World-class: Limburg project developer beats competition in Cannes

At MIPIM, one of the world's largest and most prestigious real estate exhibitions, Limburg project developer Urbicoon won no less than two major awards. Their development of the Royal Belge building in Brussels won Best Reconversion Project and Best Mixed-Use Project. Louis Machels, Wim Smits and Hermann Fluemans were present at Cannes for the awards ceremony.

Urbicoon is part of the Machiels group (Hasselt). The project developer is mainly active in Site A in Brussels and Antwerp. High profile new construction projects are being undertaken, often as reuses of old industrial sites and old office buildings.

One such place is the former headquarters of the insurance company Royal Belge, which has been completely renovated into a hotel, fitness and wellness centre, conference centre, offices, etc. The development, located on the edge of the Sonian Forest in Watermal-Bosford, was fully let in a short time and has now been sold (to Baloise). Example of a successful reconversion. This was also the reason why the project was a finalist in MIPIM. Among other entries from around the world, the Urbicoon team received two gold medals at the awards ceremony.

Royal Belge was declared the winner in the Best Transformation Project category. She left behind finalists from Germany, China and the United Kingdom. As the only project to be a finalist in two categories, the project was also able to win the main award in the Best Mixed-Use Project category. An unexpected achievement.

Wim Smits (Kiwit) and Hermann Fluemans (Sint-Truiden), CEOs of Urbicoon, received the awards together with investor Louis Machiels (Group Machiels). They were right on stage at Cannes. Undoubtedly the start of a big festive night!