Uplace will be situated on the site of the former Renault car plant just outside the Brussels Ring. It will overtake Wijnegem in Antwerp province to become the largest shopping centre in Brussels or Flanders, with a total area of 200,000 square metres. After opening in 2015, Uplace expects to attract up to eight million visitors a year to shops, eateries, offices and a hotel.
Flanders had already approved the complex under the terms of a “brownfield covenant” under which permission would be granted in return for the cleaning-up of a former industrial site. However Flemish Brabant objected on the grounds that the site would cause unprecedented traffic problems.
The municipality of Machelen is in favour of Uplace, but neighbouring Vilvoorde is against it. So, too, is the organisation for the self-employed, Unizo, which fears for the future of local businesses. They, along with environmental organisation Bral, are considering legal steps. “We will continue to do anything we can to prevent this project from happening,” Unizo said in a statement.
Filip Watteeuw, fraction leader for Groen! in the Flemish parliament, criticised the approval for the project, claiming that it ignores the objections of local residents, representatives of the local economy and environmental campaigners. He also said that it goes against the government’s policy on the retail industry, which supports local shops against the arrival of commercial “mega-fortresses”.
Uplace COO Lorin Parys said: “It is incomprehensible that a country with so many rainy days has so little to offer in the way of covered shopping centres. Organisations like Unizo are holding back the arrival of 3,000 extra jobs. In any case, we don’t need the support of Unizo. We have passed through the democratic process. We don’t have to defend ourselves against an organisation that represents a particular lobby.”
In terms of the environmental permit, Uplace has appealed the province’s refusal to grant it to Flemish environment minister Joke Schauvliege, who is expected to announce her decision in the new year.
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