A new district with 2,500 homes and 3,900 office spaces is to be built on the former Renault car park in Vilvoorde. The future of the neighboring Broeklin work shop district remains uncertain.
26 years after the dramatic closure of the Renault factory in Vilvoorde, an agreement has been reached on the repurposing of a large part of the industrial ruin. A new city district is to be built on the CAT site, right behind Vilvoorde station. The city of Vilvoorde, the municipality of Machelen and the province of Flemish Brabant concluded a master plan about this, which they presented at a press conference on Friday.
More than half of the CAT site includes the former Renault car park. While the French car manufacturer quickly sold its factory in 1997 to the holding company Alcopa of the Antwerp Moorkens family, Renault continued to rent the parking lot to the logistics company CAT for a long time. As a result, the future of the site remained unclear for a long time. In 2015, the East Flemish project developer MG Real Estate acquired the Renault parking lot from Ignace De Paepe. In recent years, a large part of the degraded land has been remediated.
With an area of 60 hectares, one and a half times the size of Tour & Taxis, the CAT site will be one of the largest redevelopment projects in Flanders. According to the master plan, MG Real Estate can build 2,500 homes, including three towers of 70 meters high. The company is also planning 3,900 office spaces and five large halls for SMEs. In addition, both the AZ Jan Portaels hospital and the VDAB have concrete plans for a large campus on the site. Finally, there will be an events hall on the station square and two parks.
Vilvoorde mayor Hans Bonte (Vooruit) expects that the total development will take ‘10,15 or 20 years’. He points out that some projects can be completed more quickly. For example, AZ Jan Portaels has already applied for a permit for the new hospital, which should be operational in 2026. “I am optimistic that increased dynamics will quickly come about here,” says Bonte.
Broeklin
The CAT site is one of four sites in the 250-hectare reconversion area industrial zone Machelen-Vilvoorde. This desolate zone also includes the old Renault factory, a new planned residential area on Kerklaan and the Broeklin work shop district, which Hans Bonte opposed for years.
A few weeks ago, Uplace adjusted its permit application again as a result of the Ineos ruling in July, which undermined the rules on nitrogen research. That is why another public investigation into Broeklin is underway. Uplace expects the Flemish government to decide on the permit by the end of this year.
