Gare Maritime, once one of the largest railway stations in Europe, is now being redeveloped. The idea is to create on the Tour&Taxis site a covered town with facilities for shopping, work, leisure, eating, drinking and so on. A place, where it is good to live, a pleasure to stroll. A unique project, a mixed-use development, incorporating the old and exhaling the new. The building will respect the surroundings, structure and logic of the historic hall, but will also strike with innovative solutions.

The transformation of the whole Tour & Taxis site is future-oriented not only because of the mixed-use of different buildings resulting in a complementary and intelligent use of space. Also, a lot of sustainable construction solutions are implemented that seek synergies between the different buildings on the site.

Bopro plays a role in the transformation of this monumental depot and other buildings on the Tour & Taxis site. We are looking forward to what will become a lively covered town and we highly appreciate the heritage value of the building. During the transformation of this monumental depot Bopro safeguards the safety during the construction process, is involved as a Project and Construction Manager on the site, assesses the sustainability of the building as an independent BREEAM expert and guides a stakeholder trajectory to create and implement a circular dynamic on the site.

Anything you would like to know...

Concept

Gare Maritime offers 12 separate blocks over a total surface of 45 000 m². The three central spans will be left free and the new volumes will be placed in the side facades. This way, Extensa wants to highlight the existing historical structure and the monumental covered space underneath the hall: the central spans will be available for events, exhibitions and festivals. It will be a pleasant environment for employees working on the Tour&Taxis site, inhabitants of the residential areas, neighbours, but also for tourists.

Synergies on site

During the renovation materials were recuperated and will be re-used in the hall and in the landscaping, the new volumes in the Gare Maritime will be constructed in cross laminated timber for maximum flexibility and demountability, rainwater from the large roof of the Gare Maritime will be collected and stored for sanitary use and irrigation of the landscaping on the whole Tour & Taxis site. A large solar panel installation on the roof will provide electricity for several buildings on site, and geothermal heat pumps are installed for heating and cooling of the building.