Cirque Royal to reopen in September after safety upgrades

Brussels' Cirque Royal will reopen in September after €3.6 million of emergency renovations to make the building meet fire safety standards.

The popular venue has been closed since last August, following a legal row over who should manage the building. An inspection commissioned at the time by the City of Brussels revealed the concert hall was in a dangerous state.

Problems ranged from incomplete fire partitioning walls to an absence of fire doors, inaccessible exits, incorrect signposting of evacuation routes, smoke extractors that do not meet safety norms and a lack of maintenance or periodic inspection of gas installations, ventilation and fire protection equipment.

Mohamed Ouriaghli, the Brussels city councillor in charge of public properties, said renovation works on the interior of the building had been completed. Work on the facade should be finished by the end of June.

When the venue reopens in September, it will initially be managed by the City of Brussels property department. The city has put out a tender for applications to manage the premises in the long term.

The Botanique not-for-profit assocation lost the concession to run the venue in June 2017. The City of Brussels had planned to reaward the management contract to Brussels Expo, but this was blocked by the Council of State after Botanique and Antwerp's Sportpaleis complained of a conflict of interest.