ION

Some spaces define the heart of a project. At Vesalius in Leuven, Kristof Vanfleteren, CEO and Co-founder of ION, explains how an underground auditorium for KU Leuven became one of the most technically complex and memorable parts of the development.

👇 English subtitles available below.



(English subtitles)
What you see here is the entrance to the beating heart of this Vesalius project. We were able to convince the university to build the second-largest auditorium in all of Leuven on this land, which is used for the Faculty of Law and Psychology. A nice anecdote about this project is that we tried to make it the largest auditorium in Leuven. Pieter De Somer is that. We did everything we could to get more seats into the building than Pieter De Somer. Unfortunately, it did not work out and it became the second largest because of fire safety regulations. The complex part of this project was creating the large spans. There could not be a single column in this underground space, because you needed a wide auditorium with perfect sightlines. I remember writing my children’s names somewhere here in the concrete. I will not find it again.

At Hazegras in Ostend, student life, housing and work come together in one central location. Thomas Dejagere, Head of Sales at ION, and Kenneth Sleuyter from A1AR show how the Vivesto and HaZee projects connect VIVES University College, student rooms, apartments and views over the city, harbour and Maria-Hendrika Park.

👇 English subtitles available below.



(English subtitles)
Here at Hazegras in Ostend, this used to be the postal sorting centre, and today it is VIVES University College. And on the adjacent plot of land, we realised a project. The project consists of 48 student rooms and a residential tower with 18 apartments. Our office is located on the ground floor. We also deliberately chose to provide access to the student rooms from the inner garden, which is fully south-facing. Unfortunately, the sun is not out today. And then here you have the residential tower, which on this side is fully oriented towards Maria-Hendrika Park. The other side looks out over the station. Here you can also see the two terraces, both south-facing, where we placed the terrace on the corner so that you also get the evening sun on this terrace, and so that on this terrace you fully capture both the midday sun and the evening sun. Yes, wow. Cool, isn’t it? That is really very impressive. In my view, this is the most beautiful part of Ostend, because we are very centrally located, extremely quiet, and in our front garden you have the entire city centre. You have the full harbour channel with the harbour, and on the other side you have Maria-Hendrika Park. Wow, that is big. That is big, isn’t it? Nice to have your office here. At lunchtime you can go for a run. Yes, that is really great, isn’t it? Is that done often? Too little. Too much work. Good intentions. Too much work.

Years after completion, a strong urban project still feels alive. Kristof Vanfleteren, CEO and Co-founder of ION, revisits a former neglected inner-city site in Leuven that has become a lively mix of homes, student rooms, shops, culture and public life.

👇 English subtitles available below.



(English subtitles)
This is how we transformed an old neglected inner-city site in Leuven into an entirely new part of the city. It used to be a mix of single-family homes, an old cinema hall and an old car garage. We turned it into a completely new city district consisting of a mix of functions. On the one hand, around 60 apartments, 60 student rooms, 2,000 square metres of retail space and, importantly, an auditorium for KU Leuven. Here you can see fantastic retail spaces that are doing very well, mixed with a health centre with apartments above it, which brings the city to life. This used to be a run-down neighbourhood and the Tiensestraat was completely dead. The nice thing about this project is that there are more square metres underground than above ground. What was also very important was the creation of this street, which became the beating heart of this inner-city site. In addition, we also brought a cultural aspect into the project through the integration of two cinema halls for Cinema ZED, which were also connected to a fantastic cultural café where you can enjoy a beer after a screening. I am British. You are British? Yes. Was it a good film? Fantastic. I cried a lot. That’s good. Thank you. Enjoy your Sunday!

Some collaborations continue to grow project after project. At Vivesto and HaZee in Ostend, Thomas Dejagere, Head of Sales at ION, visits Kenneth Sleuyter of A1AR to talk about ten years of working together on complex urban projects.

👇 English subtitles available below.



(English subtitles)
Today we are here in our project Vivesto and HaZee in Ostend. On the ground floor, the architect of the project has established its office. We are going to get to know them. Nice to meet you. Welcome to A1AR. Thank you. To our office in Ostend. Who is that? That is Billy, our office dog. The first project was ten years ago now: Cust’O in Oostduinkerke. The first project I sold at ION. Is that true? I think we have certainly done around 10 to 20 projects together by now. What is nice about working with ION? The nice thing is that ION is a very professional partner, always with very interesting projects. Urban-planning complex projects, which we really like doing. Of all the projects you have carried out with ION, which one is your personal favourite? Well, a project that is still ongoing: Suikerpark in Veurne. What is nice there is that we are allowed to help build an entirely new city centre in a very innovative way. So it is fantastic to be able to contribute to that.

Buying student property is also about timing. Kristof Vanfleteren, CEO and Co-founder of ION, explains why the best moment to consider a student room is often years before your children actually leave for university.

👇 English subtitles available below.



