Brasserie Aerts is a new cooperative cohousing project developed by wooncoop, a Belgian housing cooperative expanding its activities to Brussels. The project is located in Sint-Joost-ten-Node, a central municipality in the Brussels-Capital Region, between Braemtstraat and Tweetorenstraat. It involves the comprehensive transformation of a former brewery into a residential ensemble with shared spaces and a strong inner-city character.1
The architectural design is by atelier Tom Vanhee, who has planned the site as five distinct buildings comprising a total of 28 housing units. These units include 6 studios, 7 one-bedroom, 9 two-bedroom, and 6 three-bedroom apartments, distributed over up to four above-ground levels around a large communal garden and community rooms.1 Below ground, the project will provide bicycle storage, car parking, storage spaces and a shared laundry facility.1
The location is within walking distance of major transport hubs: approximately 1.3 km from Brussels-Central and 1.4 km from Brussels-North, and about 600 metres from Madou metro station, with several bus lines and stops nearby.1 The existing brewery buildings date back to the late 19th and early 20th century, with the oldest parts from 1881–1882 and later modifications around 1934, giving the project a pronounced industrial heritage character.1
Brasserie Aerts is organised under wooncoop’s cooperative housing model, in which residents become cooperative members and co-owners of the housing company, while the cooperative holds and manages the property and residents pay a cost-based monthly housing contribution.1 The project has obtained planning permission, and the procurement dossier is being prepared. The provisional timeline foresees the start of tendering in January 2026, construction beginning in June 2026, and move-in around June 2028.1 By summer 2025, eight households had already registered as future residents.12