Four levels of rules
| Instrument | What it fixes |
|---|---|
| CoBAT | the legal framework: who consents and which works require consent |
| PRAS | land use: housing, offices, retail, green space |
| RRU | the concrete rules: siting, massing, habitability standards |
| Municipal regulations | local refinements, by municipality or by district |
The CoBAT also provides for regional regulations applying to part of the territory only, and for municipal regulations adopted for particular districts. The check is therefore made at district level and not regional level.
Four sources must therefore be consulted for any given project, and omitting the municipal level is the commonest error. Certain districts, notably those inscribed as world heritage, apply markedly stricter rules.
The longest consent period of the three regions
The period is 160 days from a complete file, against 75 to 115 days in Wallonia and 60 to 105 days in Flanders, extended to 120 where the commission intervenes. That gap bears directly on the carrying cost of the scheme.
Two elements of the ordinary procedure explain part of the gap: a thirty-day public enquiry and the consultation committee. Both steps come on top of the processing period itself.
For a financed project that gap is not neutral. Between Brussels and Flanders under the simplified procedure, the difference exceeds three months of carrying cost, on top of the time before a file is declared complete.
A less visible effect follows: the longer the period, the wider the gap between the initial estimate and prices at tender. That argues for a revision clause, covered in the article on price revision.
What density adds to cost
This is the most underestimated Brussels feature in estimates modelled on other regions. It concerns the habitability standards of the regional regulation.
Site access. Narrow streets, parking to be suspended, permits to occupy the public domain, deliveries restricted by hours. These items belong to site set-up and can represent a substantial share on an urban scheme.
Party walls. Underpinning, contradictory condition surveys with neighbours, protection and propping. These are technical items but also a legal exposure whose prevention cost is real.
Heritage constraints. They impose materials and techniques and sometimes preliminary studies. They also lengthen the consent process.
Habitability standards. The regional regulation sets requirements on areas, ceiling heights and natural light that govern the feasibility of a subdivision or conversion. A project may fail not on massing but on these standards.
That last point is decisive for dwelling subdivisions, a frequent operation in Brussels. A subdivision failing the standards is refused consent.
The regional regulation is being reformed
A draft new regional planning regulation, known as Good Living, has been in preparation for several years. It has been through public enquiry, an opinion of the Council of State and several reworkings.
The announced direction includes raising habitability standards, particularly areas, ceiling heights and natural light, together with new requirements on cycle storage and acoustic insulation. That direction remains to be confirmed in the final text.
The timetable for this text has been postponed repeatedly and its status must be verified before any commitment. A scheme designed to current standards could require adaptation if the new regulation takes effect during the consent process.
For regularisation and subdivision operations that uncertainty is a risk factor belonging explicitly in the programme. A timetable margin is therefore provided for from the outset.
Brussels support
Brussels offers a reduced-rate renovation loan with a feature rare in Belgium: it is accessible under conditions to tenants and not only to owners. That opening to tenants has no equivalent in the other regions.
For a landlord this opens the possibility of a shared arrangement with the tenant on long leases. It is a little-used instrument specific to this region.
Conditions, ceilings and rates evolve and must be verified with the regional body before any funding plan. A funding plan built on lapsed conditions does not hold.
What this means for an estimate
Four rules for costing a Brussels project. They concern the periods, the standards, the dense fabric and the support schemes.
Consult all four levels of rules, including the municipal regulation, before fixing a brief.
Include site set-up at its true level, higher than in the periphery or in rural areas.
Provide for condition surveys and party-wall works from the estimate stage, not as contingency.
Check habitability standards before massing for any subdivision or conversion of dwellings.
This article reflects the position of the rules at the date of checking and serves professional orientation. It does not constitute legal advice and does not replace assessment of the individual case.