Ethias

The new Ethias headquarters in Liège in the Coronmeuse eco-neighbourhood, Liège.

The future Ethias headquarters is located in the heart of the Rives Ardentes eco-neighbourhood. This multi-storey building will have a tree-lined patio in the centre, as well as green terraces.

The future site is designed to be modular and flexible in order to meet new organisational requirements and functional challenges such as collaborative working, shared spaces and part-time homeworking. ‘A real turning point in the history of Ethias, this project is part of the ongoing measures implemented to optimise our organisational model, while contributing to our objective of reducing our ecological footprint. We are therefore very happy and proud to be actively participating in the development of Rives Ardentes. By its very nature, this eco-neighbourhood perfectly reflects the values of Ethias and its employees,’ emphasises CEO Philippe Lallemand.

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En 2021, Ethias took a momentous decision: to move its offices – long based in the centre of Liège – to the Rives Ardentes eco-neighbourhood in Coronmeuse. A brief overview with Thibault Hendriks, structural works manager, of this major project designed by the Neolegia consortium, made up of the companies CIT Blaton, CIT Red, Jan de Nul and Franki.

A gigantic LEGO set

For this project, the choice was made to use prefabricated elements, such as frames and beams. This is extremely practical: there is no need to prepare formwork to pour the concrete on site, everything arrives ready-made by lorry. This saves our workers a considerable amount of time. However, this technique obviously requires colossal upstream studies. The prefabricated elements must be made to the correct dimensions and, more importantly, there is no room for any oversight; everything must be planned down to the smallest detail well in advance. This is probably the main difficulty in preparing the site.

The major challenge The main challenge for Thibault Hendriks?

The logistics. Around 15 lorries a week bring prefabricated elements to the site. And guess who plans all their comings and goings, the parts they transport and the delivery dates? Our structural works manager, of course! A highly responsible task that depends on the progress and order of the work. A real puzzle!

A breathtaking building

In total, this building of some 15,000m², of which 10,000m² will be used as offices for Ethias employees, will comprise 11,535m² of hollow-core slabs, 2500m² of double walls, 127 columns, 225 beams and 260 prefabricated frames. The basement will in fact be a large car park that will extend over the rest of the eco-neighbourhood site. On the ground floor there will already be a few offices, a kitchen and a large restaurant. The upper floors will be reserved for offices. The building will also have green roofs, solar panels and a rainwater tank. Ethias will have its rightful place in this eco-neighbourhood!