BNP Paribas Fortis HQ

The new headquarters, with five underground and seven above-ground floors, provide working space for around 4,500 employees. That is a good 70% more than before, on an almost identical gross surface area of 103,500 m². The building includes high quality equipment and the latest technologies, including solar panels on the roof and seasonal thermal energy storage (STES), optimizing environmental performance and enhancing staff comfort. Drawing on its previous experience, BESIX contributed its expertise to achieve BREEAM 'Excellent' and 'Passive House' sustainability certification for the building.

The keynote of the building is given by the futuristic façade, built from a grid of vertical columns in white prefabricated concrete with specific green granules. This self-supporting concrete 'skeleton' forms the outer façade, in front of an inner glass façade. The addition of green minerals, from a Norwegian quarry, adds character to the façade while referring to the BNP Paribas Fortis brand identity. The prefabrication of this structure was an engineering feat, given the very high aesthetic requirements, thermal properties and maximum tolerances to permit the connections with the building and the glass façade.

Integration into the existing urban fabric, with respect for adjacent settlements and the intense traffic in the area, was a key criterion for the building’s design, and more specifically its height. The location, bounded by streets on all sides and adjoining the Centre for Fine Arts (Bozar), means that BESIX also had to pay particular attention to environmental management. Lack of local storage space was an additional challenge, making just-in-time delivery a must. BESIX has also taken additional temporary storage space just outside the city centre.

For this project, BESIX and its partner were using the construction team ('bouwteam') formula. This means that client, designer and contractor cooperate closely from the start of the project, with the objective of achieving an economically optimal solution for the client. In this context, BESIX made its BIM expertise available to the construction team for the optimal coordination of the design and construction phases.