, electro-mechanics, fire prevention, technical building management, energy management, environmental audits, special systems (IT, telephone, etc), restoration techniques, etc.

Facility Management Project Management : public procurement procedures, calls for tender, budget, timescale, space planning, quality control, etc.

References - clients • Federal Ministries • Federal Public Services (Personnel and Organisation, Chancellery of the Prime Minister, Budget and Management Control, Information and Communica tion Technology, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, Home Affairs, Finance, Justice, Mobility and Transport, Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue, Social Security, Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment, Economy, SMEs, Self-Employed and Energy) • Federal Public Planning Services (Social Integration, Fight against Poverty and Social Economy, Sustainable Development, Science Policy) • Fedasil • State Archives • Royal Palaces (Brussels and Laeken) • European schools in Belgium (European Commission) • Council of the EU (Justus Lipsius - Residence Palace) • Academia Belgica (Rome – Italy) • Fondation Biermans-Lapôtre (Paris – France) • World and International Exhibitions (Shanghai 2010, • Saragossa 2008, Aïchi 2005, Hannover 2000) BELGIUM REAL ESTATE SHOWCASE 2013 119

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Wijnegem Shopping Center The Landmark Shopping Center East of Antwerp

Located east of Antwerp, Wijnegem Shopping Center has been for the last 20 years the unchallenged reference in the Benelux Shopping Center Industry. Two levels of shopping totaling 57,000 sqm and 5,000 parking spaces offer the 9,5 million visitors per year more than 200 shops and a wide variety of brands, experiences and shopping fun. In order to maintain that position its owners have launched a 50Mio investment and renovation program. The program consist of a redevelopment of the former ‘Sarma’ site and a full interior renovation introducing new design and features. Currently the construction is in full progress and first openings are foreseen in September 2013, with renovation executed in March 2014.

www.cbreglobalinvestors.com

Ad. CBRE_BRES 2013.indd 1

Project Developed: CBRE Global Investors & AXA Belgium Architects: Jaspers-Eyers Architects Building Permit: March 2012 End of Constructions: March 2014 Total GLA: 57,000 sqm Parking: 5,000

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COMPANY PROFILE

CBRE GLOBAL INVESTORS BELGIUM NV/SA Kunstlaan, 46, Avenue des Arts - BE-1000 Bruxelles TEL 0032 02 550 02 60 FAX 0032 02 550 02 68 lina.ricca@cbreglobalinvestors.com www.cbreglobalinvestors.com

Contact Patrick Meutermans Country Manager TEL +32 2 550 02 60 lina.ricca@cbreglobalinvestors.com

Structure Management

Patrick Meutermans Country Manager

Caroline Brams CFO

Nicolas Lutgé Head of Offices

Piet Van Poppel Asset & Transaction Manager

Introduction CBRE Global Investors is a leading global real estate investment manager with EUR 70,3 billion in assets under management*. The company sponsors investment programs across the risk/return spectrum for investors worldwide.

Services Investment Philosophy CBRE Global Investors’ investment philosophy is to employ a disciplined, research-based investment process executed by established, dedicated investment teams with a strong alignment of interest with our investors.

CBRE Global Investors is an independently operated affiliate of CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBG the world’s premier, full service commercial real estate services company, with approximately 34,000 employees (excluding affiliates) across more than 300 offices worldwide. This gives CBRE Global Investors a significant competitive edge, as the firm harnesses the research, market intelligence, investment sourcing, financing, leasing and property management of CBRE for the benefit of its investors.

Each dedicated team is focused on a specific geography and style of investing and actively manages each investment throughout the holding period. By capitalizing on the unique depth of the CBRE global platform, teams are able to source transactions and integrate local market intelligence into decision-making processes. Investments are made in markets where CBRE has an operational presence and in assets judged to have above-average return potential.

The CBRE Global Investors EMEA platform, with EUR 27,3 billion of assets under management* is one of the largest and most diversified real estate investment management business. The platform has 14 offices in 14 countries, managing investments in 17 countries across Europe. In the region, programs include Core/ Core+ and Value-Added strategies through separate accounts and commingled equity funds. in the UK, Western and Southern Europe, Central Eastern Europe and the Nordics for investors worldwide. For more information about CBRE Global Investors, please visit

Our investment philosophy is comprised of the following strategic components:

www.cbreglobalinvestors.com

1. Multi-Strategy Offer a series of complementary strategies positioned along the risk/return spectrum.

2. Global Platform Leverage the resources and strengths of the parent company to provide market intelligence and transaction flow for our investors and partners.

3. Dedicated Team Structure Execute each strategy with a dedicated team accountable for the total performance throughout the investment life cycle.

References - Properties & Real Estate Development References in Belgium : Bastion Tower l Eolis l Airport Plaza l Science 14 l Logistics Centers in Liège l Meer Eindhout and Puurs l Wijnegem Shopping Center l Waasland Shopping Center

Frederik Mertens Transaction & Asset Manager

Olivier Vuylsteke Letting Manager

Company Number of staff : 15 Year of foundation : 1973 BELGIUM REAL ESTATE SHOWCASE 2013 121

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COMPANY PROFILE

L.O.G Rue du Charroi 21-23 - BE-1190 Bruxelles - Forest TEL 0032 (0)2 512 21 10 FAX 0032 (0)2 503 34 16 www.log.be

Contact Gerd Steegmans Business Development TEL +32 (0)2 512 21 10 gerd.steegmans@log.be

Structure Management Benoît Detroz CIO-CFO Patrick Dubois CEO

Introduction Logistic Organisation Group is a company specialized in the implantation, the design and optimization of workspaces.

Thanks to its unique methodology and integrated approach, L.O.G guarantees its customers a complete, stable and economic space management.

As from the analysis of needs, the design or realization of the interior design up to the complete management of the refurbishment and the move, L.O.G answers the flexibilty needs of its customers.

This approach will influence the satisfaction of the users and also the economic performance of the customers business.

Services L.O.G builds its offer around four ranges of services.

