Brussels shows how to remove friction from collaboration

When the Flemish Government set out to renovate its Brussels headquarters, it had two strategic aims.

The first was to create a workplace that encouraged hybrid workers to come to the office more regularly, by fashioning a space that fostered connection, teamwork, collaboration, and a deeper sense of wellbeing and belonging.

The second goal was sustainability. Another objective was that the government's head office building played a large part in its 2050 climate goals.

Yannic Laleeuwe is marketing director for workplace collaboration at Barco Clickshare. The visualization, collaboration, and networking technology provider worked with the Flemish Government's Agency for Facility Operations (AFO) on the revamp. The agency manages real estate, IT, and document management.

As Laleeuwe points out: "Together these goals supported stronger employee experiences, greater operational consistency, and a more resilient workplace strategy."

Restoration started in 2021 as part of the wider ZIN in No(o)rd redevelopment in Brussels' Northern Quarter. This transformed the World Trade Center I and II Marie-Elisabeth Belpaire towers into modern, mixed-use spaces that combine offices, housing, hotel rooms, leisure, and retail.

The Marie-Elisabeth Belpaire building, which houses 4,800 Flemish Government employees, opened in 2024. It has since become a flagship example of how to combine circular construction, energy efficiency, green ICT, and future-ready collaboration technology to support modern work patterns.

Technology removes the friction from collaboration

On technology, the agency embedded it into operations from the outset rather than tacking it on later as an add-on. A key aim was to remove "friction from collaboration", Laleeuwe says, and to make the user experience as simple and intuitive as possible. The collaboration technology in every meeting room had to work the same way, whether in a two-person huddle space or a 20-seater boardroom.

"With a hybrid model, a better user experience makes the office more usable and more attractive," she explains. "Employees are more likely to use meeting rooms confidently when experiences are smooth and consistent, which supports the wider goal of making the office a place that adds value for collaboration and connection."

"Inconsistency quickly creates friction", Laleeuwe notes. Wherever tconferencing echnology was deployed across the building, it had to be simple to start and easy to use without requiring IT support each time.

Meeting room technology works best when it stays in the background rather than becoming the focus, Laleeuwe explains. That requires flexibility enough to support different devices, room types, and videoconferencing platforms, while providing employees and guests with a unified, consistent meeting experience whether they are remote or in the office.

"If employees have to get to know the audio-visual equipment setup every time they move between rooms, buildings or platforms, it slows meetings down and undermines confidence," Laleeuwe explains. "That is why the Flemish Government focused on a cohesive and intuitive experience."

To achieve this, the AFO chose long-term partner Barco's ClickShare wireless video conferencing, presentation, and collaboration platform. It deployed the ClickShare CX-20 and CX-30 wireless conferencing system for small meeting rooms, huddle spaces, and small-to-medium-sized meeting rooms, along with the ClickShare CX-10 for interactive presentations in any size or type of meeting space.

The system is modular, so it can adapt to changing requirements without a rip-and-replace overhaul each time. It also provides a platform-agnostic, always-ready collaboration environment that does not require dedicated end points in every space.

Employees can choose between different videoconferencing platforms without creating headaches for the IT team each time they switch from Zoom to Microsoft Teams.

Ease of use, flexibility, and security

Luc Verdegem, the agency's ICT director, says it had three main requirements when selecting the technology: Ease of use, flexibility, and security.

"For us, a simple user experience entails connecting seamlessly to the room set up from any device," he says. "The experience should be the same in any space in any of our office buildings."

On flexibility, meeting attendees needed to participate easily from their own devices, regardless of device type, videoconferencing platform, or workspace. That includes everything from standard meeting rooms to less conventional spaces such as cafes, thanks to mobile carts.

"In our meeting spaces, we have colleagues and guests starting meetings with Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, or other videoconferencing software," says Verdegem. "With ClickShare, we offer them one and the same way to connect to the meeting room."

Such flexibility matters in a hybrid working world. As Frank Geerts, the agency's administrator general, points out, employees rarely attend meetings solely in person these days, which makes it vital for all meeting spaces to accommodate them no matter where they are located.

"Enabling hybrid work is not just about making sure a display is present in the room," Geerts says. "It's all about offering a good, qualitative experience for users in the office and at home. Users need to be able to hear and see everything and truly participate in the meeting."

On security, the agency was clear that its chosen technology had to conform to zero trust principles at the network level, and it set a high bar for data protection functionality.

The benefits of simplicity at scale

In practical terms, says Laleeuwe, employees can now walk into any work area in the Marie-Elisabeth Belpaire offices and "know how to get started immediately and securely, regardless of room size or location". They simply click on the ClickShare App, which has been rolled out across the organization so everyone benefits from its smart meeting flow features.

"Employees should be focused on the conversation, decisions, and people in the room, not on cables or figuring out how to launch a meeting," Laleeuwe explains. "ClickShare supports this by enabling wireless conferencing from the user's own device and by creating a consistent way to start meetings across different rooms and locations."

The agency monitors, manages, updates, and troubleshoots all its ClickShare devices through the easy-to-use Barco XMS Cloud Management platform. It has found that the more intuitive approach has reduced how often employees call IT for support, which makes life easier for IT managers and their teams.

As Laleeuwe points out: "Simplicity at scale reduces IT management because standardization reduces variation. When users encounter the same experience across rooms and buildings, there are fewer errors caused by unfamiliarity, fewer exceptions to support, and less time spent explaining different room behaviors."

For the Flemish Government, this matters because of the sheer size of its meeting room estate. But there are other considerations too.

Using technology to create a sustainable workplace

Beyond a flexible, productive, and engaging office, sustainability was the second goal. The Marie-Elisabeth Belpaire building is the first in Flanders to conform to circular construction principles, with 68 percent reclaimed, re-used, or recycled materials from the original site used in its renovation.

It is also not far off being a net zero site. That comes partly from its thermal energy storage system, which captures and stores thermal energy for later use, and partly from solar panels on the building's roof and side walls.

The agency also tracks internal energy use, helped by green ICT deployments. A particularly efficient Wi-Fi network saves the government the equivalent of 550 households worth of electricity each year, and its introduction even resulted in the organization winning the Computable Award in the 'IT Project of the Year - Government' category in 2024.

Other power-saving measures include energy-saving network scripts and switching ClickShare base units off at night. More broadly, ClickShare's product set is also certified to meet the agency's stringent ecological requirements, which reduces the energy use and carbon footprint of the meeting room infrastructure itself.

Looking ahead, Laleeuwe says the Flemish Government's focus will be on "scaling and deepening" its existing approach. The Brussels project, she explains, is only one part of a broader family of concept buildings intended to act as a model for how the government wants to shape future workplaces across its estate.

"From a workplace technology perspective, this also includes further standardization, continued support, training improvements, and staying aligned with changing collaboration needs," she says. "From a sustainability perspective, the direction is clearly toward even stronger performance and continued leadership in circular and energy-efficient public sector workplaces."

Sponsored by Barco.