The campuses of Hasselt PXL are putting a lot of effort into biodiversity, with campus Diepenbeek acting as a living lab for research and education.
Hasselt PXL campuses
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Kanaal
Transformation of a former industrial site into a mixed-use residential project.
Developing the green-blue network
The project
Kanaal is a transformation of a former industrial site in Wijnegem (a spirits distillery) into a mixed-use residential project in which different residential types are complemented by offices, museum spaces, workshops and underground parking. Nature is integrated throughout the site, on the roofs of the buildings and the underground car park, between the buildings …
Project location
Wijnegem
Contribution(s)
15 buildings and/or infrastructures
Project costs
Participant(s)
Axel Vervoordt’s real estate department, in collaboration with three architectural teams – Bogdan & Van Broeck, Coussée & Goris, Stéphane Beel – and landscape architect Michel Desvigne.
How are the criteria of the objective met?
Gebäude und Infrastrukturen
The extensive green roofs and the green-blue developments use different species and thus diversity is reproduced in order to promote biodiversity and integrate environmental and ecological qualities in the best possible way. Indeed, the green roofs create an urban ecosystem. A water feature with reeds completes the green-blue network. It is an urban rewilding that transformed a grey infrastructure (the distillery) into a green-blue living space. This rewilding is largely maintenance-free (no mowing, little to no pruning…) and that AL drains the rainwater that falls on it via an aquifer to the deep phreatic groundwater table. The management is thus mainly natural and therefore beneficial for the biodiversity of the area.
Possible initiatives in which the project is involved :
The project is not part of any existing initiative.
Long-term maintenance
Benefits
The commitment to green-blue systems and networks is an urban ecosystem in itself. The landscaping, i.e. vegetation, is biodiversity and accommodates additional fauna. At the same time, the project contributes to a number of important social changes. It shows that you can live qualitatively in a former industrial brownfield. It also shows that a very high building density can perfectly coexist with lock-down compatible living near biodiversity, inclusive peace, quiet and privacy. Moreover, this development helps combat the phenomenon of heat islands and soil sealing in urban areas. It also helps purify the air, thanks to its proximity to vegetation.
Other projects linked to the objective: "Buildings and infrastructures"
Faunahuis
Converting a house into a fauna house in Brakel
Royal Military School
Increase biodiversity at the RMS site and create an ecological connection with nearby parks.