Piepelboom Tienen
Business park creates opportunities
Piepelboom Tienen
In the Piepelboom business park in Tienen, developer Kolmont delivered 16 new SME units a welcome expansion in a region where business space is scarce and entrepreneurs need flexibility. But new economic activity also brings responsibility: how do you ensure a business park doesn’t just make room for growth, but also for water, nature and a healthy living environment?
That’s exactly where Witteveen+Bos came in. Our experts assessed the project’s environmental, water and ecological aspects, so Piepelboom performs not only in practical and economic terms, but also stands on solid ground in terms of sustainability and legal robustness.
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EIA screening
A new business park has an impact: additional traffic, more impermeable surfaces, noise, lighting… Through an EIA screening, we examined whether Piepelboom could cause significant environmental effects and which aspects required extra attention.
Our screening delivered a well-substantiated file that answers questions from authorities, neighbours and/or advisory bodies.
Dewatering memorandum
Lowering groundwater levels during construction may sound like a technical detail, but the impact can be substantial: settlement affecting adjacent properties, drying out green areas, and a higher risk of damage. Our geohydrologists therefore calculated precisely how much water would be temporarily extracted, how the drawdown would propagate, and which measures were needed to avoid risks.
This memorandum is crucial for building with peace of mind – and for clearly demonstrating, later in the permitting process, that the site can be run safely and with minimal impact.
Enhanced nature assessment
Piepelboom is located near a Flemish Ecological Network (VEN) area. That means higher requirements, stricter protection, and zero tolerance for negative impacts on nature values. Our team investigated, among other things:
- disturbance of fauna caused by light and noise;
- impacts on vegetation and soil;
- changes in local hydrology;
- nitrogen deposition resulting from traffic and business activity.
Where risks emerged, we proposed mitigation measures, from adapted green-space management to buffering and smart spatial design.
Water and ecology as an asset
The studies translated into smart design choices, including:
- a rainwater tank of at least 5,000 litres for each unit;
- permeable parking areas;
- infiltration zones where rainwater seeps into the ground instead of running off;
- a green buffer, wildflower meadows and water features that enhance biodiversity and give the site an attractive, pleasant character.
Why this approach?
Business parks often remain blind spots in the climate story. Yet this is precisely where major gains are possible: retaining water, strengthening nature, reducing heat stress, and buffering instead of draining. Piepelboom shows that economic development can go hand in hand with climate adaptation and that thorough studies aren’t a burden, but a lever for better spatial quality.
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