New plans for Heysel aim to attract more trade fairs and exhibitions

The Brussels region plans to carry out a major refurbishment of the Heysel exhibition centres in the hope of attracting major international trade fairs and exhibitions once again.

Business tourism - such as trade shows, conferences, international fairs - is a core part of the capital’s hospitality sector, but Brussels has lost several major events in recent years.

One of those was the world’s largest seafood trade fair, which moved to Spain and which, until the early 2020s, was one of the biggest events of the year in the Brussels region.

“The Brussels region occupies a unique geographical and institutional position in Europe,” reads an internal memo from minister Dirk Desmedt (Anders).

“Despite these strengths, the region does not currently have an integrated, high-capacity infrastructure capable of simultaneously hosting international conferences and exhibitions.

"In its Regional Policy Statement of 13 February 2026, the government expressly identified Brussels Expo as a priority project."

The project involves renovating three existing exhibition halls on the Brussels Expo site: Hall 5 (with its iconic Art Deco stepped facade, dating from the 1935 World’s Fair), Hall 2 and Hall 10.

These three buildings form a triangle, and the central space would also be converted and renovated to form part of this new integrated exhibition hall.

The aim is ultimately to create a centre capable of accommodating up to 20,000 visitors at a time and the project calls for an initial investment of €150 million, though more funds will be needed to complete it in full.

“The total investment for this phase is estimated at €400 million, including the regional contribution of €150 million referred to in this note,” the memo notes.

The hope is that a fully operational refurbished Heysel will bring in money through hosting major international events once more.

“According to this study, the project is expected to generate, over a five-year period following its full commissioning, approximately €2 billion in cumulative direct expenditure in Brussels by players in the events sector,” the memo predicts.

“The resulting activity would represent nearly 35,000 jobs in Brussels over five years - and about 55,000 in Belgium - as well as approximately 10 million hotel overnight stays over the same period.

"The cumulative tax revenue is estimated at €982 million at the Belgian level over five years, a significant portion of which would accrue to the Brussels region."

These figures depend on whether the City of Brussels would itself renovate, potentially at its own expense, the other Heysel palaces that it owns. There is no official confirmation on this yet.

Brussels ultimately abandoned a similar project a few years ago - the Neo 2 project, which specifically involved the construction of a large new conference centre at Heysel, designed by architect Jean Nouvel.