Gerd Steegmans Business Development

Company Number of staff: 26 Year of foundation: 2000

Turnover 2009 : 2 150 000 € 2010 : 2 102 000 € 2011 : 2.400.000 €

STUDIES Quickscan is a brief analysis based upon the collected data and a synthesis of the customers objectifs wich results in the most profitable transformations. It helps to describe the expectations, assumptions, earnings, costs and risks of the decision wether or not to implement a particular project. The quickscan deals with either the interior design or the occupancy of office buildings. The pronounced budgets and ROI’s give a good indication wether a project is a good investment. The obtained results offer the customer the possibility, according to his expectations and, to contract the project in complete independence.

Governance file describes the rules and internal procedures from the customer to be followed regarding the allocation of spaces and equipment. It can also describe the requirements of the graphic charter, based upon the “corporate identity”.

Design file describes the project in its various components. It defines expectations, assumptions, risks, earnings and project budgets in terms of time and cost. It deals with the “WHAT” and can include: • Space & Occupancy Planning, • Space & Interior Design • The technical specifications, • The administrative permissions.

Implementation file describes how to complete the project.

In order to be able to manage the risks and the quality, it sets out in detail the schedule, budget and actions to control. It identifies all the stakeholders and determines their commitments. It deals with the “HOW” and can include: • Planning of the project, • Planning of the equipment to move, • General Plan and in particular the Health and Safety Plan, • Identification of the contractors, • Elaboration of the implementation agreements, • Approval of the implementation plans SITE SUPERVISION This phase includes, according to the design and implementation file, the startup, the coordination and the follow up of refurbishment projects of office buildings. It includes: • Control of the work including site and project meetings • The completion of the project, resulting in the As-Built file.

MOVE MANAGEMENT In accordance with the design and implementation file, this phase includes the startup, the coordination and the follow up of the move. It includes : • Control of the move including the coordination of the parties involved and the review “post-move” • The completion of the move, resulting in the As-Built file.

OCCUPANCY MANAGEMENT The service “Occupancy Management” allows the client : • To locate and retrieve a person or an equipment • To ensure the availability of an office space, a workspace or an equipment • To allocate costs.

After consultation with the board and taking into account the internal agreements, the costs related to workplaces and equipment are allocated to the persons, activities or departments.

The information obtained regarding “occupancy management” are registered, produced, published and spread in appropriate formats (plans, signaling, directories, inventories, databases,… ) to the departments who expressed the need, according to the legislation and regulations prevailing.

These deliverables are the backbone around which the other services offered by L.O.G are built.

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COMPANY PROFILE

CAMELOT Vastgoedbescherming Protection Immobilière BVBA/SPRL

Avenue Louise,437 bte 3 - BE-1050 Bruxelles TEL 0032 02 646 44 22 FAX 0032 02 646 48 48 info@camelotbelgium.be www.cameloteurope.com

Contact Yves Stevens Director Belgium TEL 04 778 222 68 y.stevens@camelotbelgium.be

Structure Management

Yves Stevens Director Belgium

Introduction We, Camelot Vastgoedbescherming, the European property management specialists, secure, maintain, insure and generate income from buildings for a diverse selection of industry sectors from councils and housing associations to banks and private commercial organisations.

Core services cover the complete property lifecycle from an initial risk assessment, Live-in Guardians, monitoring, clearing, maintenance and preparation. These services protect properties against unauthorised access and a variety of risks such as vandalism, arson, theft, squatting and fly tipping.

Our extensive range of services provide customers with the peace of mind that vacant property is safe, secure and retaining its value.

Products THE LIVE-IN GUARDIAN SOLUTION Places key workers into your property as temporary occupants during periods of vacancy. Housing Guardians vastly reduces threats of dilapidation, vandalism, arson and squatting.

Kelly Plummen Guardian Manager Belgium Netherlands France United Kingdom Ireland Germany

Company Number of staff : >200 Year of foundation : 1993

Generate Income During Vacancy Make Space Pay offers an innovative, professional service that creatively and commercially makes use of vacant space. We have in-house expertise enabling us to generate an income stream with no financial outlay from the client.

FACILITIES MANAGEMENT Camelot has the expertise and infrastructure to deliver a quality service based on excellent contract management techniques and leading edge technology. Our overall objective is to deliver a bespoke and cost effective solution.

BUILDING SITE OCCUPATION Camelot places guardians temporarily on building sites in special ‘living containers’ fitted with a shower, toilet, kitchen, heating and satellite dish. Past cases have shown us that the use of living containers almost eliminates theft and vandalism.

Camelot deliberately selects experienced Guardians for building site occupation. These Guardians generally have regular jobs and therefore are not on site during the day while building work is going on, meaning that the Guardians and site workers will not get in each other’s way.

MARSH ARRANGES THIRD-PARTY PROPERTY RISK COVER FOR CAMELOT EUROPE The independent insurance and risk management agent has developed an innovative and individual insurance product for vacant property management that covers the risks to residents and users of all premises and projects within Camelot’s European portfolio. This involves the entire vacant property management of over 4,500 projects in six countries, ranging from housing estates and empty offices, to a completely abandoned military complex. Thanks to this policy, Camelot is the first in the sector to be able to offer total financial security during the period of management to its clients as owners of vacant premises.

QUALITY, RELIABILITY AND INNOVATION Camelot achieved ISO 9001:2008 approval for our Quality Management along with British Standards Institution recognition for the key holding and guardian vetting aspects of our service. As the largest provider in Europe, we are happy to share our knowledge and innovations with our clients.

THE CAMELOT SOLUTION: MADE TO MEASURE Every property deserves a tailor-made approach; together we can determine what is best for your property. Camelot can protect your building with Live-in Guardians. Moreover we can take the maintenance of buildings and sites off your hands and perform regular inspections for you.

Camelot offers a total facility management service; a flexible package designed to meet all maintenance and administrative issues associated with property.

We would also be delighted to demonstrate how our ‘Make Space Pay’ package can generate income for you while your property is vacant. You can choose for full outsourcing, joint management or individual services.

