Environmental impact report is released for consultation and it brings further details on Belgium’s new national stadium. Capacity slightly up and groundbreaking date set.

Ghelamco, acting as proponent and investor, submitted their environmental impact report to the Grimbergen council (northern Brussels). The document is released for public viewing and reveals some crucial information about the planned national stadium of Belgium.

First one concerns groundbreaking, now set for March 14, 2016. This is when works opposite the current Koning Boudewijn Stadion are set to begin. From that point it should take over two years to complete the 60,000+ football arena.

How much seats beyond 60,000 will it have? According to Ghelamco’s press release from earlier this year it was 60,250. Now the updated document suggests it’s 61,450, so a minor change upwards occurred. Possibly relevant when applying to host, for example, the Champions League final (UEFA’s preference for stadia of 60,000 net capacity).

The building itself would reach 56.6m in height and offer 6 levels of floor space. Together with additional facilities built around, it would offer 16,000 square meters of office space, 24,000 for services, 10,000 of public space, 7,000 for socio-cultural use and 1,500 square meters of parking spaces.

Currently all of these figures seem to be open for some changes as consultation on the report will go on until September 19. Regardless of any changes, future key tenants of this stadium will be the Belgian national football/soccer team and RSC Anderlecht. Price tag is set beyond the €300 million level.