Open Call 51 online
Apply for Open Call 51 before April 24st 2026, 11:00am
Publication date:
Six new projects
You can apply for six new projects. Applications will be open until 11:00 AM on Friday, April 24st. The first selections will be announced in June 2026. In the selection guide of each project you will find all the information you need to apply.
Véronique Claessens about Open Call 51
With this new Open Call, I present to you six projects. I am pleased that the clients behind these projects are ambitious, put quality first, and have placed their trust in us to prepare the project file with them and accompany them through the procedure for appointing a design team.
Over the next five years, I will be placing the design of public space high on the agenda. I am therefore delighted that this theme runs through all the projects in this 51st edition of the Open Call. Public space helps to determine the quality of our daily lives and must be designed with the utmost care for and in consultation with its users.
Urban design and attention to public space will be the common thread in the redevelopment of a large social housing project in Dendermonde, the construction of public buildings in Herentals and Nieuwpoort, and the three assignments in Bonheiden, Halle and Ostend.
Housing needs will be another key theme in the ambition note that I will present at the end of April. In the coming months, I will issue specific calls to local authorities and housing corporations that want to join us in tackling the housing challenge. Together, we can explore how we can develop a future-oriented vision on this and other themes and how we can increase the quality and social relevance of projects run by local authorities in general. The results of these six Open Call projects will undoubtedly also provide valuable insights in this regard.
I look forward to viewing the tenders of the design teams. As always, we will make a diverse selection from among them, together with the clients. After all, the diversity of the design research in the Open Call remains one of the great assets for achieving high-quality realizations. We will consult with the design teams about the present assignments and discuss the concepts with the clients. I therefore encourage you designers to submit your tenders and make your ambitions for these six projects known.
See you soon!
Véronique Claessens, Flemish Government Architect
Applying for the Open Call
Conditions for selection
You enter your application via the My Open Call module and meet the ‘conditions for selection’. The information you need to provide for this purpose:
- the European Single Procurement Document (ESPD)
- proof documents concerning social, tax and financial obligations (only for non-Belgian agencies)
- any proof of professional orders
- three projects from your own practice. This administrative information must be submitted, but will not be assessed in terms of content.
Candidacy and selection restriction
You can then apply for one or more projects. In order to do this, you enter the information under ‘selection restriction’. It includes:
- the form of application (agency or temporary partnership)
- the memo ‘ambition for the assignment’
- three specific references tailored to the ambitions of the project for which you are applying.
The team composition will only be assessed at the award phase. This means that the evaluation of the applications and the restrictive selection to four or five candidates will only consider the design agencies. Supporting expertise (techniques, acoustics, participation…) is not included in this phase of the assessment. So there is no point in applying in a team with supporting expertise. After having received the complete project file, you will put together your multidisciplinary team with partners and subcontractors in order to draw up an integrated tender.
What are the conditions I have to fulfill to participate in the Open Call?
Contact
If you have any questions to which you cannot find the answer, please contact us at:
- E-mail : [email protected]
- Phone: +32 2 553 01 11
Flemish Government Architect Erik Wieërs and his team wish everyone the best of luck in their application!