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SIBELCO, 2018 ANTWERPEN - PHOTO: MARC DETIFFE - COPYWRITER: VINCENT LENS - GRAPHIC DESIGN: GLOBAL-DPM JOHANNA FISCHER

global

give space a new dimension workplace consulting, design & project management

In crisis times, reducing costs is essential, but this challenge also presents an outstanding opportunity. How can you reorganise your teams in the work area? What working method is most suited to the jobs performed? How can you improve your communications ? As specialist in creating and developing work spaces, GLOBAL will help answer these questions and make your offices a real strategic lever. So you can successfully meet your challenges, today and tomorrow.

WWW.GLOBAL-DPM.BE / STEVEN VALKENIERS +32 (0)475 83 06 23 / PHILIPPE JANSSENS +32 (0)474 97 55 07

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COMPANY PROFILE

WORKPLACE CONSULTING, DESIGN & PROJECT MANAGEMENT Chaussée de La Hulpe 177 / 20 - BE-1170 Brussels TEL 0032 (0)2 663 27 40 FAX 0032 (0)2 663 27 79 global@global-dpm.be www.global-dpm.be

Contact Alain LE GRELLE Managing Director TEL 0032 (0)2 663 27 43 ale@global-dpm.be

Structure Management

Alain LE GRELLE Managing Director - Associate Aferdita KAS Design Management - Associate Cécile SEVRIN Administration & Finance - Associate Philippe BEMONT Project Management - Associate Steven VALKENIERS Sales Director - Associate Thomas LOWARD Workplace consulting - Associate

Company Number of staff: 27 Year of foundation: 1995

Introduction It all began in 1995. Back then we were just a handful of enthusiasts with big ideas. GLOBAL very soon specialised in designing and developing work spaces.

But not at any cost. We have always sought to achieve an essential objective: to offer you a high-quality working environment so that you can ensure the well-being of your staff, within clearly defined budgets and lead times. Today, GLOBAL has strengthened its position by creating the general contractor G Entreprises, and by integrating New Game, experts experienced in Workplace Consulting. Thanks to this expansion of our services, we can respond to your developing needs and help you to achieve your current and future strategic objectives.

Services

Workplace Consulting | understand | anticipate | improve Moving, merging, acquiring… Change offers a unique opportunity to redefine the structural imperatives of your company. From the analysis of your needs to the assessment of the solutions put in place, GLOBAL, with New Game, covers every aspect of Workplace Consulting. Defining your precise operating needs is no easy task. Our Workplace consultants analyse your organisation and draw up a customised programme of needs. Redesigning your workplace gives you a chance to integrate major structural changes. We help you unite your management around a common vision. Our consultants also bring your staff on board to ensure that the new practices put in place are firmly established and to breathe life into them. We also help you with the implementation of the New World of Work.

Design Management | listen | create | foresee | check The creative and aesthetic aspects take shape, while the initial layout is refined. Choice of materials and colours, the look and performance of the partitions, acoustic elements, ceilings, floor coverings, woodwork, lighting, furniture, etc. The designer creates spaces dedicated to the well-being of your staff. He translates your programme of needs in functional and aesthetic terms, making sure that you remain involved throughout the creative process. Be it computer-generated imagery or brilliant sketches on the corner of a serviette – it’s the idea that counts, as long as it fits in with your aesthetic vision and comes through the feasibility analysis.

Project Management | select | manage | control After creation comes action. GLOBAL develops and

manages its projects in the field. A field that it manages at every level: quality, time and budget. Specifications, invitations to tender and comparative tables, schedules, budgets, site coordination and follow-up, quality control: the project manager - the client’s main contact - guarantees that the work runs smoothly. He selects the various trades on the basis of value for money, combining rigour and flexibility in his approach.

GLOBAL offers you the best suppliers on the market and negotiates with them so that you always benefit from advantageous terms. When the project so requires, GLOBAL goes as far as developing customised furniture and lighting solutions. Would you prefer to deal with a single point of contact, rather than a host of suppliers for your building work? G Entreprises is a general contractor attached to GLOBAL that takes total responsibility for your project and selects the suppliers best suited to your project from among its network linked by framework contracts. It also includes a purchasing centre, which means you benefit from an extremely competitive level of value for money.

References - clients ACCOR I ARJOWIGGINS I ARNOLD & PORTER LLP I ASTRAZENECA I AXA I BAIN & COMPANY BELGIUM I BEIERSDORF I BEST FRIENDS I BOEING I BOOMERANG BPOST I CLARENT I CLEARY GOTTLIEB STEEN & HAMILTON I CLIFFORD CHANCE I COCA-COLA I COFINIMMO I COMMISSION EUROPEENNE I COVINGTON & BURLING LLP I DE WOLF & PARTNERS I DEXIA I ELIA I EUROFER I FINACIBEL REAL ESTATE I FIRST INDUSTRIAL FORESTINI I FOST + I FRESHFIELDS DERINGER I GENERAL ELECTRIC I GLAXO SMITH KLINE I GOOGLE INC I GREY I HOLCIM I HONDA I HUNTON & WILLIAMS LLP I IBECOR I INNOVEX - QUINTILES I JET AIRWAYS JONES DAY I LACTALIS I LIEDEKERKE WOLTERS WAELBROECK KIRKPATRICK I LINKLATERS I LORENZ INTERNATIONAL LAWYERS I LOYENS LOEFF I MC KINSEY & COMPANY EUROPE I NAUTADUTILH I NEOPOST I NH HOTEL I ONSSAPL I PARLEMENT EUROPÉEN I PREVENT I PVI I RAFFINERIE TIRLEMONTOISE - TIENSE SUIKERRAFFINADERIJ I REAL LIFE I ROCKWELL AUTOMATION I SECURA BELGIAN RE I SIBELCO I SIRIUS SPE I STATE STREET I S.T.I.B. - M.I.V.B. I SYNCADA I SYNTHES I THE BOSTON CONSULTING GROUP I UCB PHARMA I UMICORE I UNIFERT I VANGUARD I VF EUROPE I WHITE & CASE LLP I WILMER HALE LLP I WILSON SONSINI GOODRICH & ROSATI LLP I ...

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An exemplary sustainable neighbourhood in Brussels that will contribute to the renewal of the canal zone.

LE FE VR E

This large mixed-use project located along the canal in a very mixed area, will combine economic activities and housing.

