New role for St Anne’s church

St Anne’s Church in Ghent was designed by Lodewijk Roelandt in 1851 and executed in simplified form by Jacques Van Hoecke. Construction began in 1853 and on 12 June 1866 the unfinished St Anne’s Church was solemnly consecrated by the bishop of Ghent, Hendrik-Frans Bracq. It is the most important building in Ghent in Rundbogen style, an eclectic style with Romanesque, Byzantine and Gothic elements. Both the interior and the surroundings of the church were protected as monuments in 1980. When the church was still used sporadically for worship services and concerts, the city, owner of the building, began to think about another use. According to the regional plan, the building is located in a zone for community facilities. Part of the outdoor space is park zone. In order to find a meaningful economic reallocation for the church, a market procedure was initiated in cooperation with PMV (the Flemish Heritage Vault) to absorb the remaining restoration and renovation costs, and also to ensure the continued operation of the church. Besides a respectful reallocation of the existing building (because of its great heritage value), there was room for the realisation of small-scale new construction, in connection with the existing building and the garden environment.

Cooperation agreement

PMV and the city of Ghent concluded a cooperation agreement for the redevelopment of the church. An investment memorandum followed with a proposed long lease and sale agreement. PMV also designed a guideline note for the redevelopment in consultation with the authorities involved. On 16 April 2018, the market consultation was launched. Five bid proposals with vision note, sketch design and financial proposal were submitted. After a thorough assessment, the adjudication took place on 26 October 2018. The college decided on 6 December 2018 to designate the Markthal consortium as the preferred bidder. Markthal is the partnership between Delimmo, the real estate partnership of Delhaize De Leeuw, One Plus Projects, Rik De Vooght Architects and Architectenbureau Bureau Bressers.

New urban project

The new urban project will be multifaceted: the church building will house a neighbourhood shop, restaurant and wine bar. The proposal starts from preserving the monumentality and spaciousness of the church. Next to it will be two small-scale new volumes with supporting functions such as space for delivery and storage, and a reception function. The outdoor spaces include a public neighbourhood garden and a nature and vegetable garden for the benefit of the restaurant. After further optimisation of the proposal and further negotiations, it was decided to conclude a 99-year long lease. Final approval was given at the city council on 18 December 2019.

PMV’s role

PMV coordinated and conducted the redevelopment process on behalf of the City of Ghent through a market consultation procedure.