Wallonia entrusts SPAQuE with the remediation of the DUROBOR site in Soignies

The Walloon Government has tasked SPAQuE with the remediation of the “DUROBOR” site in Soignies, via a decree dated October 8, 2026, published by extract in the Belgian Official Gazette on October 20, 2026 (No. 239, p. 56636, reference 2026/202737). The text approves the remediation project established by the Walloon public company and authorizes it to carry out the works, monitoring, and security measures provided therein. The decree was signed in Namur on October 8, 2026, and entered into force on the same day.

A framework established by the 2018 Soil Decree

The decree falls under the Decree of March 1, 2018, relating to the management and remediation of soils. In it, the Government “takes note” of the combined study and the remediation project established by SPAQuE for the DUROBOR site, documents which constitute the technical basis of the operation.

SPAQuE has been entrusted with a comprehensive mission, which is not limited to earthworks:

• executing the remediation acts and works provided for in the project;
• implementing monitoring measures;
• implementing security measures.

The mechanism is based on Article 81, § 3, of the same decree, which allows for the concentration of authorizations normally issued separately into a single administrative act.

Eighteen parcels registered in division 1, section B

The targeted perimeter is described precisely in the decree, which lists the parcels “registered or having been registered” in Soignies, division 1, section B:

• 1081C, 1086B, 1089K;
• 1090/2F, 1090/2G, 1090/2H;
• 1092F2, 1096V, 1096W;
• 1103R3, 1144S2;
• 1146C2, 1146K2, 1146M2, 1146N2;
• 1153N, 1155W2 and 1155Z2.

This makes a total of eighteen cadastral references, distributed across the same set of contiguous parcels in section B. The mention “or having been registered” covers situations where the parcel layout has been modified since the study was established.

One act serving as five titles at once

Article 3 of the decree concentrates the authorizations. By application of Article 81, § 3, of the Decree of March 1, 2018, the text serves as:

• environmental permit;
• unique permit;
• urban planning permit;
• declaration within the meaning of the Decree of March 11, 1999, relating to environmental permits;
• prior urban planning declaration.

This technique prevents SPAQuE from having to multiply procedures with regional and municipal authorities for a decontamination site that is in the public interest.

Federal and local police mobilizable for access

Article 2 addresses a practical issue that is often decisive for polluted sites: entry onto the land. SPAQuE is authorized to call upon the federal and/or local police to ensure access to the site, for itself as well as for the companies to which it has entrusted the execution of the operations and for their subcontractors. This faculty is open “until the completion of its mission,” with no time limit specified in the published extract.

The decree bears the signatures of A. DOLIMONT, Minister-President and Minister of Budget, Finance, International Relations and Animal Welfare, and Y. COPPIETERS, Minister of Health, Environment, Solidarity and Social Economy.

For local residents and the owners of the concerned plots, the publication in the Belgian Official Gazette marks the starting point of a project conducted under public responsibility, with a single authorization regime and police-secured access. As the text was published as an extract, the details of the monitoring and security measures — and therefore the actual schedule of the works — do not appear in the version published in the official journal.

Source: Belgian Official Gazette No. 239 of October 20, 2026, p. 56636, reference 2026/202737.