Extreme makeover: Iconic Anderlecht slaughterhouse is about to get a whole lot better

Visitors to the regular market on the grounds of the slaughterhouses of the Brussels commune of Anderlecht will soon be able to enjoy the view out over the local farm, and even dine in a restaurant amid the fresh produce being served on their plates.

The canal zone is one of the most industrial areas in Brussels, but a farm is still on its way. It will be built on top of the new fresh food market, which will stand alongside the listed monument that is the original market hall. With its 19th-century iron construction and its two steel bulls standing proudly at the entrance, that hall has long been a landmark of the capital’s canal zone.

There is also a new fresh food market hall on the way, and Paul Thielemans says the opening should take place next May, which is slightly later than originally planned. He’s in charge of public relations at Abattoir, the company that has been running the entire slaughterhouse site since it took it over from the council of Anderlecht in 1983.

According to Thielemans, the reason for the delay was quite simply a change in plans. Cutting the food hall down from two floors to one, he explains, necessitated a new building permit. “It’s not such a big problem,” he said. “We’re still well within the timing for the subsidies we obtained.”

The Abattoir overhaul project is subsidised by the European Regional Development Fund, which provided €7.4 million of a total budget of €16.4 million.

A trickle-down subsidy

According to the master plan for the site, the new food hall will offer both fresh produce and meat and will thus take over from the existing meat market, which has become dilapidated. At present, the market operates in the mornings on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, teeming with everyone from homemakers to chefs, moving between the mountains of chops, shanks, cutlets, fillets and parts you may not wish to know the name of. If you’ve never visited, there’s still time.

The revamped food hall will take up 10,000 square metres of space and offer accommodation to 45 traders, including 17 selling fresh meat. A selection procedure to choose who gets to stay is ongoing. First in line for consideration will be ambulatory traders – those whose entire business is selling at weekly markets around the city and the country.

“That was the purpose of the subsidy we received, which allows us to build the food hall in the first place,” Thielemans explains. “Each month those who rent a shop receive a reduction in the rent, so that the subsidy is returned to them over the years.”

For the produce and other fresh food sellers, the procedure is the same, but their chances are slightly different. Those who now sell at the much larger outdoor market can stay, though for some of them, there’s the choice whether to take up a space in the cleaner, brighter and more customer-friendly food hall. There, they can make use of a range of shopping centre amenities, including sanitary and communications connections, refrigeration and, above all, fixed premises.

Urban farm know-how

On top of the food hall comes the Urban Farm, and Abattoir is currently in talks to find a commercial partner to operate both the farm – which will include both open-growing and greenhouse produce – and the rooftop restaurant, which Thielemans says has attracted the interest of a number of Brussels chefs.

The problem of finding a partner, Thielemans explains, is that there are not many companies in Belgium with the expertise of running an urban farm as an on-going concern, but one is currently exploring a possible partnership. “At this moment, they’re looking to see if they can find the necessary investors to make it possible to start this project here in Anderlecht. They have the know-how.”

Construction started in September last year, and the rough construction should be finished in about a month. Meanwhile, technical installations are already being isntalled inside the building. “That leaves about four months for those who will be renting shops to do their interior work,” says Thielemans, “so we’re close to the finishing line now”.

Further in the future, the plan for the site also includes an apartment building with shops at street level and a new slaughterhouse with entirely new facilities and a surface area of 10,000 square metres. 

“If that is accepted by the Brussels Region, we might consider those additions in 2020, not earlier. The priority for us is to keep an abattoir in the city.”

The market hall, as a listed landmark, will stay right where it is.

Image ©ORG Architects