SAU appoints BAM Interbuild - Groven+ to build showcase for mediapark.brussels

The Urban Development Corporation (SAU) has appointed the consortium BAM Interbuild - Groven+ to construct the FRAME building, the future showcase for mediapark.brussels, whose occupants will include BX1 and the IHECS Academy.

The consortium BAM Interbuild - Groven+ has been selected following the European public procurement process launched by the SAU in 2020 to choose the general building contractor responsible for implementing this important stage in the development of mediapark.brussels. Gilles Delforge, the SAU’s Director, noted that ‘Frame will be one of the first new buildings to be inaugurated as part of mediapark.brussels. In view of its location, at the corner of Boulevard Reyers and Rue Colonel Bourg in Schaerbeek, it will be a flagship building in this new creative Brussels district dedicated to the media that the Government of the Brussels Region plans to create, and whose operational development is being coordinated by the SAU. Given the integration of various operators and multiple functions and services within the same building, Frame will also be a kind of “miniature mediapark.brussels” – a showcase for the new district.’

The new construction project relates to a total floor space of 8,157 m² (one basement level, the ground floor and five upper floors). It is supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

The SAU plans to start work in June 2021. The building should be finished and ready for its occupants to move in by 2023.

In April 2020, the SAU obtained planning permission to erect Frame, which was designed by the Baukunst (Brussels) - Bruther (Paris) consortium of architecture firms. The consortium had won the European call for project designers organised by the SAU, which attracted 51 applications from Belgium and other countries.

An ecosystem building for BX1, the IHECS Academy and others

The name chosen for the building by the SAU and the main future occupants, Frame - Brussels media community, refers to the ‘framework’ provided by the building for the development of a media-oriented ecosystem. It also alludes to the shape and structure of its main façade looking towards Diamant; to the ‘window’ onto mediapark.brussels that it will be; to the camera frame in visual media; and to the frame in web design.

The building will contain a multifunctional ecosystem – a microcosm of what mediapark.brussels will ultimately be like. Among other things, it will house the Region’s French-language TV channel BX1, the IHECS Academy (the centre for continuing training attached to the Institute for Higher Social Communication Studies), screen.brussels, an innovation platform, various shared facilities and an auditorium.