2023-08-04 13:51:00
Lately, the Gare du Midi, in Brussels, has been talked about a lot, and not in a good way. The feeling of insecurity in the neighborhood is growing there. Lately, the stories of an Antwerp family forced to spend the night in the station have moved many readers. “Conflicts and fights broke out around us between people hanging around the station“said the mother.
«In this neighborhood there are different problems: theft, vandalism, violence or drug addiction.“. These are not sensationalist terms thrown around at random, but the analysis of SNCB at the microphone of RTBF. «This is linked to the fact that it is an international station, which is located in a large city and no less than 50,000 people pass through it every day.“, added Marianne Hiernaux, spokesperson.
Indeed, due to its high attendance and its location, the Gare du Midi is an area apart from the capital, a district spread over three municipalities and cut by this huge building and its railways.
But by 2030, this area should have a whole new face.
Lifting complet
Two major projects should transform the Gare du Midi district.
The first is that of the SNCB. The station and the adjacent buildings will be renovated and enlarged by the addition of an additional building, a major architectural project which had provoked long debates. The green light for the work was finally given in September.
Designed by the internationally renowned architecture firm OMA, this huge metal construction, 239 meters by 19, will overlook the former Tri Postal and the other yellow brick buildings on Avenue Fonsny. It will house the offices of the SNCB. This new HQ should be passive and sustainable, with solar panels on the roof.
Projection of the future district. (Credit: OMA.com)
With these constructions and renovations, the places should be revitalized by being “more open“, thanks to a “wider entrance and several shops and Horeca establishments which will settle and animate the district“, explained the SNCB in its press release, which specifies that the buildings “will be brighter and more open to the city».
And that’s not all yet. The neighborhood will also have the right to its freshness. At the end of March, the Brussels government approved a neighborhood revitalization project. Entitled “Around the Gare du Midi”, this 7th Urban Renewal Contract provides for “to improve the living environment» around the station in the municipalities of Saint-Gilles, Anderlecht and Brussels. It is planned in three stages (Esplanade de l’Europe, Cœur de gare and Parc des Deux Gares) and will mainly target public spaces, green spaces and facilities. Completion scheduled for 2030.
(Photo credit: Citytools – Lab705)
More patrols
In a few years, a good ten surely, perhaps a little less, the station and its surroundings should then have completely changed its face. But what about insecurity and homelessness, subjects that bother tourists and local residents?
Brussels Minister-President Rudi Vervoort (PS) was recently asked about it. He replied in particular that between January and May, the police carried out 238 additional security operations in the area, for an equivalent of 1,600 police officers deployed, in particular for night patrols and specific actions.
In the press release announcing the green light for the works, it was stated in particular that “calls for projects to encourage actions of social cohesion and collective life will also be launched by the three municipalities“. The objective being torespond to the social and health issues of the disadvantaged public present in the district, but also to issues relating to public cleanliness, waste management in connection with the Midi market, urban climate challenges or even local economic dynamics».
Police for the station
According to the mayors of the municipalities concerned, to improve security in the neighborhood in a sustainable way, the deployment of the police in the surrounding area should be rethought. For elected officials, the question that sums it all up is quite simple: “Why does Zaventem have its own police, and not the Gare du Midi?”
«It is the gateway to Europe, just like the airport», argues Jean Spinette, mayor of Saint-Gilles. “The railroad police are great. You have to see the patience and the humanity with which they work. But they are 4.»
The solution: more staff. “The Midi police zone can perform the job, but it must be given the capacity to do so. She needs 120, 150 more agents to manage this effectively.”
Better collaboration with the federal government could also be explored. “One could imagine a joint command unit between the federal police and the local police, for consistency of management between the station and the surrounding area. Our police zone is ready to assume this“, adds Fabrice Cumps, mayor of Anderlecht
The Brussels-Midi district, in 2022. (Photo credit: Belga Image)
Integrating the station into the neighborhoods
In Anderlecht, the offices currently occupied by Infrabel will be converted into housing, which is a delight for the municipality. “The concept of resident station has its full meaning on our side. This will improve social control and have a more active life around. Today, these unstructured spaces contribute to this feeling of an abandoned neighborhood», Details the mayor.
In the current situation of the district, the hotels, and the Horeca in general, are among those which suffer the most from this lack of attractiveness. “We are trying to create secure paths between the hotels and the station while waiting for more lasting improvements, but above all we have improved communication between the hotel sector, the municipality and the police zone to react more quickly to problems.»
For the surroundings,the major issue of social cohesion would be for the future station to be open to popular and accustomed neighborhoods, that it create opportunities, participate in generating employment for shops and the catering industry, and not just bring trouble and additional nuisances“, explains Jean Spinette. “The new projects are going in the right direction, but we must continue to find other ways to improve the situation and to strengthen the means devoted».
As for the players in the field, they will be integrated into the future district. “We are thinking about where to place a center for unaccompanied foreign minors“says Fabrice Cumps. “Too far from the station, it loses all its meaning, too close, it could overload the neighborhood, create an endless chain… The other social actors are also victims of the situation we know. There is a level of violence that we had never experienced before vis-à-vis the workers, or even the local residents. Recently, we finally got funding to improve the safety of social services.”
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