New Antwerp Port Authority HQ Open to Visitors

The Port House, the new headquarters of Antwerp Port Authority, will be ceremonially opened on Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 September. Visitors will then have the opportunity to admire the new building from the inside.

After four years of construction this architectural icon on the Antwerp skyline is now complete: the old Hansa Building has been fully restored, while the new glass structure in the shape of a ship soars above this former fire station to the North of the city which is now a protected monument. The old and new parts are closely integrated with each other so that Port House now symbolises both the past and the future of the port. For centuries the fire station marked the farthest end of the port, but now it stands at the beginning of the extended port area. In this way the Port House points towards the port of the 21st century, ready to meet the future.

Open to the public

As well as being the new workplace for the Port Authority’s 500 or so employees, Port House also offers a meeting place for the many international partners of the Antwerp port community. In the meantime it will be open for guided tours for members of the public on Wednesday afternoons and at weekends. As well as the attraction of the building itself this is an opportunity to enjoy the fantastic views of the city and its port from every floor of the building.


Environment-friendly

The new Port House is a textbook example of sustainability. Sustainably-sourced materials were used for its construction, and the building is heated or cooled throughout by a ground heat storage system that saves 270 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually. The Port Authority also facilitates sustainable travel between home and work for its personnel. In the car park there are 30 charging points (20 for electric bicycles and 10 for electric cars), there is a City Bike station in front of the door, and the Shuttle Bus offers two direct connections (to the Right and Left bank areas respectively) free of charge for employees.

Zaha Hadid Memorial

The designer of this masterwork, Zaha Hadid, sadly died quite unexpectedly several months ago but her architectural legacy lives on. The square beside the Port House has been named in her honour, and from 24 September onwards there will be an exhibition dedicated to her life and work in the atrium of the new building, as the first female winner of the world-class Pritzker Architectural Prize.