North Quarter in Brussels to host European Commission's new offices

The European Commission has rented the left half of Engie Electrabel's headquarters at Brussels' North Station, according to De Tijd. This move will bring European officials to the office district surrounding the station for the first time.

The Commission has rented the North Light office building, which is the left half of Engie Electrabel's twin headquarters. The energy company only uses half of its headquarters due to the high amount of teleworking. The new owner plans to renovate the building in the first half of 2023, so that the European Commission can move into the 30,000 square meters of office space at the end of next year. It is unclear which European services will be located in the building.

The European Commission announced last year that it would leave half of its 50 office buildings in Brussels by 2030 due to the increase in teleworking. The Commission wants to keep only 580,000 of the 780,000 square meters of office space. At the same time, the Commission wants to green its building park.

The European Commission has already decided to shut down its bureaus in Evere and Oudergem and relocate its administration to the European district. At present, the Commission only rents the Covent Garden office building at the Rogierplein. 

According to De Tijd, Eurocrats are not enthusiastic about the prospect of working in the neighbourhood. The European Commission did not respond to requests for comment of the newspaper.

^{The North Station in Brussels. © BELGA PHOTO HELEEN DEBISSCHOP}