All of the buildings will be constructed according to the principles of high energetic performance (passive or low-energy).

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LOTISSEMENT TIVOLI PLAN JOINT A LA DEMANDE DE PERMIS DE LOTIR

VILLE DE BRUXELLES / REGION DE BRUXELLES-CAPITALE

REPRESENTE PAR :

Société de Développement pour la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale Président: D. Grimberghs

Administrateur délégué: J. Meganck PRESCRIPTIONS LITERALES

Rue Antoine Dansaert, 206 - 1000 Bruxelles Tel. +32 2 502 81 07 - Fax. +32 2 502 81 28 e-mail : ms@ms-a.be Rue Jonniaux, 16 - 1040 Bruxelles Tel. 02/733 14 73 - Fax. 02/733 85 33 e-mail : chenu.olivier@skynet.be

Olivier CHENU

TITRE U R B A N I S T E

PLAN ILLUSTRATIF + AMENAGEMENT DES VOIRIES (valeur indicative) N° DU PLAN

06

Tivoli

Housing

446 housing units, two crèches, shops and public spaces.

Spaces for economic activities

Two buildings will house business activities on 12,000 m2 of floor space, 7,500 m2 of which will be home to the BRUSSELS GREENBIZZ project thanks to €15 million in ERDF funding.

With us, Brussels is yours!

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COMPANY PROFILE

Brussels Regional Development Agency (BRDA) Rue Gabrielle Petit 6 - BE-1080 Brussels TEL 0032 (0)2 422 51 11 FAX 0032 (0)2 422 51 12 info@sdrb.be www.sdrb.be

Contact Benjamin CADRANEL General Director TEL 0032 (0)2 422 51 11

Structure Management

Introduction The Brussels Regional Development Agency

Denis GRIMBERGHS Chairman of the Board

Julien Meganck Executive Director

The BRDA has nearly 40 years of experience in professional real estate The Brussels Regional Development Agency (BRDA) was created in 1974 to facilitate the establishment of high value-added industrial, semi-industrial, artisanal and services companies in the Brussels-Capital Region by providing real estate infrastructure at attractive prices.

The BRDA acquires plots of land which it makes viable and provides to businesses in the form of long-term leases. The BRDA also re-purposes former industrial sites as multi-purpose premises for economic activities, that meet the needs of businesses and puts them on the market at attractive rates.

Benjamin CADRANEL General Director Philippe ANTOINE General Manager Gert Nys Acting General Manager Gert Van der Eeken General Manager

Thanks to its work, the BRDA promotes economic development and employment in the Brussels Region.

The BRDA currently manages a total area of nearly 200 ha with over 300 companies that provide 24,000 jobs.

Services The BRDA provides tailor-made real estate solutions All businesses looking for premises in the BrusselsCapital Region can contact the BRDA. Companies that want to establish themselves on the plots or in the buildings of the BRDA must meet certain activity and employment criteria. The BRDA then shows the properties (land or buildings) in its portfolio to the company.

If there are no suitable properties in its real estate portfolio, or if the company does not meet the criteria, the BRDA will try to find a solution in the private sector via its Inventimmo real estate database (www. inventimmo.be) which lists all properties available in the Brussels-Capital Region (workshops, depots, offices, industrial lots, etc.).

The BRDA provides support and advice and directs companies to the right contacts In addition to providing real estate support, the BRDA analyses project financing, the granting of any permits or subsidies, and guides companies towards other regional partners such as the Brussels Enterprise Agency, the Brussels Regional Investment Company, the Brussels Guarantee Scheme, etc.

The BRDA, a significant player in Sustainable Urban Development The BRDA has also been very involved in urban renewal projects for the past 25 years. It builds housing for middle-income households. Thanks to regional subsidies, it makes housing available to residents of Brussels at 30% below the city’s real estate market prices.

The BRDA moved to a sustainable development policy several years ago. All of the housing built by the BRDA is either passive or low-energy.

The BRDA also manages mixed-use projects in which housing and workshops are seamlessly integrated.

Company Number of staff : 140 Year of foundation : 1974 BELGIUM REAL ESTATE SHOWCASE 2013 127

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COMPANY PROFILE

VK Architects & Engineers Avenue Clemenceau, 87 - BE-1070 Brussels TEL 0032 (0)2 414 07 77 FAX 0032 (0)2 414 04 98 bxl@vkgroup.be www.vkgroup.be

NATO HEADQUARTERS Brussels, Belgium - Architects : SOM, ASSAR INFRAX Torhout Belgium - Architect : CrepainBinst Architecture

POLICE TOWER Charleroi, Belgium - Architects : Ateliers Jean Nouvel, MDW Architecture Artevelde TOWER Ghent, Belgium - Architects : M. & J.M., Jaspers-Eyers Architects

Contact Serge Cappon - Marketing Manager TEL 0032 (0)51 26 20 20 serge.c@vkgroup.be

Structure Management

Paul Corbeel C.E.O.

Michel Dewanckele CBDO

Paul Feryn COO

Dirk Slabbinck CTO

Introduction VK is a multi-disciplinary design and engineering company with 60 years of experience. VK has an extensive portfolio of work which is represented in four main markets: HEALTHCARE, BUILDINGS, INDUSTRY and INFRASTRUCTURE. In our ‘learning organization’ we keep up with technological evolution. VK focuses on sustainable, ecoefficient and future-oriented design, with knowledge of business on rational use of energy, energy performance standards, energy reporting, ...

Being rewarded a ‘Green Good Design Award’ for the Renson head office (2002), Infrax (2010) and a ‘2020 challenge award’ for the Infrax low energy offices (2009), proves that VK is successful in implementing its sustainable approach in various projects.

VK has contributed to several challenging structural and technical engineering missions and large-scale projects with renowned architects: MG Tower (Ghent), The Capital Business Centre (Brussels), Zenith Tower (Brussels), the new NATO HQ (Brussels), extension of the European Parliament (Brussels), the new Law Courts of Antwerp, various projects for GlaxoSmithKline and Baxter, ... and was engaged as engineering office in 5 MIPIM award winners since 2000.

