Madou Plaza Tower 3.5

Madou Plaza Tower is a high-rise building in Brussels (Belgium). It was built in 1965 and renovated between 2002 and 2006 and taken over by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Education and Culture. It is located on the Small Ring, in the municipality of Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, at 1 Place Madouplein.ArchitectureThe 33 story core of Madou was built in just over a month and has been compared as a smaller version of the MetLife Building in New York City. There is a high voltage transformer in the basement for power, along with a 1360 kW emergency generator added during renovation. Two lifts connect to the parking garage.During the 2002-6 renovation, the building's height was increased from 112m to 120 m and office space was increased by 10,000m² to 40,000m², (100,000 to 400,000 sq ft) requiring the building to be reshaped and strengthened. The renovation won the MIPIM Award 2006 in the ‘Refurbished Office Buildings’ category.CommissionThe European Commission bought the building on 13 March 2006 inaugurating it on 19 April when its 1500 employees moved in. Based in Madou, as of 2007, are the Directorates-General for Communication, Informatics, and Education and Culture and the Executive Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation. Staff were previously based on the Axa-building on square Schuman, which was to be demolished. As of late 2012 it hosts the Directorate General Competition.