For the time being no demolition of Top Boerentoren, owner of Grand Bazar Shopping Center is appealing against permit (Antwerp)

It seemed like a business and green light for cotton Natie, the owner of the Boerentoren, when the city of Antwerp issued an environmental permit a month ago to demolish the upper floors of the tower building. Among other things, the construction with the KBC logo then disappeared. As a result, the tower building would temporarily become ten meters shorter. But that was not included in project developer IRET Development. The company is not only the owner of Botanic Sanctuary Antwerp, the Five Star hotel on Lange Gasthuisstraat, but also of the Grand Bazar Shopping Center and the Hilton on Groenplaats.

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The project developer appealed the environmental permit, which allows the demolition of the top three floors of the Boerentoren. That means that, for the time being at least, there can be no question of demolition works. The profession must now be dealt with by the provincial government, which can take a few weeks. Why IRET Development appeals a few days before the deadline against the demolition of the crown of the Boerentoren is unclear. The project developer himself was not available for comment on Monday. Other stakeholders also say they have the guidance of the developer’s motives.

Postponement is not a cancellation

The new turn around the Boer tower does not mean that the demolition of the highest floors is definitely gone. We wait and see what arguments are cited in the profession and how the provincial government responds to this. An adjustment of the conditions for demolition is also possible. Ships of urban development Patrick Janssens (Vooruit) connected last month, when the environmental permit for demolition was approved, a number of conditions for admission. The demolition must be over within two years and Fernand Huts, the owner of Katoen Natie and therefore of the Boerentoren, has five years to restore the head of the tower to its original state.

The chance that the farmer’s tower will get its original top back at the demolition of the crown is not great. After the first plans for the renewal of the tower were referred to the trash, the Polish-American architect Daniel Libeskind has been working on a new design for more than a year. For those new plans, which are not yet known, no environmental permit has been granted. The expectation is that Fernand Huts and architect Daniel Libeskind will announce the new plans before the summer holidays.

Stability problems

Cotton Natie says he wants to demolish the crown of the Boerentoren because the building has to contend with stability problems. According to a study by the engineering firm Bollinger+Grohmann on behalf of Katoen Natie, the tower could collapse in the event of very serious storm winds. The wind load of the top of the tower would no longer be calculated in accordance with the current standard and situation. Especially because since the construction of the original tower for 1931, « bad structural adjustments » made, including the construction of the top extra floors in the mid -1970s.