Services Ann-Sophie Cremers CHRO

Peter Van Kerckhove Chairman advisory board

Belgian subsidiaries

VK - Axxess Business Park, Gulden sporenpark, Building A n°4 BE-9820 Merelbeke (Ghent)

VK - Zevenbergenlaan 2a - BE-8200 Brugge VK - Brugsesteenweg 210 - BE-8800 Roeselare

Plant/International

VK Astana - Kazachstan / VK Vietnam - Vietnam

Company

Number of staff: > 100 / Year of foundation: 1952

Turnover

2009 : 17 835 068 € - 2010 : 22 381 928 € 2011 : 25 629 399 €

Civil & Structural Engineering: stability, concrete and steel studies, infrastructure, special construction procedures, VRD, etc. MEP Engineering: HVAC, electricity, plumbing, electro-mechanics, fire prevention, technical building management, energy management, fire engineering, energy engineering, environmental audits, special systems (IT, telephone, etc.), etc.

Advanced Technologies: Acoustical Engineering - VK Architects & Engineers has taken over Aurea Acoustics in 2012. Aurea Acoustics is an acoustical engineering firm, based in Gosselies, Belgium. In recent years, the firm gained a solid reputation with regard to acoustical studies for both the public and private sector. It realised studies for industrial and building-projects and for public clients.

With this takeover, the multidisciplinary architecture and engineering group VK profiles itself ever more through specialised services. This fits into the strategic ambition to lift projects to even to higher engineering levels.

Evidently, clients can contact VK for all engineering questions - more info: www.aurea.be Waste2Energy Engineering: In 2010 VK has taken over IBH. IBH provides services in the field of the Environment and is specialized to develop general studies and engineering projects in relation with the management of solid waste. IBH is basically a firm of consulting engineers that extended its scope of activity broadening the range of services to the development of management plans and programmes, project feasibility studies, basic engineering of waste management projects, cost control and technical control of the works and supervision of project operation - more info: www.ibh.be

News more info on: http://www.vkgroup.be

References - clients Offices : Depaepe Group, All Fin, Atenor, Axa RE, B.P.I., Banimmo, AG Real Estate, ING Real Estate, Burco, CDP, Certimmo, CIB, Codic, Cofinimmo, Cogerimmo, Deloitte & Touch, Dexia Real Estate, Immomills, Infrax, JM Construction, Kairos, Robelco, Redevco, Renson, Sodiro,… Retail : Wereldhave Belle-Ile (Liège), FortJaco (Brussels), Wereldhave - Les Bastions (Doornik), ING RE- Ilot Saint- Michel (Liège), Ring Shopping Center Kuurne, Woluwe Shopping Center, Redevco, etc. Public buildings : Flemish Administrative Centre Leuven, National Theatre of Belgium, Forem La Louvière, Town hall Koksijde, Law Courts Antwerp, Concert Hall Brugge, Atomium, NATO HQ, etc. Hotels : Hotel Thon, Hotel Metropole, Crown Plaza, Marriott, Ravestein, etc. Industry : Amylum, Bekaert, Boortmalt, Cargill, Eurosilo, Ghent Grain Terminal, Kopal, Leievoeders, Pfizer Corporation, Picanol, Proferro, Rendac, Samga, ArcelorMittal, Sobelgra, Spanolux, Tailor Steel, TOP Bronnen, UCB, Vamo Mills, Vandemoortele, Vanden Avenne, Voeders Danis, Glaxo Smithkline, Pfizer Corporation, UCB, … Hospitals : General Hospital Sint-Maarten Mechelen, O.L. Vrouw Hospital (Aalst), H. Heart Hospital (Roeselare), Burns Unit Military Hospital (Neder-over-Heembeek), University Hospital Revalidation Centre Esneux, University Hospital (Leuven), Jan Yperman (Ieper), Public Welfare Hospital Roeselare, St-Jan Hospital (Brugge), VinMec International Hospital (Vietnam), Pediatric Hospital Nha Thrang (Vietnam), etc.

128 BELGIUM REAL ESTATE SHOWCASE 2013

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DIRECTORY The directory of Pro-Realestate.be publishes the coordinates of: • key players in the real estate industry • suppliers who can assist developers in achieving their real estate projects • suppliers who can advise end-users to perform in their investment, building and property management More than 650 companies are enlisted with their coordinates in the online directory of Pro-Realestate.be. In the following pages you will find a selection of these companies.They are classified according to their field of activities.

Connect to www.pro-realestate.be/network for the full listing and their coordinates. You can also use your smartphone to search for these companies’ coordinates via the dedicated website m.pro-realestate.be

→→

PROFACILITY GUIDE 2012 129

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COMPANIES INDEX I

WWW.PRO-REALESTATE.BE/NETWORK I

EURO IMMO STAR

REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT

EXTENSA GROUP FIDENTIA REAL ESTATE INVESTMENTS

REAL ESTATE CONSULTANCY

G-LABEL

ALLTEN

GHELAMCO GROUP

ALMA CONSULTING GROUP BELGIUM ANIXTON see advertising on page 136

GOODMAN www.pro-realestate.be/anixton

GROUP BERNAERTS GROUP MAES

AREMIS www.pro-realestate.be/aremis see advertising & company profile on pages 114-115

HERPAIN ENTREPRISE

BELTICO

IMMOBEL

BNP PARIBAS REAL ESTATE

IRET DEVELOPMENT

CBRE GLOBAL INVESTORS www.pro-realestate.be/cbreglobalinvestors see advertising & company profile on pages 120-121

INTERVEST OFFICES & WAREHOUSES

COLLIERS INTERNATIONAL

JM CONSTRUCTION

CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD

KAIROS

DE CROMBRUGGHE AND PARTNERS see advertising on page 11

KBC REAL ESTATE

DEVIMO CONSULT

L.I.F.E

JCX GESTION

IRET DEVELOPMENT

DTZ FREESTONE

IMMO BAM

LEASINVEST REAL ESTATE www.profacility.be/freestone

GVA GRIMLEY

MATEXI see advertising on page 17

IMMOBILIEN HUGO CEUSTERS

MONTEA

IMMOQUEST

PROJECT T&T

JONES LANG LASALLE

PROWINKO BELGIE

KEY ESTATE KNIGHT FRANK

PYLOS BENELUX see advertising on page 98

LOCATUS

REDEVCO RETAIL

STRUCTURA BUSINESS PROPERTY

ROBELCO GROUP

TREVI SERVICES

SOFICOM DEVELOPMENT SPI

REAL ESTATE DEVELOPERS / INVESTORS

TOUR & TAXIS

AG REAL ESTATE www.pro-realestate.be/agrealestate see advertising & company profile on page 110-111

