RUP Maleizen

The municipality of Overijse (Belgium) had to revise the spatial implementation plan (RUP) of Centrum Maleizen. An important objective of this revision was the development of a lively square on the scale of this village center. In this central area, a couple of landowners and real estate investors had already formulated various development proposals. In order to design not just a high-quality, but also feasible spatial implementation plan, we started our research by validating the ambitions of the various actors. The square initially proposed by the municipal council turned out to be unfeasible in terms of investment costs. To function, a square naturally needs walls. These square walls could be filled in by the present private actors. For example, a landowner wanted to develop a hotel and conference center. However, our brief market research yielded negative advice for this concept on this location. A real estate investment company also insisted on preserving an old office building. However, based on our technical analysis, we discovered severe concrete corrosion. To gain a good insight into local needs, we also set up a participation campaign with citizens. With all these insights, we finally entered into negotiations with the various actors to arrive at a publicly supported and feasible plan for a square tailored to the neighborhood.