As part of the jubilee event, with which ELCA celebrated its 60th anniversary, the participants had the opportunity to take part in an excursion on Wednesday October 11th. Krinkels, member of the ELCA Committee of Firms, showed three green projects in Brussels.

Vegetable rooftop garden Maalbeek

The first stop was at a vegetable rooftop garden in the Maalbeek area. On the roof of grocery shop Colruyt there has been a 2.190 square meters vegetable garden created. Not only does it provide crops for the people in the neighbourhood, but it is also a place for education, experimenting urban vegetable production and scientific research. The rooftop garden adds to social cohesion in the neighbourhood and contributes to enhance biodiversity.

Flagey Square Elsene

An important measure in making cities resilient to climate change is to de-pave the soil. A good example was shown at the Flagey Square. In this project, that is under construction right now, we witnessed the transformation of a stony area in a green area with trees, shrubs and perennials. It is not enough to just break open the concrete. In order to create the right planting and growing conditions, there must be attention for the quality and permeability of the soil.

Square Legrand on Avenue Louise

Our third and last stop was at a remarkable and ambitious project to make the Brussels region greener and more permeable for storm water: Square Legrand. The watertight surfacing of the existing paths, which were about 60% of the project area was replaced by permeable planted areas and narrower paths in between them. This innovative structure allows water infiltration up to 1 liter per square meter per second. In total, this park adds 2.030 square meters of additional greenery to the region.

On behalf of the participants of this very interesting visit, thank you very much to Krinkels for this wonderful opportunity to see these innovative projects!

Picture: View on the vegetable roof garden on top of Colruyt.