25 February 2014
Dutch design and consultancy giant Arcadis has been selected by Belgian bank BNP Paribas Fortis to program manage its new headquarters in downtown Brussels.
The new 95,000-sq-m building will accommodate 4,500 employees and replace the current HQ on the same site.
Arcadis was appointed to the bank’s ‘program management office’ (PMO) which is responsible for planning and budgeting the demolition of the current HQ and design and construction of the new one. The PMO organised an architectural competition for the design of the new building, selecting Austrian group Be Baumschlager Eberle out of seven candidates.
The future headquarters complex of BNP Paribas Fortis in Brussels, scheduled for construction 2017-2021 (be baumschlager eberle)
The value of the contract to Arcadis was not disclosed.
Design and permitting will be completed in 2016, followed by the demolition of the current headquarters. Construction of the new building will start in 2017 and is scheduled to be finished in 2021.
"Arcadis already has a lot of international expertise in similar projects for financial institutions," said Luc Hellemans, Arcadis’s Belgium managing director. "We will make full use of this knowledge."