The City of Brussels on Friday launched the construction of its future Sports Park on the Heysel Plateau, a project worth more than €52 million and ten years in the making.
Built at the foot of the King Baudouin Stadium as part of the Néo Development, the complex will create an integrated sports hub within 11 additional hectares of green space.
Mayor Philippe Close, Brussels minister-president Boris Dilliès and First Alderwoman for Sport Florence Frelinx laid the first stone of the new facility.
The complex will include a 400-metre athletics track, a hybrid rugby and football pitch, one and a half hockey pitches and several multi-sport facilities.
These will be set within a total site of 21 hectares, including green areas, a reflecting pool and an aquatic recreation zone.
The athletics facilities will notably serve as a warm-up area for the Memorial Van Damme meeting and support Brussels’ bid to host the European Championships in 2030.
The Planetarium will be preserved and incorporated into the future Sports Park.
The Tricot building will be extended to house, among other things, a cafeteria, operational spaces for the sports facilities and the headquarters of the Belgian Olympic Committee.
The project is being financed in part through a €50.6-million loan granted by Brussels Region.
According to the Brussels authorities, the Sports Park is one of the first major concrete steps in the redevelopment of the Heysel Plateau.
The redevelopment initiative aims to transform the site into a greener, more mixed-use district better connected to the rest of the city, with sports facilities, public spaces, housing, shops and congress infrastructure.
