343 homes and lots of greenery: public inquiry opened for The Dock district in Anderlecht

The project is planned on the so-called Shell site, a piece of land between Fernand Demetskaai, Raymond Vander Bruggenlaan and Scheutveldstraat.

The plan provides for a total of 343 homes, covering 37,192 square meters. There are also eleven commercial spaces, covering approximately 3,155 m2, and there will be an underground parking lot.

The latter has room for 184 parking spaces for cars and 656 for cyclists. In the middle between the buildings there will be a square with trees, a checkerboard, picnic tables, a water table with fountains and there will be room for terraces of the catering establishments. “The central garden will become an active, urban space where local residents of all ages can talk, meet each other or relax,” the project plan says.

The project pays attention to sustainable soil and plenty of greenery that should provide shade. The trees consist of beech, oak, hornbeam, maple, some chestnut trees and lime trees. There is a public road between the buildings for pedestrians and cyclists.

Previous plans

There have been plans for the undeveloped land of the Shell site since 1998. In 2011, a new version of those plans was published with apartment buildings, a shopping center and 272 parking spaces. This was not to the liking of local residents and traders, who then filed an objection.

And also in 2018, when the consultation committee gave a favorable advice to build a residential complex with a small marina, there were strong protests. The marina was ultimately deleted, because the Brussels architect mainly considered this an argument for selling the apartments at a high price.

It is not the only project on Biestebroekkaai that has been protested by local residents, who fear that the district is falling prey to gentrification. For example, in 2021 and 2022, activists occupied the site on the other side of the canal where the A’rive project is to be built, the former Key West.

The new The Dock project has a different focus than the previous plans for the site, said Anderlecht’s Alderman for Urban Planning Susanne Müller-Hübsch (Green) in 2020: “The emphasis will be on real public space, while the previous project was mainly a gated community.”

The project is by construction developer Vervoordt RE and was designed by architectural firms Giuseppe Farris and Marti-Baron Urban & Landscape Architecture. The public inquiry will run until May 2.