The new NATO Headquarters : Launch of the International Architectural Design Competition

The project to construct NATO's new Headquarters in Brussels, agreed by Heads of State and Government at the 50th Anniversary Summit in Washington in April 1999, has reached an important milestone with the launch of the International Architectural Design Competition (IADC) on 10th January 2001.

In running the competition to select an appropriate and innovative design for the new Headquarters and a team (Concept Design Team) to oversee its implementation, NATO has adopted the rules and regulations of the International Union of Architects (IUA) in Paris. The announcement on the NATO Web Site illustrates that the NATO Headquarters project has now firmly moved into implementation following three years of careful preparation.

The International Architectural Design Competition will be conducted in two distinct phases. The closing date for this first pre-qualification phase is 30 March 2001. The selection process will be rigorous and will take some 18 months to complete. This time scale reveals the seriousness and thoroughness which NATO attaches to the process of choosing the right design, thereby ensuring that the new Headquarters is dynamic, flexible, future-orientated and ultimately successful. The winning design must reflect the Alliance's core activities of facilitating daily consultation among nations and consensus decision making on security issues, while promoting its new face as a transparent, outward looking organisation which is extending security throughout the Euro-Atlantic area.

In addition to the launch of the International Architectural Design Competition, a call for bids for the selection of an external Project Management Team (PMT) was published in October 2000 with a deadline for submissions of January 12th 2001. The PMT Call for Bids has generated significant interest among established project and construction management companies from many different NATO member countries. It is expected that the selection process will be completed by July 2001.

The construction of the new NATO Headquarters to the east of the existing facility, coupled with rapid corporate development of the surrounding business parks, has generated a wider debate on future logistical and access issues in the area. As Host Nation, the Belgian Authorities have already decided upon a range of short term road and public transport initiatives. Additional medium and long term improvements are currently under discussion.