“CityCampus: A Unique Real Estate Project in Anderlecht Combining Social Housing, Student Accommodations, and Workshops”

2023-05-30 17:53:00

Real estate projects are springing up like mushrooms in Anderlecht. Yesterday morning, a new inauguration took place: the CityCampus of Citydev. The public interest organization already presented, a month ago, 63 acquisition housing units and 16 workshops for companies less than 300 meters away: the NovaCity 1 project. Unlike its neighbor located on the other side of the chaussée de Mons, CityCampus now only offers social housing for Anderlecht households, in the heart of the La Roue district. They are divided between 26 single-family houses with garden and equipped with one or two bedrooms and 44 apartments.

The president of the Foyer, Lotfi Mostefa, was delighted that his public service real estate company (SISP) was “the most dynamic” in terms of housing development. “We have launched projects for the construction of 1,000 housing units and 1,000 others are, or will soon be, being renovated.”

On this former site of the thermo-moulding company Elkplast, which has been left fallow since its bankruptcy, 293 student accommodation units have also been set up opposite the houses of the Foyer Anderlechtois. The 215 individual rooms (with collective kitchen), 34 studios and 40 rooms in a shared apartment are justified in particular by the proximity to the Ceria campus. These student accommodations, along with a laundry room and a party room with a terrace, will go to the promoter Heres.

63 accommodations and 16 production workshops between La Roue and Ceria stations

Finally, failing to offer conventional housing as at NovaCity, Citydev will rent out 18 workshops for productive activities. Arranged on the ground floor of the building which houses 44 social housing and student housing, these spaces were designed mainly for food processing activities. “This is our 8th hub for small and medium-sized businesses, rejoices Benjamin Cadranel, general administrator of Citydev. Two others will soon come to Haren with the Copernic project and to Molenbeek with the Stevin project, chaussée de Gand. The SME pole of CityCampus has been centered around the agri-food trades, already for its proximity to the Ceria Campus which offers catering courses, but also because we have noticed that 40% of the requests for our other SME poles already in service are issued by companies in this sector. Producing in the city is good, but you have to understand why. If you import a part from Taiwan to transform it and then re-export it, there is no point in producing in the heart of the city. For the food industry, the proximity between the producer and the consumer is more important.”

Among the 18 workshops (between 220 and 315 m2) at 80 euros per m2 per year, one will be destined to become an innovation incubator for the catering trade sectors. The others are already equipped to Afsca standards.

For the entire site, 107 places for cars and 450 for bicycles have been planned

“Unique in Europe”

The administrator is proud of the model created by Citydev. “The idea of ​​putting an end to the mono-functionality of neighborhoods to move towards more diversity is a general problem in all cities, but we, by offering workshops on the ground floor and housing above, we are developing a unique model in Europe. We came from all over Belgium and even from abroad to see CityCampus. Obviously, this requires more work. Moreover, the project fell through in 2013 for many problems but, for example, for additional costs related to insulation. But it was important to relaunch it to achieve this today where different building functions coexist and interact. This type of project will never be launched by a private individual for fear of the lack of profitability. This is our role.”

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#student #accommodation #social #housing #workshops #heart #Roue #district #Anderlecht

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