(English subtitles)
When is the right time to buy that student room? Well, the answer is simple. Do not wait too long. Do not wait until your children go to university, or your grandchildren go to university. When we launch a project, it still takes some time before it is actually built. On average, there is a pre-sales period of one year, and after that you still have to take into account a construction period of two years. It is often during that pre-sales period that the best rooms, the largest rooms and the best-oriented rooms are sold first. So my active advice to people who are interested in student property is: as soon as a project is launched, start considering it. Ideally, I would say around three years before the children actually consider moving to a student city.

Buying a student room is not only about the four walls. At The Crown in Bruges, Thomas Dejagere, Head of Sales at ION, explains what is already included in the purchase, from built-in furniture to curtains, lighting and a fully finished room.

👇 English subtitles available below.



(English subtitles)
What exactly is included in the purchase of a student room? To begin with: furniture. We provide a built-in bed with a slatted bed base, a double wardrobe with a fridge, and a built-in desk with shelves. On top of that, we also finish the room. We paint it, provide curtains and install light fittings. Students bring their own mattress, their own desk chair and their own watermelon. But I would not eat from it any more.

The best student housing is not just a place to sleep, but a place you want to stay. At Flint in Leuven, Kristof Vanfleteren, CEO and Co-founder of ION, meets a student who liked the residence so much that he stayed even after moving his studies to Antwerp.

👇 English subtitles available below.



(English subtitles)
Are we disturbing you? No? Are you students here? I am a student here. How long have you been living here in student accommodation? This is my fifth year. That means you are satisfied? Absolutely, definitely. And what makes the residence nice or attractive? The location, for sure. It is still in the centre, but we also have a lot of space here. We have our room to retreat to, and then we have this space to cook together or to watch the Champions League together. So that combination is very good. Fantastic. I would immediately want to go back to that time. And what do you study? Business Administration, but currently in Antwerp. And you still live here in student accommodation? I did my bachelor’s degree here in Leuven, and it was such a good student room that I simply wanted to stay here. Wow, what a view. A very beautiful, bright space. I see you also enjoy a night out. Every now and then, yes. Compact, but well integrated with the furniture, with everything included. Only the sofa is mine, and the rest was already here. So it is indeed like this, also the desk. Then here, with the fridge, and another wardrobe here. More space here. So it is all very nicely finished. And I see you are also a runner? Are you not taking part in the Leuven Marathon? Yes, I am, this afternoon. This afternoon? The half marathon. Then you need to get ready, because I am starting as well. Oh, really? Then we will see each other later.

At The Crown in Bruges, student life and education come together under one roof. Thomas Dejagere, Head of Sales at ION, takes you inside this multifunctional campus building combining student rooms, classrooms, an auditorium and the VIVES Business School.

👇 English subtitles available below.



(English subtitles)
Today we are in Bruges on the campus of VIVES University. Here, together with ION, we developed a multifunctional building: The Crown. It is a building that houses 138 student rooms, 19 classrooms, an auditorium and the VIVES Business School. We are in a very good location on campus, where students are perfectly served by the university. In addition, we are within cycling distance of the city centre, the bus stop and station are nearby, and there are many sports facilities on the opposite side of the site. Come on, let’s go inside. Badge, important. We are now in the shared kitchen, where three large induction hobs are provided, two ovens and two sinks. What we also always provide are lockers, so that every student can store their own chocolate spread there, so it does not grow legs. I am going to show you a classic room, which is around 15 square metres. There is a built-in bed, which is a single bed, a built-in desk with shelves above it and then a double wardrobe. In every student room, we provide private sanitary facilities, which means there is a shower, a wall-mounted toilet and a washbasin unit with a mirror. On this side is the Business School and the classrooms with the auditorium, and the other half consists of the 138 student rooms. Oops, not many people showed up for our lesson. That is the unique thing, in the American model: in the same building where you attend classes, you also have your student room.

In Leuven, heritage and new-build do not have to compete with each other. Kristof Vanfleteren, CEO and Co-founder of ION, explains how Vesalius carefully combines historic façades, restored buildings and new architecture into one coherent city project.

👇 English subtitles available below.



(English subtitles)
What is really nice about this project here in Leuven is the mix between historic buildings and new-build, which you can see perfectly in this façade line. It was a challenge and it was explicitly requested by the city. But you can still see the beautiful mosaics in the façades over there, and you can still see the fantastic façades of the old buildings. We were outside the historic centre of Leuven. The Leuven ring road was over there. Here we have old farmhouses that we fully restored to their former glory, bringing them back with the plasterwork of the past. You can still see the old gates that serve as entrances, and we also used them to make the inner area at the back more lively by creating a number of passages in the street. When we bought the site, we were confronted with a mix of homes. Homes that were recognised as monuments, homes that were on the immovable heritage list, and homes that had no value at all. The art, of course, was to combine all of that. We did that perfectly together with the heritage department of the City of Leuven and our own architects, jointly determining what had to be preserved, what could be integrated into new-build, and what could disappear completely.