Borgloon - Borgloon: Master-plan for Loon towns & cities and the historical town centre.

Borgloon is an agricultural district in the south of the province of Limburg, at the heart of the Haspengouw area and on the Tongeren-St Truiden axis.

As the capital of the former County of Loon, Borgloon has a distinctly urban town centre on a hill. In the 11th century the Counts of Loon built their residence and fortress on this hill. The remains of this were demolished in the 19th century. The mediaeval character of the town has been preserved down the centuries. This is illustrated by the mediaeval street pattern, the market and the narrow alleyways. The castle mound, town hall, Canon’s House and church are all evidence of when it was a flourishing town.

Beyond Borgloon, the towns and cities of Beringen, Bilzen, Bree, Hamont, Hasselt, Herk-de-Stad, Maaseik, Peer and Dilsen-Stokkem were also part of the County of Loon.

At the end of 2001 a Spatial Implementation Plan for the ‘Centre’ was approved; it emphasised the conservation and restoration of the existing valuable built heritage.

Now, to make use of subsidies from the Limburg provincial authorities, the town council wishes to commission a ‘Master-Plan for the Loon towns & cities and the historical town centre’. The purpose of the master-plan is to make clear the significance of the County of Loon as a forerunner of Limburg and to enable this to be seen, understood and experienced by both the inhabitants and visitors. This requires sustainable, well-considered, contemporary infrastructure interventions in the public domain in the town of Borgloon as the place of origin and in the other 9 Loon towns & cities.

The master-plan includes the following important elements:

1. The development of a vision for the future of the remnants of the past of Loon and the old meeting place or ‘sala’ of the Counts of Loon.

2. An examination of the possibility of re-laying certain areas of the historical centre of Borgloon, specifically the Castle Mound and the Graaf, also devoting attention to the historical town gates.

3. An examination of opening up the heritage of the town and the St Odolphus Church: archaeological, built and movable.

4. A formulation of a vision of necessary interventions and their feasibility in terms of cost and time-span, in both Borgloon and the other Loon towns & cities (Beringen, Bilzen, Bree, Hamont, Hasselt, Herk-de-Stad, Maaseik, Peer and Dilsen-Stokkem) in order to give a clearer picture of the County.

It is preferred that this assignment be implemented by an interdisciplinary team that comprises skills in heritage, architecture, urban design and landscape architecture.

If the master-plan turns out not to correspond to the stipulations of the ‘Centre’ RUP, the client may decide to review all or part of the RUP. The client may also decide to assign the review of the RUP to the design team, but it is not obliged to do so. The client may also decide to assign all or part of the implementation of the master-plan or the RUP to the design team, but is not obliged to do so. If the master-plan is not implemented, the party that drew it up has no right to damages, but will be given the task of quality supervision.

Budget: drawing up master-plan: €75,000 (excl. VAT)

Revision of RUP: flat-rate fee based on master-plan

Implementation of master-plan: budget still to be determined, dependent on master-plan

Fee: KVIV Level I Class 2, min. KVIV -2% and max. KVIV (implementation)