UPLACE

ALLFIN

VERELST INDUSTRIEBOUW

ATENOR GROUP www.pro-realestate.be/atenor see advertising & company profile on pages116-117

VICTOIRE PROPERTIES

BANIMMO

WILHELM & CO

BESIX RED

VAN DE WALLE BOUWGROEP

VIRIX

BOUYGUES IMMOBILIER

WILLY NAESSENS INDUSTRIEBOUW see advertising on page 25

BPC

WILLEMEN GROEP

BREEVAST DEVELOPMENT

WILMA PROJECT DEVELOPMENT

BRUSSELS REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY (BRDA) www.pro-realestate.be/sdrb see advertising & company profile on pages 126-127 BUELENS BURCO CBRE GLOBAL INVESTORS www.pro-realestate.be/cbreglobalinvestors see advertising & company profile on pages 120-121

LOCAL AND PUBLIC AUTHORITIES GROUND USE AND INVESTMENT ASSISTANCE ADT /ATO (Agence pour le développement territorial de Bruxelles) BRUSSELS ENTREPRISE AGENCY AG STADSONTWIKKELINGSBEDRIJF GENT

CIP (CONSTRUCTION & INVESTMENT PARTNERS)

AG VESPA ANTWERPEN

CITY MALL

AWEX

DE PAEPE GROUP

BELGIAN BUILDINGS AGENCY www.pro-realestate.be/bba (Regie der Gebouwen / Régie des Bâtiments) see advertising & company profile on pages 118-119

EQUILIS

BEP ( Bureau Economique de la province de Namur)

ERTZBERG

BRUSSELS INVEST & EXPORT

CODIC

130 BELGIUM REAL ESTATE SHOWCASE 2013

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BRUSSELS REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY www.pro-realestate.be/sdrb see advertising & company profile on pages 126-127

DDS & PARTNERS

FLANDERS INVESTMENT TRADE

ELD PARTNERSHIP

IDEA

EXODE ARCHITECTURE

IDELUX

JASPERS - EYERS ARCHITECTS

IDETA

KONIOR & PARTNERS ARCHITECTS

IGRETEC

MDW ARCHITECTURE

INTERCOMMUNALE DU BRABANT WALLON

MONTOIS PARTNERS ARCHITECTS

KORTRIJK LEIEDAL

POLO ARCHITECTS

MEUSINVEST

PROJECT²

POM OOST-VLAANDEREN (Development Agency East Flanders)

RYCKAERTS & PARTNERS

SPI

SAMYN AND PARTNERS

DSW ARCHITECTS www.profacility.be/exode

SAQ

LEGAL AND FISCAL ADVISORY

SYNTAXE ARCHITECTES

ALLEN AND OVERY

VANDERBRUGGEN ARCHITECTENBUREAU

ALTIUS | TIBERGHIEN

VIZZION ARCHITECTS

BAKER & MCKENZIE

VK ARCHITECTS see company profile on page 128

CMS DEBACKER

www.pro-realestate.be/vk

CRAWFORD DELOITTE REAL ESTATE

ENGINEERING CONSULTANCY

ERNST AND YOUNG REAL ESTATE

ABT BELGIË

GUDRUN XPERT

AIR CONSULT ENGINEERING

HAUMONT,SCHOLASSE & PARTNERS

ARCADIS

KPMG

B SOLUTIONS

LAGA

GRONTMIJ BELGIUM

LINKLATERS

INGENIUM

LYDIAN LAWYERS

MARCQ & ROBA

STIBBE

SOPHIA GROUP

TIBERGHIEN

TECHNUM - TRACTEBEL ENGINEERING

VERCRUYSSE & KADANER

TPF GROUP

www.profacility.be/ingenium

TRACTEBEL ENGINEERING

ARCHITECTS A2RC ARCHITECTS

VK see company profile on page 128

www.pro-realestate.be/vk

ACCARAIN & BOUILLOT ALTIPLAN° ARCHITECTS

GENERAL CONTRACTORS

ARCHI 2000

3e BUREAU

ARCHI+I

CEI - DE MEYER

ARCHITECTES ASSOCIES

CFE GROUP /BPI

ARCHITECTUURBUREAU LOWETTE

CIT BLATON

ARCHITEKTENBURO STORME VAN RANST

CORDEEL

ART & BUILD ARCHITECTS

DELENS JACQUES ENTREPRISES

ARTE POLIS

DEMOCO - DMI VASTGOED

ASSAR ARCHITECTS

EIFFAGE BENELUX

ATELIER D'ARCHITECTURE DE GENVAL

ENTREPRISES LOUIS DE WAELE

ATELIER DE L'ARBRE D'OR

GALÈRE

ATELIER XV

HEIJMANS-RE

BUREAU D’ARCHITECTES BURTONBOY

HOUYOUX CONSTRUCTIONS

BUREAU D'ARCHITECTURE EMILE VERHAEGHEN

INTERBUILD

BURO 5

ROUHARD

BURO II – ARCHI+I

STRABAG BELGIUM

CERAU

THOMAS PIRON

CHAPMAN TAYLOR BENELUX

WUST

CONIX ARCHITECTEN CREPAIN-BINST ARCHITECTURE

BELGIUM REAL ESTATE SHOWCASE 2013 131

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COMPANIES INDEX I

WWW.PRO-REALESTATE.BE/NETWORK I

CONSTRUCTION - CONSULTANCY AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT

FEDERATIONS - RESEARCH

ACMG CONSTRUCTION CONSULTANT

CIB VLAANDEREN

AREMIS www.pro-realestate.be/aremis see advertising & company profile on pages 114-115

