Hotton unveils its new business park

On 13 July, IDELUX and the municipality of Hotton are unveiling a brand new business park in Bourdon. The new site offers 13 hectares, available to house around 25 businesses, thus responding to the demand in the Hotton region.

Developing the local economic fabric

Faced with the shortage of land in the north of the province, it was becoming increasingly important to create space for SMEs and VSEs and to meet the needs of businesses in Hotton in particular.

Enjoying a fantastic location near Marche-en-Famenne and the national roads to Liège, Namur and the south of the province, the Bourdon business park meets a real demand. This is demonstrated by the twenty or so companies that have already expressed an interest in the site. 4 of them are already working on their plans to start acquiring land (financial planing, architectural plans etc.). These companies are from the construction sector (building insulation, roofing, earthworks, the construction of individual dwellings) and the food industry. These initial expressions of interest represent a potential of more than 70 jobs!

 

A business park that’s committed to sustainable development and biodiversity

These days, business parks need to be integrated living spaces that fit in with current environmental and urban planning issues.

In Bourdon, the focus has been on soft mobility, improving pedestrian traffic by installing footpaths linking the national road, the RAVeL network and the Longues Aires housing estate. In addition to this, a number of new bus stops have been introduced.

Similarly, particular attention has been paid to making sure the site blends in with the landscape and preserving biodiversity in these plans. Indeed, the developments have been defined in consultation with the DNF and in accordance with the options outlined in the municipal development plan and the environmental impact assessment.

More than 2 hectares are set to be used to maintain, protect and regenerate the natural environment and consolidate the ecological structure of the landscape. These areas create a vital green transition space between the business park, the RAVeL network and the residential area.

The park is defined by tree-lined areas (between 8 and 10m), while all the roads are lined with tall standard trees. A central green berm can be found at the entrance to the park. The position of the plants, made up of local species, is designed to promote biodiversity and contribute to the ecological network.

In addition to the tree-lined perimeter, there is a grassy area offering a landscaped breathing space between the RAVeL network and the business park.

Lastly, it is worth pointing out that the SOL (Schéma d’Orientation Local, local strategy guidelines) provides some urban planning guidelines for the area (layout, architectural composition and dimensions, materials, management of surrounding areas, authorised planting etc.) in order to ensure the creation of a quality park that respects its environment.

Other elements of sustainable development have also been incorporated, which includes respecting a cut and fill balance, creating a storm-water basin/water storage for firefighting that fit in to the look of the local environment and installing programmable LED lighting that consumes less energy.

 

13 hectares equipped to welcome businesses

To meet the needs of businesses, the municipality of Hotton and IDELUX Développement signed a joint promotion agreement in December 2008 for the implementation of the Bourdon mixed business park. A ministerial order approving Bourdon’s municipal development plan and the scope of recognition was adopted in 2017. Three years later, after all of the technical studies had been completed, the ad hoc subsidies and authorisations had been secured, and the
public procurement contracts had been launched, IDELUX Développement and the municipal authorities started work on equipping the park.

Now the work done to equip the new area, carried out by MATHIEU, has been completed. This included creating roads and a runoff water management system, signage, landscaping, fully equipping the plots (water, electricity, drainage, lighting, pedestrian walkways, fibre optics etc.) and securing the entrances and exits to the RN86.

The work cost €2,348,662 excluding VAT, 65% of which was financed by Wallonia (ordinary credit lines – SPW-DGO6-DEPA). Security work that comes under the remit of the regional public authorities was funded by the SPW EER (DEPA) and the work on the bus stops by the SRWT (Wallonia’s regional transport company). ORES and the AIEC (the Eaux du Condroz intermunicipal association) are responsible for the non-subsidised share of the facilities relating to them. The balance was covered by IDELUX Développement.

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