The City of Brussels is forecasting that its student population will increase by up to 10,000 by 2025, which explains the urgent need for student accommodation and the growth in this sector. The real estate developer BPI, has chosen to use CLT for its Woodskot project, building 91 student housing units situated on Rue Camuesel in Brussels. BPI is partnering with the architectural firm ARTER for this development.
A new standard
Upon receiving planning permission, XIOR, a company specialising in student housing, took over the project from BPI, via an investment of approx. 10 million euros.
Jacques Lefèvre, the CEO of BPI says: “The fact that we had an acquirer for the entire project immediately after receiving planning permission demonstrates that we made the right choice when we decided to use CLT for this building. CLT is gaining positive recognition on a global scale for projects of this type in higher density residential applications, so BPI has clearly set a new standard.”
The contractor Cordeel selected Laminated Timber Solutions, a specialist in CLT, as a partner for this project. The real challenge however is the timing deadline to allow the students to move in during September 2019.
Tight build program
The foundation works begin in October 2018 and the contractor anticipates the building will be weatherproof by February 2019, so a maximum of 8 weeks for the installation of the CLT panels.
Completion is scheduled for August 2019 to allow the building to be occupied in September.
This build program is only made possible due to the detailed 3D modelling which will be developed by Laminated Timber Solutions, and forms the basis of the BIM approach to this project. This design for manufacturing strategy allows for detailed pre-fabrication of the CLT elements and the use of standard modules for all the building services which will deliver a precision engineered structure on time and in budget.
