Missions
The Urban Development Corporation of the Brussels-Capital Region (sau-msi.brussels) is a key public tool for urban development in Brussels.
It is responsible for carrying out major urban development projects and constructing public facilities of regional significance to meet the needs and aspirations of Brussels’ population.
Coordination
The SAU-MSI is tasked with the operational implementation of mediapark.brussels, the ambitious urban project that will transform the site of the public TV broadcasters RTBF and VRT in the space of a few years into a diverse, open, vibrant new district focusing on the media and the creative industries.
On this site, the SAU-MSI is playing a coordinatory role, selecting public and private operators to construct infrastructure, housing, equipment and services and seeking out investors in order to achieve the Region’s ambition.
Frame: a showcase for mediapark.brussels
The SAU-MSI will also build the Frame media centre on land that it owns on Boulevard Reyers, between the Diamant pre-metro station and the entrance to RTBF, near the E40 motorway exit. Funded by the Brussels-Capital Region and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Frame will help to implement the Region’s desire to reinforce the media, audiovisual and communication sectors. It will constitute a new epicentre in Brussels of these fields of activity, bringing an entire creative ecosystem together in a single building of some 9,000 m2: regional television (BX1); a training institute (IHECS Academy); a regional support structure (screen.brussels); a co-working space and a specialised business centre; shared facilities; and so on.
Frame will thus simultaneously represent a flagship building, a source of attraction, one of the first new structures and a foretaste of mediapark.brussels. In short, it will be a showcase for Brussels’ new creative district.
- In January 2017, the SAU-MSI launched a call for project designers for the construction of Frame.
- In April 2017, it received 51 applications. Some of the multidisciplinary teams concerned (with expertise in architecture, stability engineering, building services engineering, acoustics, energy performance coordination and safety and health coordination) were Belgian, others came from various other European countries including France, Germany, Spain, the UK and the Netherlands, and others still were formed by international consortia of companies from these countries.
- In June 2017, the SAU-MSI shortlisted five teams from among these 51 applications.
- In March 2018, it picked the project of the consortium Baukunst (Brussels) - Bruther (Paris) as the winning entry in this call for project designers. The construction budget amounts to 16 million euros excluding VAT, financed by the Brussels-Capital Region and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The French Community Commission of the Brussels-Capital Region has also earmarked nearly 3 million euros for the redeployment of BX1.
- In April 2020, the SAU obtains the planning permission.
- Construction work on Frame began in 2021. The building should be finished and ready for its occupants to move in in 2023.