Minister Francken explains first stone of New Headquarters Defense

Francken crawled into a machine for the first -age laying to drill one of the foundation piles. The works for the building, for which the decision was made in 2018 that it would be in Haren, started last month. It must be delivered at the beginning of 2028. The headquarters, located opposite the NATO building, will be 11.4 hectares in size and has to be placed on 4,000 employees. The triangular main building has 2,800 workplaces.

The current headquarters dates from the early 1970s and is fiercely outdated. Francken therefore called the first stone he came to lay a « cornerstone, a foundation, a powerful symbol for the reconstruction of defense ». Because the staff is the « beating heart » of Defense, but « soldiers are nothing without a good infrastructure ».

Francken emphasized that the investment, « one of the largest infrastructure files of the past twenty to thirty years » together with NATO-command center Shape, flows back to Belgian industry, via Bouwconsortium NHQ Development. He also explained that she counts to get the NATO standard, currently 2 percent of GDP.

« The project offers Defense a safe and modern working environment that is adapted to the challenges of today and tomorrow, » says Vice-Chef Defense Frédéric Goetynck, which thereby points to the importance of safety, efficiency and operational availability in the current geopolitical context. By integrating safety from in the beginning with every aspect of the design, and working with layered security, we are « prepared for different scenarios and critical infrastructure must be optimally protected » « .