Posted on June 10, 2025
The new 11.4-hectare site will be partly built on the former NATO headquarters and the Queen Elisabeth Barracks. This will free up approximately 75 hectares, spread across the Brussels and Flemish regions, which will be redeveloped into an urban neighbourhood and landscape park.
A design with safety in mind
Safety is central to the project and has been integrated from the design stage onwards in accordance with the principle of “security by design”. A security system with successive layers will protect sensitive areas. ‘This project is a strategic investment that will provide the Ministry of Defence with a modern and secure working environment,’ emphasises Lieutenant General Goetynck.
He adds: ‘In the current geopolitical context, security and operational availability are particularly important. We are now working here on the new strategic nerve centre of the Ministry of Defence.’
A modern and attractive Ministry of Defence
‘The construction of the new headquarters is only the first step. Other large-scale projects will follow throughout the country. Security systems, cladding, infrastructure: these are major contracts for the Ministry of Defence. We will be investing hundreds of millions of euros, with a significant economic impact,’ said the Minister of Defence.
In addition to the economic aspect, the aim is also to enhance the appeal of the Ministry of Defence. ‘A workplace closer to home makes the Ministry of Defence more attractive. Outdated facilities can have a negative impact on troop morale. The Ministry of Defence wants to be modern, professional and forward-looking,’ he added.
2,800 work spaces
The current Defence headquarters, built in the early 1970s, no longer meets today’s standards: outdated installations, poor insulation, obsolete infrastructure. Fifty years after its inauguration, a thorough transformation was needed.
The new headquarters embodies an evolution in working culture with the introduction of the New Way of Working, a flexible and more collaborative model. It will include a main building with 2,800 work spaces for the general staff, a conference centre accessible to the public from Leopold III-laan, a daycare centre for children and the premises of the Central Service for Social and Cultural Action of the Ministry of Defence (CDSCA). Collective facilities will of course include sports facilities, changing rooms and a company restaurant.
An ecological ambition
The site will also comply with the most ambitious environmental standards and aims to achieve the Nearly Zero Energy Building label. Thanks to a combination of technologies – heat pumps, solar panels, geothermal storage, reinforced insulation – energy consumption will be virtually zero.
The ecological approach also includes rainwater harvesting, the reuse of materials after demolition and the use of sustainable building materials. In addition, the landscape will be carefully designed to promote biodiversity.
Be Defence Consortium
We are building the new headquarters as part of the Be Defence Group, together with BAM, Eiffage and Cegelec, architects Assar Architects, ArtBuild and ANMA, and engineering firm VK Architects+Engineers.