IPD

AT OSBORNE

RES

BOPRO REAL ESTATE SERVICES

RICS BELUX

EUROGARE

UEPC

GRONTMIJ

ULI EUROPE

GROUP GL

UPSI –BVS

EPRA

NEXITY PROBAM VK ENGINEERING see company profile on page 128

www.pro-realestate.be/vk

PROPERTY, BUILDINGS & FACILITY MANAGEMENT

WAREHOUSES ESTATES BELGIUM

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

WIDNELL EUROPE

BELGIAN BUILDINGS AGENCY www.pro-realestate.be/bba (Regie der Gebouwen / Régie des Bâtiments) see advertising & company profile on pages 118-119

LANDSCAPE GARDENERS

CAMELOT see company profile on page 123

AVANTGARDEN INTERPLANT

COFINIMMO

J.N.C INTERNATIONAL

DEVIMMO

WIRTZ INTERNATIONAL

FREESTONE INTERIM VASTGOEDBEHEER

KOPPEN

QUARES PROPERTY & FACILITY MANAGEMENT

VELOPA

www.profacility.be/quares

SHOPPING CENTER MANAGEMENT SERVICES

ENVIRONMENTAL CERTIFICATION OF BUILDINGS AGECO ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTING AREMIS www.pro-realestate.be/aremis see advertising & company profile on pages 114-115

SOGESMAINT

EDUCATION IN REAL ESTATE MANAGEMENT K.U.LEUVEN CAMPUS KORTRIJK UNIVERSITEIT ANTWERPEN MANAGEMENT SCHOOL (UAMS)

BREEAM

SOLVAY BUSINESS SCHOOL

BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE (B4F) www.profacility.be/ingenium

PROBAM

REAL ESTATE & FACILITY INFORMATION SYSTEMS (FMIS) AREMIS www.pro-realestate.be/aremis see advertising & company profile on pages 114-115

SECO SOPHIA GROUP

MCS

VALIDEO

PLANON

VINCOTTE VK ENGINEERING see company profile on page 128

www.profacility.be/freestone

GLOBAL PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT

STREET FURNITURE

INGENIUM

www.pro-realestate.be/camelot

www.pro-realestate.be/vk

PROCOS GROUP

www.profacility.be/procos

ULTIMO BELGIUM

www.profacility.be/ultimo

TOP DESK

REAL ESTATE - HR RECRUITMENT - PROJECT SOURCING SERVICE A FREESTONE

ADVERTISING & COMMUNICATION ARTEXIS GROUP (REALTY) see advertising on page 2 APOLLO COMMUNICATIONS BUSINESS INTERACTIVE MEDIA HOOOX

www.profacility.be/freestone

RELOCATION ANIXTON see advertising on page 134

www.pro-realestate.be/anixton

AOS BELGIUM

www.profacility.be/aos-studley

D&C SERVICES FREESTONE L.O.G see company profile on page 122 TRAJECT

www.profacility.be/dcservices www.profacility.be/freestone www.pro-realestate.be/log www.profacility.be/traject

REED MIDEM (MIPIM- MAPIC)

132 BELGIUM REAL ESTATE SHOWCASE 2013

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BUILDING TECHNICAL MAINTENANCE ( MAINCONTRACTING)

INTEGRATED FACILITY MANAGEMENT

CEGELEC

EUREST SERVICES

COFELY

FACILICOM

DALKIA

ISS

FABRICOM

JOHNSON CONTROLS

IMTECH MAINTENANCE INGENIUM

www.profacility.be/facilicom www.profacility.be/iss

SODEXO www.profacility.be/ingenium

www.profacility.be/sodexo

VINCI FACILITIES

www.profacility.be/vinci-facilities

JOHNSON CONTROLS

FACILITY MANAGEMENT CONSULTANCY

SOCOTEC BELGIUM SODEXO BELGIUM

www.profacility.be/sodexoifm

SOPHIA GROUP

AOS BELGIUM

www.profacility.be/aos-studley

SPIE

AREMIS www.pro-realestate.be/aremis see advertising & company profile on pages 114-115

T.E.M

FREESTONE

VINCI FACILITIES

www.profacility.be/vinci-facilities

www.profacility.be/freestone

MCS PROCOS GROUP

www.profacility.be/procos

BUILDING AUTOMATION

QUARES FACILITY MANAGEMENT

www.profacility.be/quares

BECKHOFF AUTOMATION

VINCI FACILITIES

www.profacility.be/vinci-facilities

PRIVA BUILDING INTELLIGENCE RISCO GROUP BENELUX

SOURCING STRATEGY - CONSULTANCY

SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC

ALMA CONSULTING GROUP BELGIUM

SIEMENS BUILDING TECHNOLOGIES

BRIDGEWATER CONSULTING

ZUMTOBEL LIGHTING

EUROPEAN & BELGIAN PUBLIC PROCUREMENT

HVAC

SECURITY GUARDS

ABN KLIMATISATIE ATLAS COPCO BELGIUM

CAMELOT see company profile on page 123

AXIMA CONTRACTING

CITIZEN GUARD

DAIKIN BELGIUM

FACT SECURITY

DALKIA

G4S

IMTECH PROJECTS

SGI.ISECURITY

INTERALU

SECURITAS

LIMPENS

SERIS Security

TYCO THERMAL CONTROLS

TRIGION SECURITY

EXTERIOR BLINDS & SUN PROTECTION

MOVERS

DUCO HUNTER DOUGLAS

ARTHUR PIERRE www.profacility.be/hunterdouglas

www.pro-realestate.be/camelot

www.profacility.be/seris

www.profacility.be/arthurpierre

DOCKX MOVERS

LUXAFOIL

GOSSELIN GROUP

RENSON VENTILATION

MOZER BELUX

www.profacility.be/mozer

REPROSOL

POTIEZ-DEMAN

www.profacility.be/potiez

TER BEEK

LIFT AND ESCALATORS

YOUR MOVER VANDERGOTEN

KONE BELGIUM

ZIEGLER

www.profacility.be/vandergoten

OTIS SCHINDLER

FEDERATION

THYSSEN KRUPP

BEMAS (BELGIAN MAINTENANCE ASSOCATION)

