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ANTWERP | First temporary uses of Stuivenberg site announced

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The first temporary uses of the Stuivenberg site in Antwerp have been announced. Six different organisations will breathe new life into some of the buildings. These include a coffee roastery and training and cultural organizations.

Since 1 March 1 2024, a large part of the Stuivenberg site has been transferred from Ziekenhuis Netwerk Antwerpen (ZNA) or Antwerp Hospital Network to the municipal real estate agency of the City of Antwerp, AG Vespa. Two months later, part of the gardens, along the Pesthofstraat, was opened to the neighborhood during the day. A pop-up bar was organized there from the end of May to the end of September. 

During that period, the city also set up a summer program in the gardens, focusing on events and small-scale activities by and together with the neighborhood.

Intertwined with the neighborhood, liveliness and social added value

Now, some of the buildings are coming back to life. The city’s ambition is to provide a place for entrepreneurs and non-profit organisations on the Stuivenberg site, with attention to the intertwining with the neighbourhood, the liveliness that the development brings with it, and the creation of added social value.

Then-Alderman for Urban Development and chairman of AG Vespa Johan Klaps (N-VA): “For the Stuivenberg site, we are explicitly – and ambitiously – opting for a maximum injection of liveability and maximum greening. In this way, we are meeting the legitimate demand of the neighbourhood. The selected organisations form a nice mix of functions that guarantee added value for the liveability on and around the site. Think of art, a social organisation, a coffee roastery, and multicultural initiatives. With this step, we are entering a new phase in the future story for this unique, but also complex site. At the same time, we as a city remain committed to realising maximum public greenery in the long term and to continuing to strive for a balanced mix of functions.” 

These six organisations will now be given a temporary place:

  • the Higher Institute for Fine Arts (HISK) will occupy a work and presentation space in the gatehouse to prepare for a restart in Antwerp and to organise small events in the meantime;
  • coffee roastery Tartoer;
  • GATAM, an organisation that guides people with a great distance to the labour market to regular work;
  • El Hikma, a non-profit organisation that will offer a mix of neighbourhood events, multicultural markets, world cuisines, elderly and youth work, music, dance, theatre and stand-up;
  • MORPHO, which will develop studios for professional artists in the gatehouse. MORPHO already manages 14 buildings in the city and its districts, and has been rolling out support programmes for its studio users in collaboration with various partners since 2024.

They will be allowed to set up on the south-west side of the site: in the gatehouse on Lange Beeldekensstraat and in the four round pavilions along Pesthofstraat.

Finally, part of the garden is home to ‘t Hofke van Stuivenberg, a community and meeting garden by, for and with local residents and local organisations, where everyone can garden and learn during free nature and art education workshops.

Akderman for Culture Nabilla Ait Daoud (N-VA): “The Antwerp Stuivenberg site will become a breeding ground for creativity, where the past and the future come together: the HISK is preparing its restart in Antwerp here, while MORPHO is creating space for another twenty artists’ studios in the city. A unique place where art and culture can take root and grow again.” 

Site manager

The organisations enter into an agreement with site manager Entrakt, a professional vacancy manager. They follow up all applications from candidates and ensure that the space is filled as maximally and permanently as possible.

The site manager is still conducting discussions and site visits with additional interested parties, including other potential catering operators. Entrakt’s assignment runs for a period of two years and can be extended depending on the timing for the definitive redevelopment of the site.

On the look of Antwerp

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