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Johan Leman, 9 May 2022

Once again, something about the planned Dockside residential tower near Place Sainctelette in Brussels… this time encouraged by the fact that both the Molenbeek municipality and the Molenbeek co-chairman of Ecolo are speaking out against the project.

Those who know Molenbeek know that the population density is very high, especially in Lower Molenbeek. Anyone who knows Molenbeek also knows that if there is a demand for new flats, these should preferably be flats for families with three or four children and/or for young families. The municipality of Molenbeek explicitly included the latter in its criticism of previous plans for that  residential tower. Anyone who is familiar with the results of the Curieuzenair study on clean air knows that Place Sainctelette, where the avenue du Port and Boulevard Léopold II cross, and where many cars come out of the tunnel to pull up again when they are allowed to leave, is a place of enormous air pollution, the highest in Brussels.

But what is the problem? That tower will be built on expensive land, the result of a speculation that began in the late 1980s. It is therefore “necessary” to build a sufficient number of floors on this land, and as the number of floors decreases, a sufficient number of studios should increase so that it can generate a return by attracting buyers who are looking for a return through studios, most of the time for people who stay in Brussels for 3 or 4 months in the context of their job.

Consequence: what does the latest plan for the residential tower on Place Sainctelette propose?

46 studios (i.e. living room, kitchen, sleeping accommodation, all in one room), 58 one-room flats (i.e. one room but slightly larger than a studio), 38 two-room flats, and 7 three-room flats. In other words, 104 studios/rooms that add absolutely no value to Molenbeek, but are investment rooms that will do nothing to help neither the commerce in the neighbourhood nor its environment, except possibly adding a little extra traffic to the already narrow one-way streets; these studios will not even help the municipal coffers. Then there are 38 two-room flats for young couples who will stay there until they have children, and finally 7 three-room flats that the municipality is begging for. However, for those 7 flats, the price of a 14-storey building with a whole area of cimentation is paid. The most obvious solution for general interest, however, would be a small park with a few trees that, in time, could become very tall trees.

Note also that in a narrow adjacent alley (rue Courtois), a large new building with garages will be built. And oh yes, the authorities hold out the prospect of a large car-free area in the immediate vicinity. Well, first see and then believe. First make this car-free space and then let’s build more, if the impact on the air quality in the narrow streets around allows it.

There are other serious objections that could be raised, but let’s restrict ourselves to them for the time being. What is clear, till today it is speculators and real estate that dominate Brussels urban fabric, not authorities and not the “Baumeister”…

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