ACCESS CONTROL

IFMA BELGIAN CHAPTER see advertising on page 102

ADT FIRE & SECURITY

VIB

www.pro-realestate.be/ifma

AMANO ELECTRONICS AUTOMATIC SYSTEMS GET PROTIME RISCO GROUP

BELGIUM REAL ESTATE SHOWCASE 2013 133

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LIGHTING

WORKPLACE DESIGN & SOLUTIONS

BIS LIGHTING DARK

FIT-OUT AND WORKPLACE DESIGN

DCD LIGHTING

ADMOS www.pro-realestate.be/admos see advertising & company profile on pages 112-113

DELTA LIGHT

ALTERNATIV WORKSPACE SOLUTIONS

MODULAR LIGHTING

www.profacility.be/alternativ

ETAP TRILUX

ALTIPLAN째 ARCHITECTS AOS BELGIUM

www.profacility.be/aos-studley

ZUMTOBEL LIGHTING

www.profacility.be/zumtobel

ART NIVO WORKSPACES

COLD CEILING SYSTEMS

ART& BUILD BUROCONCEPT

www.profacility.be/buroconcept

D&C SERVICES

www.profacility.be/dcservices

BEDDELEEM

www.profacility.be/beddeleem

INTERALU

DE CORT & DERVICHIAN EXODE ARCHITECTURE

www.profacility.be/exode

IN-HOUSE ART AND DECORATION

GLOBAL www.pro-realestate.be/global see advertising & company profile on pages 124-125

BUSINESS ART SERVICE

K-ONCEPT

KUNST IN HUIS

www.profacility.be/k-oncept

L.O.G see company profile on page 122

www.pro-realestate.be/log

PROCOS GROUP

www.profacility.be/procos

ROSESTUDIO

www.profacility.be/rosestudio

KUNST EN BEDRIJF LITTLE VAN GOGH

www.profacility.be/littlevangogh

ZEBRA GRAPHICS

www.profacility.be/zebra-graphics

MODULAR LIGHTING TRILUX

OFFICE FURNITURE

ACOUSTICS

AHREND FURNITURE

DOX ACOUSTICS

ALTERNATIV WORKSPACE SOLUTIONS

www.profacility.be/alternativ

ENVIRONMENT ACOUSTICS

ART NIVO WORKSPACES

STO

BEDIMO

VENAC

BENE BRUYNZEEL STORAGE SYSTEMS

www.profacility.be/bruynzeelstorage

BULO BURO INTERNATIONAL DOX ACOUSTICS FORMA BRUSSELS GIRSBERGER BENELUX

www.profacility.be/girsberger

GISPEN KINNARPS PAMI SEDUS STOLL STEELCASE BELGIUM

www.profacility.be/kinnarps www.profacility.be/pami www.profacility.be/sedus-stoll www.profacility.be/steelcase

SV VITRA WILKHAHN

www.profacility.be/wilkhahn

AUDIOVISUAL INSTALLERS AVEX BIS

PARTINIONING WALLS BEDDELEEM MAARS JANSEN PARTITIONING SYSTEMS PAN-ALL

www.profacility.be/beddeleem www.profacility.be/maars-jansen www.profacility.be/panall

TECNIBO

134 BELGIUM REAL ESTATE SHOWCASE 2013

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3/05/13

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Page 1

www.profacility.be/guide THE Belgian market place

Let’s talk real estate 28, 29 & 30 May 2013 Tour & Taxis Brussels

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Your view

The online directory www.profacility.be/guide publishes the coordinates of more than 850 suppliers and potential partners who can you help you to perform in your real estate, buildings, workplace, facility and mobility management. These companies are classified according to their field of activities.

on the real estate market

m.profacility.be Connect and search for the coordinates of a company with your smartphone

Book your ticket online before 28 May and save €25! www.realty-brussels.com – your promocode: PROFACILITY2

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Showcase

SHOULD A TENANT MOVE OR RENEGOTIATE THE LEASE? SHOULD AN INVESTOR BUY OR SELL AND WHEN? WHAT PERSPECTIVES DOES A DEVELOPER HAVE?

Erasmus Hospital Investment (110.000 m²)

Gutenberg Investment (30.000 m²)

A THOROUGH ANALYSIS WILL ENABLE YOU TO MAKE THE RIGHT DECISION.

RTBF Consulting (80.000 m²)

Century Center Investment (25.000 m²)

Connect to pro-realestate.be for news, trends, network and real estate management best practices

MARKET TRENDS

TOWN PLANNING

forthcoming development projects, urban regeneration, sustainable cities

BEST STRATEGIES

AG Real Estate

2013 / BELGIUM REAL ESTATE

Showcase 16/04/13 11:35

offices & retail

developers, local authorities, architects, advisers, brokers

Surf on our site www.anixton.com

ANIX5677-ADV_A4-vert.indd 1 001 cover 1-4 2013.indd 1

PROJECTS

KEY PLAYERS

Anixton is an independent consultant in corporate real estate. We do everything in our power to provide pragmatic and customised solutions to occupiers, owners, investors and property developers. We are committed to creating value, to giving efficient advice and to improving performances. While always bearing the following priorities in mind: ethics, quality, customised advice and services. Let us meet up and work out a strategy together!

Contact : +32 2 721 99 19 | info@anixton.com | www.anixton.com

vacancy, take-up, investment & letting trends

Belview - Allfin - Jaspers-Eyers Architects

FOR CORPORATE REAL ESTATE, A TAILOR-MADE APPROACH IS REQUIRED.

Business Interactive Media sprl - Belgium Real Estate Showcase 2013, a special issue of Profacility Magazine - May 2013 - 35 Eur - Afgiftekantoor Leuven Mail - P304098

2013 / BELGIUM REAL ESTATE

investment, property, buildings & workplace management

CENTRE 58 is set to respond to a call for tenders by the City of Brussels for the establishment of a new administrative complex. Along with the 30,000 m² of offices spaces there will be 4,500 m² of residential accommodation.

03/05/13 15:05