All permits in Brussels are available on the OpenPermits platform. We have analyzed these permits to extract interesting statistics on permits applied for and granted in Brussels.
Planning permits
Planning permission is required for a range of construction and transformation projects. These projects requiring permission are specified in the CoBAT, the legal basis for Urban Planning and Regional Development in Brussels .
An increasing number of requests
As we can see from the graph below, the number of permits requested has been steadily increasing for over 20 years. Each year, an average of 173 more permits are recorded than the previous year. In 2022, for example, 7,784 permits were requested in the Brussels-Capital Region.
Significant disparities between municipalities
As the illustration below shows, some municipalities are much more active in terms of the number of permits requested. Brussels (the city) leads the way with 15% of applications, while Saint-Josse-ten-Noode accounts for only 1% of the total permit volume.
Of course, not all permit applications are granted and there are significant differences in the permit granting rate between municipalities.
89% of permits granted
The municipalities in the south-east of Brussels (Woluwé, Uccle, Auderghem, Etterbeek, Watermael) grant a higher percentage of permits than the municipalities in the north (Schaerbeek, Evere, Anderlecht, Molenbeek). This rate varies between 75% (Molenbeek) and 95% (Woluwe-Saint-Pierre) with an average of 89%. It is important to note that planning permits include requests for actions that are not construction (e.g.: insulation of a gable, regularization of a dwelling, felling of a tree, etc.)
Housing development projects
The construction of residential buildings is subject to planning permission. These projects can be identified, via the planning application, by an increase in the area allocated to housing as well as keywords such as "construction," "renovation," "apartment building," etc. We have therefore identified 630 projects corresponding to these criteria.
Here are some examples that fall within this definition:
- Demolition of a car garage and reconstruction of an apartment building
- Extension of a building to construct 4 new dwellings
- Conversion of an office building into housing
What characteristics?
Development projects vary greatly in size. We selected only projects that created at least 300 m² of housing. The majority of housing development permits plan to create less than 850 m² of housing. The 10% of the most ambitious projects aim to create 5,000 m² or more.
The biggest projects to come
Based on established criteria, we have identified the permits with the most authorized square meters over the past three years. These are the upcoming projects.
| Reference | Address | Accepted housing area [m2] |
|---|---|---|
| 18/PFD/1791015 | Rue Neerveld 105-107, 1200 Woluwe-Saint-Lambert | 15375.0 |
| 12/PFD/1767823 | Quay of the Coal Mines 88-90, 1080 Molenbeek-Saint-Jean | 12183.43 |
| 06/PFD/1772514 | Rue Colonel Bourg 120, 1140 Evere | 11843.5 |
| 16/PFD/1760152 | Homborch 71a-71e, 1180 Uccle | 9500.1 |
| 09/PFD/1839512 | Crown Avenue 486-498, 1050 Ixelles | 8264.5 |
| 18/PFD/1825155 | Attic Street, 1200 Woluwe-Saint-Lambert | 7592.41 |
| 15/PU/1779437 | Rue des Coteaux 221-223, 1030 Schaerbeek | 7574.4 |
| 01/PFD/1784916 | Filature Street, 1070 Anderlecht | 7125.0 |
| 18/PFD/1799263 | Boulevard de la Woluwe 102, 1200 Woluwe-Saint-Lambert | 6748.0 |
| 02/PFD/1864255 | Boulevard du Souverain 360, 1160 Auderghem | 6005.0 |