The current owner of the iconic Antwerp office block known as ‘De Boerentoren’ hopes to demolish the building’s top three stories and have them rebuilt. The daily ‘Gazet van Antwerpen’ reports that Fernand Huts wants to demolish and rebuild the top stories of the Boerentoren as they are “too unstable”.
To this end the boss of Katoen Natie Fernand Huts has already applied for a building permit. The top three floors including the KBC logo (the building was long the bank’s HQ). It is unclear whether the logo will return once the work has been completed.
Floors 26 to 28 and the KBC logo will be demolished. An engineer that carried out a stability study on the building. The study found that the upper floors of the building are not resilient to heavy winds and storms. The upper floors were not part of the original construction and weren’t added until the 1970s. The building permit application states that the whole of the building will be strengthened with the addition of a steel frame.
The public enquiry for the demolition works started today (11 December) and will run until 9 January. What Mr Huts eventually plans to do with the top of the Borenore is still not clear.
The permit application for the tower's new design should be ready in April 2025. What is certain is that there will be exhibition halls, a large publicly accessible rooftop terrace will be built as well as a café and bookstore that will open at on the ground floor of the building.
Whether there will still be room for the iconic KBC logo is not known and this may also depend on whether the logo is part of the towers’ listed building status.