Vestio, Machiels, Igor and LRM received awards

Residential Books in Hasselt (Vestio), Genk Green Logistics (Machiels and Intervest) and Cycle Through the Trees (Visit Limburg) are the winners of the Limburg Real Estate Awards 2024. In addition, the FacThory project in Genk (LRM) also received Award Winner of the ING Sustainability Award. With these awards, Voka Limburg and its Community Vastgoed network reward inspiring real estate projects in Limburg.

The awards were officially presented on Thursday evening at the Limburg Real Estate ceremony in Thor Central. A full house at Thor Park, seating 500 ticketed attendees, was given the first bid by the winners.

“These real estate projects are an example of innovation and give us a glimpse into a sustainable future for our province,” say Johan Litten and Ed Sommers, Managing Director of Voka Limburg and Chairman of Netwerk Community Vastgoed respectively. The real estate project lies in combining vision, process and model. Only by working together can we create a positive and sustainable development dynamic within Limburg.

From more than thirty real estate portfolios submitted in Limburg, the jury – composed of Chairman of the Board Veronique Claessens, Maxime Compen and Ton Joossens – selected three nominated projects in three categories: residential real estate, public real estate and commercial real estate. Based on various criteria, such as innovation, architecture, environment, new building technologies and integration into the environment, one winner was ultimately chosen for each category. These are:

Residential Bookstore development, by Vestio in Hasselt (Category: Residential properties)
An additional access to the heart of the city center has been developed between the famous Kolonel Dusartplein and the renovated Meldertstraat. The houses along the Van Lanschoot Bank building were demolished. The Residential Book House was later built along this new corridor, the link between Event Square and the city centre. The jury – to be clear, completely independent of the organizing network – judges this to be a high-profile project that adds an icon to Hasselt city centre. (picture above)

Genk Green Logistics – Group Machiels & Intervest – Genk (Category: Commercial Real Estate)
The development of the former Ford site in Genk is a very bold real estate project with an area of ​​250,000 square meters for logistics, making this project currently one of the largest logistics developments in Belgium. The jury applauds the courage to make such an investment on such a large scale in times of crisis. Along with other developments, this project led to a rapid redevelopment of the Ford site, which was also based on various sustainability principles with regard to water management, mobility and energy.

Cycling through the trees – West Limburg – Hechtel-Ixel (Category: General Properties)
Cycling through the trees is a unique cycling experience, as cyclists gradually ascend in a circular motion, giving them a thrilling 360-degree experience among the treetops. The jury believes that many of the goals of successful real estate development come together in this project. Implemented with an eye to quality, the project is innovative, surprising and has a significant impact on the promotion of the Limburg regional region. In this way, Visit Limburg (run by Tourism Commissioner Igor Veltjens) not only achieves a high-profile project, but also creates a favorable investment climate, which also benefits the overall economy.

FacThory – Mo-Thor nv – Genk (ING Sustainability Award)
Since sustainability and project development are closely linked, the jury chose to reward a specific real estate project in Limburg with the ING Sustainability Award, this year for FacThory in Thor Park in Genk. FacThory is a multi-functional, multi-tenant building with 3,500 m² of production space, 1,000 m² of laboratory and testing areas and 3,500 m² of offices for innovative companies and knowledge institutions of the manufacturing economy. The jury believes that this project is a great example of an investment that responds to new developments and challenges entrepreneurs to experiment. FacThory is also a high-profile architectural project where the design has successfully promoted collaboration between laboratory work, studios and office work through intelligent communications and views within the building. In collaboration with FacThory, the jury wants to put the entire Thor site in the spotlight as a sustainable business park in which an innovative vision is constantly used and an innovative ecosystem is developed around the pillars of knowledge, education, business and society, while respecting the heritage found on the site.

“We can be proud of our winners and all our nominees. They show that they are actually helping to build our future,” says Johan Litten, Managing Director of Voka Limburg. “If we want to provide an answer to future economic challenges, we will also have to work together on infrastructure policy.” We have, our housing policy in Limburg. A more flexible permit policy and administrative simplification is necessary to achieve this. If we can remove these obstacles, we will provide our companies with the tools to strengthen Limburg society, literally and figuratively.